A Student's Guide to History
Description
A complete guide to success in any history course.
This guide provides comprehensive coverage of the historian's research process - from formulating a research question to finding, evaluating, and working with sources of all types - written and nonwritten, in print and online. The writing process is explained thoroughly, and advice on creating a strong thesis and writing an effective paper culminate in a model student research paper. The appendixes point students to the most helpful research resources.
More details
Person
Jules R. Benjamin, formerly professor of history at the University of Rochester, is Emeritus professor at Ithaca College. He taught for over thirty years. He is the author of several books and articles, including The United States and Cuba: Hegemony and Dependent Development, 1880-1934 and The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution: An Empire of Liberty in an Age of National Liberation. His current research focuses on contemporary international relations.
Content
Preface.- A Note to Students.- Chapter 1.- The Subject of History and How to Use It.- What History Can Tell You.- How Historians Work.- How Historians Think.- Approaches to History.- Philosophies of History.- Historiography.- Fields of Historical Research.- How You Can Use Your History Skills.- Public History.- The Private Sector.- Chapter 2.- Succeeding in Your History Class.- Keeping Up with Reading Assignments.- Navigating a Textbook.- Reading a Textbook.- Taking Notes in Class.- Guidelines for Taking Lecture Notes.- From Class Lectures and Presentations.- From Multimedia Presentations.- Taking Exams.- Guidelines for Writing In-Class Essay Exams.- Objective and Short-Answer Exams.- Example of a Short-Answer Question.- Example of an Identification Question.- Example of a Multiple-Choice Question.- In-Class Essay Exams.- Composing Sample Questions.- Taking the Test.- Take-Home Essay Exams.- The Dangers of Plagiarism.- Classroom Participation.- Classroom Discussions.- Oral Presentations.- Guidelines for Speaking in Class.- Guidelines for Giving an Oral Presentation.- PowerPoint Presentations.- Group Work.- Chapter 3.- Working with Different Types of Historical Evidence.- Primary Sources.- Secondary Sources.- When a Secondary Source Becomes a Primary Source.- Accessing Sources of Evidence in Print, in Person, and Online.- Reading Written Sources.- Guidelines for Working with Written Sources.- Primary Texts.- Scholarly Articles.- Guidelines for Identifying Scholarly Articles.- Monographs.- Anthologies.- Literature.- "Reading" Nonwritten Sources.- Maps.- Guidelines for Interpreting Nonwritten Sources.- Statistical Data.- Illustrations, Photographs, and Other Visual Material.- Sound and Video Recordings.- Artifacts.- Guidelines for Peer Reviewing.- Interactive Course Content.- Chapter 4.- Evaluating and Interpreting Historical Evidence.- Evaluating Sources.- Evaluating Secondary Sources.- Reviewing Secondary Sources for Basic Information.- Guidelines for Evaluating Secondary Sources.- Reading Secondary Sources for Signs of Bias.- Evaluating Primary Sources.- Guidelines for Evaluating Written Primary Sources.- Written Primary Sources.- Nonwritten Primary Sources.- Guidelines for Evaluating Nonwritten Primary Sources.- Special Problems of Evaluating Web-Based Sources.- Evaluating Material Found on Web Sites.- Guidelines for Evaluating Web Sites.- Guidelines for Evaluating Material Found on Web Sites.- Documenting Web-Based Sources.- Interpreting Sources and Taking Notes.- Reading Your Sources.- Summarizing and Paraphrasing without Plagiarizing.- Summarizing Your Sources.- Paraphrasing Your Sources.- Quoting without Plagiarizing.- Organizing Your Notes.- Taking Notes on Note Cards.- Taking Notes on a Computer.- Photocopying, Downloading, or Printing Sources.- Avoiding Plagiarism.- Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism.- Plagiarism and Internet Sources.- Plagiarism and Group Work.- Chapter 5.- Writing Assignments: From Source Analysis to Comparative Critiques.- Writing about Primary Sources.- Single-Source Analysis.- Comparative Analysis.- Writing about Secondary Sources.- Book Reviews.- Guidelines for Writing a Book Review.- Article Critiques.- Comparative Reviews and Critiques.- Writing Short Essays.- Chapter 6.- Building a History Essay: From Thesis to Conclusion.- Why Clear Writing Is Important.- Preparing to Write.- Examining Sources.- Drafting a Thesis Statement.- Creating a Writing Outline.- Drafting Your Essay.- A Clear Introduction.- A Cohesive Body.- Sentences: The Building Blocks of Writing.- Cohesive, Connected Paragraphs.- A Meaningful Conclusion.- Revising Your Essay.- Guidelines for Revising Your Essay.- Proofreading Your Essay.- The Danger of Plagiarism.- Chapter 7.- Conducting Research in History.- Beginning the Research Process.- Choosing a Topic.