Contents

Introduction

• Introduction
• Preparing History Papers: the Short Version (pdf)
• Avoid Common Mistakes in Your History Paper (pdf)

Reading

• How to Read a Secondary Source (pdf)
• How to Read a Primary Source (pdf)
• Predatory Reading (pdf)
• Some Keys to Good Reading (pdf)

Historical Arguments

• Argument Concepts (pdf)
• Analyzing Arguments (pdf)
• How to Ask Good Questions (pdf)
• What Makes a Question Good? (pdf)
• From Observation to Hypothesis (pdf)

Research

• Research Papers (pdf)
• The Research Process (pdf)
• Research Basics (pdf)
• Keeping a Research Journal (pdf)

Structuring Your Paper

• Structuring Your Essay (pdf)
• The Three Parts of a History Paper (pdf)
• The Thesis (pdf)
• History and Rhetoric (pdf)

Writing Your Paper

• Grammar for Historians (pdf)
• Formatting Your Paper (pdf)
• A Style Sheet for History Writers (pdf)
• The Scholarly Voice: Crafting Historical Prose (pdf)

Working with Sources

• Presenting Primary Sources in Your Paper (pdf)
• Citing Sources (pdf)
• Advanced Citation (pdf)

Editing and Evaluation

• Paper-writing Checklist (pdf)
• Peer Evaluations (pdf)
• Frequent Grading Comments (pdf)
• Generic Evaluation Rubric for Papers (pdf)

The Writing Model

• Samples for Presentation (pdf)
• Sample Road Map (pdf)

PDF of entire guide (294K)

Cite as: Patrick Rael, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students (Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College, 2004).

(c) 2004 Patrick Rael, Associate Professor of History, Bowdoin College