personal reading history essay

The New York Times

The learning network | what’s your reading history reflecting on the self as reader.

What’s Your Reading History? Reflecting on the Self as Reader

Language Arts

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

• See all in ELA »
• See all lesson plans »

Overview | What does it mean to be literate? How do our reading experiences shape who we are? In this lesson, students reflect on a formative reading experience and use it as a springboard for tracing their reading lives by creating timelines to reflect past and present experiences. They culminate the personal reading history project through reading, writing and/or discussion.

Materials | Student journals, handouts

Warm-up | Tell students you are going to lead them through a guided meditation meant to help them recreate an important reading experience in their memory.

Begin by asking them to close their eyes and put their heads down on their desks. Turn the lights down or off. Read this script, giving them a few moments to reflect after each prompt:

Today, we’re going to take a trip back through your life as a reader. In your mind, put aside the reading you’re doing for school and go to a place where you have positive feelings about reading. … Maybe you are being read to or maybe you are reading yourself. … Try to settle on a single memory … and dwell in it. What book is being read? What does it look like? Feel like? Are the pages thick or thin? Are there pictures? What colors and images stand out? What does it smell like? Where did this book come from? How did you happen upon it? Did someone give it to you? Did you borrow it from the library? If you chose it, what attracted you to it? Now, look around. Where are you? Indoors? Outdoors? Cuddled up on a couch or lying in the grass? Are you comfortable? Are you warm or cold? How old are you? Are you alone or with someone else? How do you feel? Now listen. Who is reading? A parent? Grandparent? Sibling? Try to remember the voice. Is it quiet or loud? Soft? Animated? Or, are you reading to or by yourself? What sounds surround you? Are you aware of any as you read? Do you imagine any as you read? What characters do you meet as you become immersed in the world of the book? Are they like you or different? Where does the book take you? Is it a real place or an imaginary one? What do you remember about the world of the book? How do you feel reading this book? How do you feel when it ends? Slowly bring yourself back to the present day. What sticks with you still about this reading experience?

Next, turn on the lights and ask students to open their eyes. Then, ask them to open their journals and freewrite about the memory they just experienced, incorporating as much detail as they can recall. If you’d prefer, you can do this exercise with the lights on, having them freewrite as you guide them through the script. In either case, the point is to write to think — assure students their work here will not be collected or graded.

Invite students to share their experiences. Ask: What kind of reading experiences remain etched in your minds? Why are reading experiences powerful influences? What does it means to be “well read”? What reading experiences are considered seminal for educated people? Why? What does it mean to be literate? What is cultural literacy? Information literacy? What other kinds of literacies are there?

Related | In her essay “I Was a Teenage Illiterate,” the novelist Cathleen Schine discusses how she found herself “illiterate” at 26 and explores the reading experiences that shaped her:

At the age of 26, when I returned to New York after an inglorious stab at graduate work in medieval history on the frozen steppes of Chicago, I had a horrifying realization: I was illiterate. At least, I was as close to illiterate as a person with over 20 years of education could possibly be. In my stunted career as a scholar, I’d read promissory notes, papal bulls and guidelines for Inquisitorial interrogation. Dante, too. Boccaccio. . . . But after 1400? Nihil. I felt very, very stupid among my new sophisticated New York friends. I seemed very, very stupid, too. Actually, let’s face it, I was stupid, and it was deeply mortifying, as so many things were in those days. But I have since come to realize that my abject ignorance was really a gift: to be a literarily inclined illiterate at age 26 is one of the most glorious fates that can befall mortal girl.

Read the essay with your class, using the questions below.

Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:

• What exactly does the writer mean when she says she is “illiterate”?
• Who was Dostoyevsky ? Why does Ms. Schine blame him for her state of affairs?
• On the other hand, why is she grateful to him?
• What other books have been influential in Ms. Schine’s history as a reader?
• What do you suppose Italo Calvino meant when he said that a work read at a young age and forgotten “leaves its seed in us”? What are some books that have left their seeds in you?

Related Resources

From the learning network.

• Books, Readers, and Teachers: A Wrap-Up
• Lesson: No More Moldy Oldies: Appreciating Classic Texts
• Lesson: Out Loud: Assessing the Experience of Reading and Being Read to Aloud

From NYTimes.com

• Times Topics: Books and Literature
• ArtsBeat Blog: Where Does a Love of Reading Come From?
• Essay: Volumes To Go Before You Die

Around the Web

• Voices of Readers
• National Public Radio: You Must Read This
• Video: What Does It Mean to Be Literate in the 21st Century?

