A Short Guide to Writing About History (Short Guide Series) (Paperback)

by Richard Marius (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This practical guide offers students advice on writing essays and carrying out historical research. It explores the research processes, different forms of historical writing and includes tips for improving style. The text stresses the importance of using primary sources.

From the Back Cover
An ideal accessory in any history course that requires writing, A Short Guide to Writing About History stresses thinking and writing like a historian. This engaging and practical little text helps the readers get beyond merely compiling dates and facts; it teaches them how to incorporate their own ideas into their papers and to tell a story about history that interests them and their peers. Covering both brief essays and the documented resource paper, this book explores the writing and researching processes, different modes of historical writing including argument and concludes with guidelines for improving style. For any one who will need to write about history. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Longman Pub Group; 3 Sub edition (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321023870
• ISBN-13: 978-0321023872
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,089,994 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely helpful book, August 22, 2002

By	Christopher J. Martin (Lynchburg, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marius has written an extremely readable and informative book on the writing of history. He proceeds from showing readers what questions to ask in doing historical research into types of historical writing can be done, from discriptive to argumentitive.
However, the most useful part of the book is the chapter on sources and writing. He skillfully shows readers how to choose a topic and narrow their focus into a managable paper. He also discusses the use of CD-Rom and Internet sources, a necessity for any good book on the writing of history in the early 21st century, particularly due to the increase in the reliance on Internet research by college undergraduates and HS students that are comfortable with this technology. The book also makes actually doing research seem like not such a daunting scary task, which at first thought it seems like for many undergraduates. The one problem with this section is that Marius advocates the use of paper notes. As has been seen with many professional academic historians lately, the use of paper notes can end up costing the writer dearly, particularly with the use of a large amount of sources. Marius should have included a section on how to use a data base or other computerized note taking system.
Marius also uses many examples to back up his points throughout the book, even publishing one complete paper and then commenting on its strengths and weaknesses in order to give the reader a better understanding. The remainder of the book is an extremely useful three chapters on writing mechanics as well as quoting and citing a variety of sources. I found the section on footnotes quite good and useful. This section will be especially useful for the undergraduate who arrives on campus without ever having to use footnotes while in high school.
Overall, this is an outstanding book. The only real drawback is that since its publication (3rd edition) the sections on the Internet are in many ways obsolete. But with the ever changing technology and things available on the Internet, both good and bad, no book can keep up.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars concise and informative, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This book is very useful not only for the preparation of historical papers but for any research paper. Especially useful are the sections devoted to conventions about mechanics and grammar and suggestions about style. Also included are outlines for the proper construction of arguments and details addressing the modes of expression used in writing. I bought this book for a history seminar in as an undergrad and have found it helpful to me ever since as a technical guide to the proper way of writing. Highly recommended.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Guide, August 13, 2000

By	Lance Kirby (Portsmouth, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Richard Marius gives us in this short book an enthusiasm for the pursuit of the past that is simply infectious. Although the work is not an in-depth study of Historiography, it is a great introduction to the would be Historian on the very basic rules of researching and composing a paper on any historical subject.