Customer Reviews

The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide

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4 star:		(1)
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I've used this book for years now for both undergraduates and graduates, with great success. The new 2000 edition is even better (except for a too-brief section on films as historical sources.) The updating with regard to libraries is especially good, and the section on statistics is appropriately demanding. The essay assignment based upon the Missouri Fur Trade readily uncovers problems and personal bias in students' work. Though written for undergrads, this guide is excellent for new grad students as a way of identifying weaknesses and building consistent skills. I require graduate students to probe more deeply in responding to the exercises, and they all agree it is a great workbook, even though it seems too basic to them at first glance!

Used this in an undergraduate class at a good liberal arts school. Many students found the workbook exercises simplistic. I like it, though, because it illustrates practical history skills using real historical examples. I am aware of no other book that does this. I particularly like the emphasis on the research process (lots of emphasis on looping back between research and writing), and analytical skills (where making categories looms large). My recommendation is to use the chapters loosely, adapting them to your own needs. When I use it again, I will use the material provided as the basis for more substantive short writing assignments.

I love this book and will be keeping it for a long time. I'm a history major and am currently taking a Research Methods class at Webster University. My professor Michael J Salevouris (who is the author of this book) is very good at teaching and helping us practice methods of historical writing. There are many activities and writing exercises in the book, its easy and well written and covers different methods of historical detection. A must-have for anyone writing a history research paper or history majors in general. Also a good reference for many other majors when writing a research paper.

Also, another good book to read along with this one, and one that we frequently use in class is After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection

This book was exactly as described and so much more. It is well written, well organized, and does a great job keeping readers intrested. It is so wonderful and efficiant to count on products such as this.