Activity | Explain to students that they will create timelines chronicling their reading history. Lead them through the process of brainstorming and drafting using the handout My History as a Reader (PDF), and then using their drafts to create polished pieces that reflect who they are as readers.

In their final timelines, they should include all types of experiences with reading that have shaped who they are as readers today and illustrate the timeline using meaningful images, such as book cover art for favorite books, photos of characters or readers who have inspired them, elements of locations that they have visited or would like to visit, etc.

When students have finished their timelines, post them around the room and encourage wandering. Ask students to look for and note commonalities in their classmates’ work. You might even hang blank sheets of paper underneath each one so that students can post comments.

Reconvene as a class for discussion. Ask: What reading experiences have been most influential in your life? How were you encouraged and discouraged to become a reader? What did you learn about yourself by creating your timeline? What did you learn about classmates by looking at their timelines? What did your classmates’ timelines make you think about? Do you consider yourself “literate”? Why or why not? By what definition? Is it important to you to be “literate”? Why or why not?

Going further | Here are several ideas for taking this activity further:

• Students use the freewriting they did during the warm-up and their timelines as the basis for crafting short autobiographies of themselves as readers. They might use “I Was a Teenage Illiterate” as a model for their autobiographical essay, starting, as Ms. Schine did, with an assessment of themselves as readers today, then delving into their pasts as readers (using their timelines), discussing formative reading experiences, and finishing with a look forward to their possible futures as readers. Alternatively, they read Chapter 1 of Italo Calvino’s “If On a Winter’s Night A Traveler” and use it as a model for writing about their own reading histories, focused on one book that had a powerful impact on them.
• Students bring in an influential children’s book or excerpt from a novel to share aloud with classmates for a read-around, along with the relevant section of their autobiography.
• Lead a field trip to, or encourage students to visit, your school or local library or bookstore so that students can browse books that interest them. Then, have students create lists imagining their futures as readers. What books do they dream of reading? Why? Encourage them to think about what kinds of literacy they value and build their own personal reading list to reflect those values.
• Circulate a variety of book lists, such as the College Board’s 101 Great Books , the American Library Association Booklists , Listology’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die or one of the “Great Books” lists . As students browse the lists, discuss what kinds of works are included and what or whose values these lists reflect.
• Start an independent reading project in which students undertake one or more of the books they have dreamed of reading.

Standards | From McREL , for grades 6-12:

Language Arts 1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process 5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process 6. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts 7. Uses the general skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts 8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes

Life Skills: Working With Others 1. Contributes to the overall effort of a group 4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills

Arts and Communication 3. Uses critical and creative thinking in various arts and communication settings 4. Understands ways in which the human experience is transmitted and reflected in the arts and communication 5. Knows a range of arts and communication works from various historical and cultural periods

Comments are no longer being accepted.

What's Next

Personal Reading History Essay

When I was a younger I don’t remember if I was read to or not, but I read a lot of books. I enjoy reading books because they allow me to reach new heights in my imagination. At my age many kids say that reading is boring and is for losers. I think it’s cool to read and will continue to read throughout my life. I have read many different types of books from fiction to biographies. The longest book I ever read was a book called Dragon Rider by Cornella Funke.

It was five hundred and thirty five pages! When it comes to reading I am a superstar!

When I’m reading I am able to get a moral lesson from what I read, so it ends up helping me in the long run of my life I have had numerous amounts of positive reading experiences, but I haven’t really had a lot of bad reading experiences.

One of those times was when I was in seventh grade and my class was reading “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” by Shakespeare. The vocabulary was very was difficult to understand because it was old English and we had to learn an almost new vocabulary compared to the one I already knew. I usually can understand what an author is trying to get across but I couldn’t really grasp the meaning this particular time.

Personal Reading History

It took me a while to get it, but I understood in the end.

Proficient in: Communication

“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”

Now, I challenge myself when it comes to old English plays because I like to see how well rounded I am in all types of writing and reading. Even though this was a difficult task for me when I was reading, it was also positive because it challenged me to stop and really pay attention so that I was able to see the real moral of the story and understand the text. The ability to understand old English got easier for me over time and now it’s one of the things I excel at when reading.

