The Princeton Guide to Historical Research

435 Pages·2021·5.495 MB·English

by  Zachary M. Schrag

the prince ton guide to
historical research
Skills for Scholars
The Princeton Guide to Historical Research, Zachary M. Schrag
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How to Think like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education,
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The Craft of College Teaching: A Practical Guide, Robert DiYanni and
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The Prince ton Guide to
Historical Research
Zachary M. Schrag
prince ton university press
princet on & oxford
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Schrag, Zachary M., author.
Title: The Prince ton guide to historical research / Zachary M. Schrag.
Description: Prince ton : Prince ton University Press, 2021. | Series: Skills for scholars |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020049221 (print) | LCCN 2020049222 (ebook) | ISBN 9780691210964
(hardback) | ISBN 9780691198224 (paperback) | ISBN 9780691215488 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: History— Research.
Classification: LCC D16 .S345 2021 (print) | LCC D16 (ebook) | DDC 907.2—d c23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020049221
LC ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020049222
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Peter Dougherty and Alena Chekanov
Production Editorial: Natalie Baan
Cover Design: Matt Avery (Monograph LLC)
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Kathryn Stevens
Copyeditor: Cathryn Slovensky
This book has been composed in Miller
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Amer ic a
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
For my teachers and my students

contents
Introduction: History Is for Every one 1
PART I DEFINITIONS
chapter 1 Defining History 9
History Is the Study of People and the
Choices They Made 10
History Is a Means to Understand T oday’s World 14
History Combines Storytelling and Analy sis 18
History Is an Ongoing Debate 21
chapter 2 Historians’ Ethics 24
Curiosity 25
Accuracy 26
Judgment 27
Empathy 30
Gratitude 31
Truth 33
PART II QUESTIONS
chapter 3 Asking Questions 39
Won der 40
Autobiography 40
Every thing Has a History 44
Narrative Expansion 46
[ vii ]
[ viii ] contents
From the Source 49
Public History 51
Research Agenda 51
Questions 54
Factual Questions 54
Interpretive Questions 55
Dialectics 56
Opposing Forces 57
Internal Contradictions 58
Competing Priorities 59
Determining Factors 60
Hidden or Contested Meanings 61
Before and After 62
Dialectics Create Questions, Not Answers 64
chapter 4 Research Design 65
Scope 66
Copy Other Works 67
History Big and Small 70
Pick Your P eople 71
Add and Subtract 73
Narrative versus Thematic Schemes 73
Periodization 76
Beginnings 79
Endings 80
Pace 82
The Balky Time Machine 83
Geography 84
contents [ ix ]
National 84
Local and Regional 85
Transnational and Global 86
Comparative 88
Historiography 90
What Is New about Your Approach? 91
Are You Working in a Specific Theoretical
Tradition? 93
What Have Others Written? 94
Are Others Working on It? 96
What Might Your Critics Say? 97
Proposal 97
PART III SOURCES
chapter 5 Sources: An Introduction 103
Primary versus Secondary Sources 105
Balancing Your Use of Secondary Sources 108
Sets of Sources 109
Sources as Reco rds of the Power ful 113
No Source Speaks for Itself 116
Languages and Specialized Reading 117
Choose Sources That You Love 118
chapter 6 Texts as Sources 120
First- Person Accounts 120
Diaries 122
Letters 123
Memoirs 125