A Student's Guide to History » (11st Edition)

JULES R. BENJAMIN was a professor of history at Ithaca College for 30 years. His current research focuses on higher education in the digital age, and his scholarly works concern modern United States and Latin American diplomatic history. He is the author of several books and articles, including The United States and Cuba: Hegemony and Dependent Development, 1880–1934 (1977) and The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution: An Empire of Liberty in an Age of National Liberation (1990).

A Student’s Guide to History provides the practical help students need to be effective in their history courses. In addition to introducing students to the nature of the discipline, it teaches a wide range of skills from preparing for exams to approaching common writing assignments, and it explains the research and documentation process using numerous examples throughout. With clear and accessible advice, A Student’s Guide to History is an indispensable resource for history students. New, easy-to-reference chapter organization. Shorter, more manageable chapters now focus on more specific concepts, such as building a history essay and documenting sources, so students can more easily find the information they need. Expanded coverage of working with sources. A new chapter explains how to examine any source of historical evidence — primary or secondary, written or nonwritten, print or digital. New Guidelines boxes for evaluating primary sources, a new section on sound and video recordings, new warnings about Wikipedia, and more on finding primary sources online equip students to engage in a wide range of historical work. More attention to analysis and argument. New sample writing assignments demonstrate how to analyze and compare primary and secondary sources and present theses with supporting evidence. The research chapters now offer more advice on developing a thesis, using evidence, formulating worthwhile research questions, and writing more persuasive papers. New visual citation guidelines boxes annotate sample pages from books, published letters, print articles, database articles, and Web sites, and key them to model notes and bibliographic entries to show students how to find publication information and properly cite these common sources.