Even though the experience was negative, it gave me positive input and made me a better reader. My upbringing has affected me a lot as a reader. I was alone a lot, so I picked up books to read. As a child I just liked fantasy so I would read a lot of fiction books. Also, I think my mom used to read to me and she encouraged me to read when I could. She also taught me to finish something if I started it, and that carried over to my reading. If I start reading a book I always finish it and do my best to understand it. So, she instilled what I know about reading and she influenced the way I read.

She always told me, when I was younger, to pronounce my words right so that when I get older I would pronounce my words right. All that she has said to me and taught me when I was coming up as a younger child helped me get to the level of reading I am on today and also to the level of understanding I have of all the words I read. Without her encouraging me in this way I would have had problems understanding things that I read and wouldn’t be as smart as I have grown to be. I am very thankful of how I was brought up as a kid. When I’m reading, it doesn’t really matter where I read.

When I’m reading I go into a different world and get to a place where I feel as if I’m part of the story and can relate to the main character and what he or she is going through. Also, when I’m reading I think the best place for me would be where it’s quiet because I find it easier to concentrate in silence. I also read better when I’m upset because it gives me an outlet to release anger and allows me to get my work done. All throughout my life, I’ve had many good experiences reading. When it comes to reading, for me, good reading just comes naturally.

Cite this page

Personal Reading History Essay. (2019, Dec 05). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-personal-reading-history/

"Personal Reading History Essay." PaperAp.com , 5 Dec 2019, https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-personal-reading-history/

PaperAp.com. (2019). Personal Reading History Essay . [Online]. Available at: https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-personal-reading-history/ [Accessed: 14 Apr. 2024]

"Personal Reading History Essay." PaperAp.com, Dec 05, 2019. Accessed April 14, 2024. https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-personal-reading-history/

"Personal Reading History Essay," PaperAp.com , 05-Dec-2019. [Online]. Available: https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-personal-reading-history/. [Accessed: 14-Apr-2024]

PaperAp.com. (2019). Personal Reading History Essay . [Online]. Available at: https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-personal-reading-history/ [Accessed: 14-Apr-2024]

• Reading As a Personal Way of Life Pages: 2 (356 words)
• Essay on Choral Reading Pages: 5 (1416 words)
• Recitation: Choral Reading Pages: 5 (1384 words)
• Poetry Reading Test #4 Questions and Answers Pages: 1 (245 words)
• Walt Whitman: Reading Quiz Pages: 2 (515 words)
• reading - poetry of sandra cisneros, nikki giovanni and theodore Pages: 2 (435 words)
• Reading Literature Vocabulary Pages: 8 (2326 words)
• Reading Standards for Literature Vocabulary Pages: 6 (1649 words)
• LIT 12 Beowulf Reading Check Pages: 1 (117 words)
• Rhetorical Reading Strategies And The Construction Of Meaning Pages: 1 (290 words)

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game New
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• Autobiographies
• Personal Profiles

How to Write a Personal History

Last Updated: December 28, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Pete Canalichio . Pete Canalichio is a Brand Strategist, Licensing Expert, and Founder of BrandAlive. With nearly 30 years of experience at companies such as Coca-Cola and Newell Brands, he specializes in helping brands find the most authentic parts of their story to build a brand strategy. Pete holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in Physics from the United States Naval Academy. In 2006, he won an MVP Award from Newell Brands for his contributions to their Global Licensing department. He’s also penned the award-winning book, Expand, Grow, Thrive. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 90% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 177,070 times.

Writing your personal history is something that you may do either as part of an application or as a literary endeavor. In a personal statement for an application, you will need to provide information about history that proves you have the knowledge and experience necessary to perform certain tasks. A personal history, written for your own enjoyment or for publication, will relate your life’s story, requiring some research and a much larger time commitment. With some preparation and a little time management, you will be able to write a strong personal history that will impress an application committee or entertain readers.

Writing a Personal Statement for an Application

• For example, if you are applying to get into medical school and a graduate program in English somewhere else, you will want to avoid spending a lot of time highlighting your extensive medical knowledge in the English application or your remarkable writing skills in the medical school application. Although a review committee might be impressed that you have such diverse interests, they also want to make sure that you have the requisite knowledge to be in the program.

• However, this does not mean that your statement should be formulaic or bland. Follow the guidelines, but give your readers something exciting or memorable to take away from your letter.
• In general medical and law schools ask for a more open-ended personal statement. One the other hand, business and graduate schools tend to ask specific questions. However, each application is different and has it owns guidelines, so be sure to follow those.

