Becoming a Historian: An Informal Guide (IHR Shorts)

Description

An accessible guide to completing research projects and building a career as a practicing historian. Writing history is both an art and a craft. This handbook is designed as an instructional guide to support students, independent scholars, and more. Becoming a Historian guides prospective historians on how best to participate in this vibrant community of scholars. This friendly guide will teach readers how to design research projects, how to differentiate between quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and how to follow a project through to a positive conclusion. Becoming a Historian is also frank about the pains and pleasures of sticking with a long-term project. Finally, this guide explains how to present original research to wider audiences, including the appropriate use of social media, the art of public lecturing, and strategies for publication. Written by esteemed historians Penelope J. Corfield and Tim Hitchcock, who bring more than forty years of collective experience to the project, Becoming a Historian explodes the myths and systems that can make the world of research seem intimidating. Instead, this guide offers step-by-step advice designed to make it easier to join this community of scholarship. Cover Title Page Copyright Contents About the authors Acknowledgements A note on readership Preface Part I. Starting, assessing, organizing 1. Joining the through-time community of historians 2. Launching the research project 3. Shared monitoring of the timetable 4. Finding well-attested evidence 5. Probing sources and methodologies 6. Managing masses of data Part II. Writing, analysing, interpreting 7. Writing as a historian 8. Doing it in public: historians and social media 9. Unblocking writer’s block or, better still, non-blocking in the first place 10. Using technology creatively: digital history 11. Assessing some key research approaches 12. Troubleshooting Part III. Presenting, completing and moving onwards 13. The art of public presentation 14. Asking and answering seminar questions 15. Chairing seminars and lectures 16. Taking the last steps to completion 17. Experiencing the viva 18. Moving on to publication and civic engagement Part IV. Taking the long view – career outcomes 19. Academic and parallel trackways Part V. Reflecting 20. Retrospective thoughts Select reading list Index