Essential Skills for Historians

J. Laurence Hare is Associate Professor of History and Cleveland C. Burton Professor of International Studies at the University of Arkansas, USA. A specialist in the history of modern Germany and Scandinavia, Hare is the author of Excavating Nations (2015). Jack Wells is Associate Professor of History at Emory & Henry College, USA, where he has served as director of the core curriculum. His research focuses on the connections between religion and society in late republican and early imperial Rome. Bruce E. Baker is Reader in American History at Newcastle University, UK and previously Senior Lecturer in United States History at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, where he won the College Teaching Prize twice. He is a historian of the American South, and his books include After Slavery (2013); and The Cotton Kings (2015).

• PART I: Encountering the Past1. History as a Discipline2. From Critical Thinking to Historical ThinkingPART II: Exploring the Past3. Designing a Project4. Information Literacy and Research Strategies5. Using Active Reading Skills for Effective Source Criticism6. Numbers, Narratives, and Other “Texts”7. Effective Writing and Historical Arguments8. From Academic Integrity to Professional EthicsPART III: The Uses of the Past9. Outcomes of Historical Research10. History as a CareerFurther Reading and ResourcesIndex

A clearly-written guide that will help students in history courses at every level develop the overlapping skills they need to tackle research projects small and large. With practical exercises that build historical habits of mind by providing students the opportunity to immediately apply what they have learned, from conceptualization to finished product. The lively personal voice and descriptions of the authors’ own experiences lessen the distance between beginning researchers and veteran historians, demystifying the process of research and helping students gain confidence as producers of history in the classroom and the larger community beyond.