• Avoid going off on tangents. Consider whether or not a certain topic fits in your overall theme. If it does not, do not include it.

• Briefly introduce yourself and then provide the framework that the rest of the essay will follow. Allude to things you will discuss later, but do not give it all away.
• Avoid clichés like “my names is Steve and I’m applying to join your program” or “Allow me to introduce myself…”

• For example, if you are applying for medical school, list any experience you have volunteering in a clinic or specific pre-med courses that you found particularly interesting.
• If you are applying for graduate school, be sure to discuss any relevant scholars you like or books you find particularly interesting.

• Avoid clichés like “thank you for taking the time to consider my application” or “It is my sincere hope that you will grant me the opportunity to attend your school.”

• You can also ask someone else to proofread your essay for you. It is often hard for most people to adequately proofread their own writing, so finding someone to read your statement will likely make it better.

Creating Your Own Personal History

• Some examples of important documents might be your birth certificate, photographs or videos of you, correspondence (letters and emails) with other people, and old social media posts.

• Many cellphones have a recording function that will help you save your interviews.

• Try creating a spreadsheet that lists all of the sources that you would like to use. This will help you find them quickly and not lose them.

• You can organize your story thematically to emphasize important interests or life lessons. For example, if you want to highlight your skills as an athlete, you may only mention the life events that are relevant to that subject.
• You can also chronologically format your history to tell a sequential story. Start with the earliest relevant event and move forward in time from there.
• Ultimately, it is up to you how you organize your story, find a style that makes sense and tells your history.

• Try setting a timer for 45 minutes and write until it goes off. Then, take a 15 minute break and start writing again once those 15 minutes are up. Repeat this process as long as you feel fresh and engaged in your writing.
• Find a writing schedule that works best for you.

• If you are publishing your personal history, you will have to work with an editor to get your manuscript ready for publishing. In this circumstance, the editor’s comments often need to be addressed in the manuscript.

Developing Good Writing Habits

• A journal might be useful for freewriting. It will allow you to jot ideas down if you are on the go.

• Keep your documents in a digital spreadsheet for quick reference. You could also organize them in folders if that is more convenient.

• Consider sharing your outline or timeline with someone who you believe will give you good feedback.

• Avoid loud and busy spaces. These can be audibly and visibly distracting. Although it might be cool to work in a coffee shop, it is not an ideal place to write.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing a personal history, check out our in-depth interview with Pete Canalichio .

• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/642/
• ↑ http://www.williamcronon.net/researching/documents.htm
• ↑ https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~jklumpp/comm712/narrative.html
• ↑ https://www.inc.com/glenn-leibowitz/8-simple-writing-strategies-that-helped-stephen-king-sell-350-million-books.html
• ↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/pw-select/article/59767-why-all-self-publishers-need-a-good-editor.html
• ↑ https://www.grinnell.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Writing-Personal-Statements-for-Scholarship-Applications.pdf
• ↑ http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/outline.html
• ↑ https://lifehacker.com/how-to-stick-to-a-writing-schedule-1653234644

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Apr 5, 2016

Is this article up to date?

Nov 25, 2017

Mar 11, 2017

Joniecia Carter

Jun 6, 2016

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve

Holman Library

Reading Apprenticeship at Green River College

Personal reading history.

• RA Framework
• Getting Started with RA
• 25-word summary
• Gallery Walk
• Graphic Organizers
• Metacognition
• Question-Answer Relationships (QAR)
• Reader Strategy Lists (RSL)
• Reading/Evidence Logs
• Talking to the Text
• Text Features/Structures
• Think-Aloud
• Vertical Text Sets
• Word Meaning and Structure
• RA Articles
• Help at GRC

Definition and Use

Help students create a Personal Reading History by thinking about and depicting key events in their development as a reader. When students can reflect on and analyze their past reading experiences, it is easier to develop better reading skills in the future.

Michele Lesmeister's (RTC) Class Creates a Personal Reading History

Websites about Creating a Personal Reading History

• What's Your Reading History? Reflecting on the Self as Reader From the NY Times's Education blog. 3/4/2010.
• Reading Histories: Reflecting on the Self as Reader "What does it mean to be literate? How do our reading experiences shape who we are? In this lesson, students reflect on a formative reading experience and use it as a springboard for tracing their reading lives by creating timelines to reflect past and present experiences."

Ready-To-Use Templates - Personal Reading History

Click on the links below to access ready-to-use PDF files of Personal Reading History templates created by Michele Lesmeister.