- Guidelines for the Research Process.- Narrowing Your Topic.- Formulating a Research Question.- Debatable Questions.- Narrow Questions.- Significant Questions.- Researchable Questions.- Developing a Thesis.- Planning a Research Strategy.- Budgeting Your Time and Staying Focused.- Keeping an Open Mind.- Maintaining a Working Bibliography.- Conducting Research.- Using the Library's Online Catalog.- The Art of Searching.- Searching by Subject or by Keyword.- Searching by Author and by Title.- Locating Materials by Using Call Numbers.- Using Print and Electronic Reference Works.- The Problem of Wikipedia.- Atlases, Dictionaries, and Encyclopedias.- Subject Bibliographies.- Using Print and Electronic Periodical Databases.- Locating Articles in Scholarly Journals.- Guidelines for Using Periodical Databases.- Locating Articles in Magazines and Newspapers.- Searching for Primary Sources.- Primary Sources in Published Collections.- Primary Sources in Museum Archives.- Primary Sources on the Web.- Interviews as Primary Sources.- Using Internet Search Tools.- Searching Efficiently.- Previewing Search Results.- Chapter 8.- Writing a Research Paper.- Asserting Your Thesis.- Why Your Paper Needs a Thesis.- What Makes a Thesis Effective.- Guidelines for Developing an Effective Thesis.- Organizing Your Evidence with a Writing Outline.- Writing the Text.- The Rough Draft.- Clear Writing: A Matter of Continuity.- Quotations: When and How to Use Them.- When to Quote Sources Directly.- How to Format Quotations.- Incorporating Visual Materials into Your Paper.- Guidelines for Incorporating Visuals.- When to Use Footnotes and Endnotes.- Revising and Rewriting.- Guidelines for Revising and Rewriting.- Chapter 9.- Example of a Research Paper.- A Sample Research Paper.- How the Thesis Was Developed.- The Writing Outline for the Paper.- Formatting a Research Paper.- Sample Student Research Paper.- Chapter 10.- Documenting Your Paper: How to Cite Sources in Chicago Style.- Formatting Footnotes and Endnotes.- Organizing a Bibliography.- Directory of Documentation Models for Notes and Bibliography Entries.- Documentation Models.- Overview of Notes.- Overview of Bibliography Entries.- Author Variations.- Books.- Guidelines for Citing Books.- Guidelines for Citing Letters in Published Collections.- Periodicals.- Guidelines for Citing Articles in Print Journals.- Guidelines for Citing Articles in Electronic Databases.- Public Documents.- Multimedia Sources.- Guidelines for Citing Information from Web Sites.- Other Published Sources.- Unpublished Sources.- Appendix A.- Resources for History Research.- Comprehensive Reference Databases.- Historical Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Atlases.- Historical Dictionaries - World.- Historical Dictionaries - United States.- Historical Encyclopedias - World.- Historical Encyclopedias - Europe.- Historical Encyclopedias - United States.- Historical Atlases - World.- Historical Atlases - United States.- Biography Collections and Databases.- International Biography Collections.- United States Biography Collections.- Newspaper Indexes and Databases.- Newspaper Indexes and Databases - General.- Newspaper Indexes and Databases - United States.- Periodical Indexes and Databases.- Magazine Indexes and Databases.- Journal Indexes and Databases.- Public Documents.- Public Documents - International.- Public Documents - Britain, Australia, and Canada.- Public Documents - United States.- Historical Statistics.- Historical Statistics - General.- Historical Statistics - National and Regional.- Historical Statistics - United States.- General Resources in World History.- Reference Works and Bibliographies.- Web Sites.- Specialized Resources in World History.- Ancient History.- Europe - General.- Europe - Medieval.- Europe - Early Modern.- Europe - Modern.- Britain - General.- Britain before 1800.- Britain since 1800.- Ireland and Scotland.- Eastern Europe.- Russia and the Soviet Union.- Africa.- Middle East and North Africa.- Asia - General.- South Asia - India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.- China.- Japan and Korea.- Australia and New Zealand.- Latin America and the Caribbean.- Canada.- General Resources in United States History.- Reference Works and Bibliographies.- Web Sites.- Specialized Resources in United States History.- Regional, State, and Local.- Colonial, Revolutionary, and Early National, 1607-1800.- Native American.- Slavery and the Civil War.- African American.- Women's.- Immigrant and Ethnic.- Social and Cultural.- Political.- Foreign Relations, International, and War.- Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine.- Labor, Business, Economic, and Urban.- Religious.- Appendix B.- Historical Sources in Your Own Backyard.- How to Research Your Family History.- Sources for County and Local History.- Sources for Family History and Genealogical Research.- Glossary.