Preface v

A Note to Students xvii

1 The Subject of History and How to Use It 1

What History Can Tell You 1

What Historians Are Trying to Do 3

History and the Everyday World 4

How Historians Work 4

Philosophies of History 5

Historiography 6

Changing Directions of Historical Research 8

Methods of Historical Research 9

Primary and Secondary Sources of Evidence 10

Interpreting and Organizing Evidence 16

The Computer and Historical Research 16

How You Can Use History 17

2 How to Read a History Assignment, Take Notes in Class, and Prepare for and Take Exams 19

How to Read a History Assignment 19

Reading a Textbook 20

Reading a Monograph 20

Reading an Anthology 22

Reading a Historical Novel 22

Examples of Reading Assignments 22

How to "Read" Nonwritten Materials 25

Interpreting Maps 26

Analyzing Statistical Data 28

Interpreting Illustrations, Photographs, and Other Visual Material 31

Interpreting Artifacts 34

How to Take Notes in Class 37

From Class Lectures 37

Guidelines for Taking Lecture Notes 38

Examples of Note Taking 38

From Slides and Films 42

Taking Notes in a "Wired" Classroom 42

Classroom Participation 43

Classroom Discussions 43

Guidelines for Speaking in Class 43

Giving an Oral Presentation 43

Guidelines for Giving an Oral Presentation 44

Giving a PowerPoint Presentation 44

Group Work 45

Guidelines for Peer Reviewing 46

Communicating Online 46

E-mail, Listservs, and Chat Rooms 47

E-conferences and E-seminars 48

Web Communication and Advanced Research 48

How to Study for and Take Exams 49

Objective and Short-Answer Exams 50

Preparing for In-Class Essay Exams - Composing Sample Questions51

Writing a Good In-Class Essay Exam 52

Guidelines for Writing In-Class Essay Exams 52

Writing Take-Home Essay Exams 53

3 How to Write History Assignments: The Importance of Writing Skills 57

Why Clear Writing Is Important 57

The Components of Clear Writing 58

Write Clear Sentences 58

Do Not Clutter Sentences with Unnecessary Phrases 58

Avoid Using the Passive Voice 59

Use the Past Tense 59

Link Your Sentences 60

Write Clear and Coherent Paragraphs 60

Link Your Paragraphs 61

Guidelines for Clear Writing 62

Building an Essay 62

The Need for a Clear Beginning 63

Creating a Writing Outline 64

The Importance of Continuity 64

Writing a Conclusion 65

Revising Your Paper 65

Proofreading Your Paper 66

Preparing Specific Writing Assignments 67

Writing Book Reviews 67

Sample Book Review 68

Guidelines for Writing a Book Review 71

Writing Comparative Book Reviews 71

Comparing Essays or Articles 72

Comparing Primary Documents 72

Writing Short Essays 73

Guidelines for Writing Short Essays 74

A Note on Plagiarism: A Serious Offense 75

4 How to Research a History Topic 77

Beginning the Research Process 78

Choosing a Topic 78

Moving from a Topic to a Theme 78

Narrowing Your Theme 79

Moving from a Theme to a Thesis 80

Making an Argument in Support of Your Thesis 81

Creating a Preliminary Research Plan 81

Creating a Research Bibliography 83

Conducting Research 84

Using the Library Online Catalog to Locate Resources 84

Using Print and Electronic Reference Sources 88

Using Print and Electronic Periodical Databases 89

Guidelines for Finding an Article in a Periodical Database 90

Locating Primary Sources 92

Using Internet Search Tools 95

Guidelines for Conducting Internet Searches 97

Evaluating Web Sites 97

Guidelines for Evaluating Web Sites 99

Navigating Web Sites 99

Evaluating Sources 100

Evaluating Secondary Sources 101

Guidelines for Evaluating Secondary Sources 102

Evaluating Primary Sources 103

Special Problems of Evaluating Web-Based Sources 105

Guidelines for Evaluating Web Sources 106

Interpreting Sources and Taking Notes 107

How to Read Your Sources 107

How to Record Information from Your Sources 108

How to Organize Your Notes 110

Avoiding Plagiarism 115

The Computer and Plagiarism 116

The Art of Paraphrasing 116

Plagiarism and Group Work 117

Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism 118

5 How to Write a Research Paper 119

Preparing to Write 119

Why Your Paper Needs a Thesis 119

Organizing Your Paper 120

Preparing a Writing Outline 120

Plugging Your Research Notes into Your Outline 124

Writing the Text 125

The Rough Draft 125

Clear Writing: A Matter of Continuity 126

Quotations: When and How to Use Them 127

Incorporating Visual Materials into Your Paper 129

Guidelines for Incorporating Visuals 130

Documenting Your Paper: Citing Your Sources 130

When and How to Use Footnotes and Endnotes 130

Directory to Footnote/Endnote Documentation Models 132

How to Write Footnotes and Endnotes 133

Directory to Bibliography Documentation Models 146

Organizing a Bibliography 147

Revising and Rewriting 158

Guidelines for Revising and Rewriting 159

Word Processing: Advantages and Dangers 160

Example of a Research Paper 161

How the Theme and Thesis Were Chosen 162

The Writing Outline for the Thesis 162

Turning Research into Writing: A Sample Research Paper -"Wage Slavery or True Independence: Women Workers in the Lowell, Massachusetts, Textile Mills, 1820-1850" 164

Appendix A Resources for History Research 185

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Atlases 186

Historical Dictionaries-World 187

Historical Dictionaries-United States 188

Historical Encyclopedias-World 188

Historical Encyclopedias-Europe 189

Historical Encyclopedias-United States 190

Historical Atlases-World 190

Historical Atlases-United States 191

Biography Collections 191

International Biography Collections 192

United States Biography Collections 192

Newspaper Indexes and Databases 193

Newspaper Indexes and Databases-General 194

Newspaper Indexes and Databases-United States 194

Periodical Indexes and Databases 195

Magazine Indexes and Databases 195

Journal Indexes and Databases 196

Book Review Indexes and Databases 197

Public Documents 197

Public Documents-Britain and Canada 198

Public Documents-United States 198

Historical Statistics 199

Historical Statistics-General 200

Historical Statistics-National and Regional 200

Historical Statistics-United States 201

General Resources in World History 202

Reference Works and Bibliographies 202

Web Sites 203

Specialized Resources in World History 204

Ancient History 205

Europe-General 206

Europe-Medieval 207

Europe-Early Modern 208

Europe-Modern 208

Britain 210

Ireland and Scotland 213

East Europe 214

Russia and the Soviet Union 215

Africa 215

Middle East and North Africa 216

Asia 217

Australia and New Zealand 220

Latin America and the Caribbean 220

Canada 221

General Resources in United States History 223

Reference Works and Bibliographies 223

Web Sites 224

Specialized Resources in United States History 225

Regional, State, and Local 226

Colonial, Revolutionary, and Early National, 1607-1800 227

Native American 228

Slavery and the Civil War 229

African American 231

Women's 232

Immigrant and Ethnic 233

Social and Cultural 234

Political 237

Foreign Relations and International 239

Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine 240

Labor, Business, Economic, and Urban 241

Religious 242

Military 242

Electronic Discussion Lists in History 243

Appendix B Historical Sources in Your Own Backyard 245

How to Research Your Family History 246

Sources for County and Local History 247

Sources for Family History and Genealogical Research 248

Glossary 250

Index 257