• Personal Reading History Template A
• Personal Reading History Template B
• << Previous: Modeling
• Next: Question-Answer Relationships (QAR) >>
• Last Updated: Mar 5, 2024 6:09 PM
• URL: https://libguides.greenriver.edu/ReadingApprenticeship

• Undergraduate
• High School
• Architecture
• American History
• Asian History
• Antique Literature
• American Literature
• Asian Literature
• Classic English Literature
• World Literature
• Creative Writing
• Linguistics
• Criminal Justice
• Legal Issues
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Political Science
• World Affairs
• African-American Studies
• East European Studies
• Latin-American Studies
• Native-American Studies
• West European Studies
• Family and Consumer Science
• Social Issues
• Women and Gender Studies
• Social Work
• Natural Sciences
• Pharmacology
• Earth science
• Agriculture
• Agricultural Studies
• Computer Science
• IT Management
• Mathematics
• Investments
• Engineering and Technology
• Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Medicine and Health
• Alternative Medicine
• Communications and Media
• Advertising
• Communication Strategies
• Public Relations
• Educational Theories
• Teacher's Career
• Chicago/Turabian
• Company Analysis
• Education Theories
• Shakespeare
• Canadian Studies
• Food Safety
• Relation of Global Warming and Extreme Weather Condition
• Movie Review
• Admission Essay
• Annotated Bibliography
• Application Essay
• Article Critique
• Article Review
• Article Writing
• Book Review
• Business Plan
• Business Proposal
• Capstone Project
• Cover Letter
• Creative Essay
• Dissertation
• Dissertation - Abstract
• Dissertation - Conclusion
• Dissertation - Discussion
• Dissertation - Hypothesis
• Dissertation - Introduction
• Dissertation - Literature
• Dissertation - Methodology
• Dissertation - Results
• GCSE Coursework
• Grant Proposal
• Marketing Plan
• Multiple Choice Quiz
• Personal Statement
• Power Point Presentation
• Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes
• Questionnaire
• Reaction Paper
• Research Paper
• Research Proposal
• SWOT analysis
• Thesis Paper
• Online Quiz
• Literature Review
• Movie Analysis
• Statistics problem
• Math Problem
• All papers examples
• How It Works
• Money Back Policy
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• We Are Hiring

Reading History, Essay Example

Pages: 1

Words: 292

Hire a Writer for Custom Essay

Use 10% Off Discount: "custom10" in 1 Click 👇

You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

Reading has always been part of my lifestyle. Ever since I was young, I can remember the manner in which my parents would ensure that I would read a minimum of one book per week. Of course, no young child enjoys reading, but as I grew older, I became more and more of literature. One memorable reading experience that I can clearly remember is Christmas dinner with my family. At the time, I was reading “ Paradise Lost ” by John Milton. Although my belief in God was wavering at the time, the book inspired me that very Christmas Day to believe that there was, indeed, something or someone out there taking care of us all. The lowest point in my reading history was my uncle ’ s funeral. I recall reading “ Inferno ” by Dan Brown at the time, so now, every time I come across that book, I reminisce of that horrible day. I always empathize with the literature that I am reading, so whatever emotion the characters are feeling, I try my best to feel that way. This ends up giving me goosebumps as I read and it maintains me intrigued and delved into the literature. Because of this method I use, I always feel like an insider when reading books. The biggest contributing factor to my literacy development are my parents. They always provided me with an environment where reading was not only encouraged, but expected. I know for a fact that if I had not been raised in such an environment, I would not enjoy books as much as I do today. Fortunately, I do not believe there have been any contributing factors that discouraged my fascination for books.

Stuck with your Essay?

Get in touch with one of our experts for instant help!

Goals and Objectives for Student With Exceptionalities, Essay Example

Feelings and Meaning, Essay Example

Time is precious

don’t waste it!

Plagiarism-free guarantee

Privacy guarantee

Secure checkout

Money back guarantee

Related Essay Samples & Examples

Voting as a civic responsibility, essay example.

Words: 287

Utilitarianism and Its Applications, Essay Example

Words: 356

The Age-Related Changes of the Older Person, Essay Example

Pages: 2

Words: 448

The Problems ESOL Teachers Face, Essay Example

Pages: 8

Words: 2293

Should English Be the Primary Language? Essay Example

Pages: 4

Words: 999

The Term “Social Construction of Reality”, Essay Example

Words: 371

Reading: Harvard Views of Readers, Readership, and Reading History

This digital collection explores the intellectual, cultural, and political history of reading as reflected in the historical holdings of the Harvard's libraries.

Materials in the collection include: 

• personally annotated books owned by John Keats, Herman Melville, Hester Lynch Piozzi, and others
• William Wordsworth's private library catalog
• commonplace books used by Joseph Conrad, Washington Irving, Victor Hugo, and more
• records of the Harvard College Library that reveal the reading activities of Emerson, Longfellow, and Thoreau
• historical textbooks that document the principles, and some of the biases, in reading instruction from the 18th to the early 20th centuries
• more than 250,000 pages from 1,200 individual items from the Harvard collections, including 800 books and 400 manuscript selections

Accessing These Materials

• Items in this collection are  available online .
• The original website for this collection is available through the Internet Archive .
• email: Email
• Phone number 617-496-3108

Reading history

Some suggestions on critically evaluating your reading in history.

Historians commonly distinguish between primary sources and secondary sources. A primary source is a source created at the time of the event you are interested in — an eyewitness account, a newspaper editorial, a set of letters, a manuscript census return, a photograph, even a physical artifact such as the ruins of a house. A secondary source is an account or interpretation of the event which is based, in turn, on primary sources. Thus a work of history is a secondary source.

In reading a work of history (a secondary source), the place to begin is to seek out the author’s main points — to find out what she is trying to tell you. Only when you understand what it is she wants to convince you, can you begin to ask critical questions about the book or article. Basic to this task is the distinction between theme and thesis (plural, theses). Essentially the theme is what the book or article is about; the thesis is what it attempts to prove. All books have a theme, or topic; good ones have both a theme and a thesis (or, in fact, several theses with one or two dominant ones which run through the entire work). A thesis is often quite simple and direct, not necessarily an extremely subtle or brilliantly new idea. But it is an idea which needs explanation and defense before you, the reader, can be expected to agree to it.

The main theses of a work are usually to be found stated clearly in the introductory chapter and the final chapter. In a chapter or essay, they will usually appear at the beginning and near the conclusion. So these are the parts to read first. You probably don’t need to read each page consecutively, from page 1 to page 488. Instead, rapidly read through the preface, introduction, and conclusion. Also, look over the table of contents, bibliography, and footnotes. Rather quickly you ought to be able to get a sense of the scope of the book or essay and of its central points or theses. Similarly, glance over each chapter before reading it more carefully. Generally you will find that the details of the argument, the examples, the dates and names, stick with you much more easily when you understand their place in the over-all argument which the work is making.

If a history book is reasonably clearly laid out, you ought to be able to read and evaluate it in a couple of hours or so. Try it — test yourself! Give yourself, say, 45 minutes to look over a history book, after which you will write a page describing the main points of the book. This won’t work with a textbook, which is too big and compressed and will probably have to be read more slowly — but you could do it with each chapter of a textbook.

Having figured out what the author is saying, how do you critically appraise the work? Unfortunately, some students find this difficult because they think such an appraisal requires that one be an authority in the field with which the book deals. Obviously, if you are an authority it makes the job of evaluation easier. But, equally so, to be an authority on every book you read is rarely the case for anyone; even a world authority on a given subject reads books in fields in which he or she is relatively uninformed. Yet he must try, if he is to be a thoughtful person, to come to some conclusions as to the value of the book. Likewise, you may not be an authority comparable to the authors you read, but you can exercise your critical faculties on the interpretations they advance.

You can do this not by attempting to impugn or dispute the evidence — that generally requires considerable expertise in the field — but by trying to see whether the evidence actually supports the conclusions the author draws, or whether it adds up to what she asserts it does. As you read, questions should rise in your mind:

• Are the author’s examples representative or only exceptions?
• Does she offer sufficient examples to illustrate the case thoroughly, and to suggest that many more examples could have been introduced had space permitted?
• Does the view agree with views you have read about elsewhere or with what you know from personal experience?
• Does the author interpret a bit of evidence in one way, but you can see that it might logically be interpreted equally well in another fashion?
• Does she explicitly acknowledge arguments contrary to her own, and convincingly explain why they are inadequate?

Such questions as the above rely on a distinction between fact and interpretation. Actually, this distinction is rather difficult to delineate. The more you read and think about history, the more you will recognize that the line between fact and interpretation is not at all clear. This is so partly because large numbers of so-called “facts” are actually generalizations or interpretations, but have attained the status of “facts” because they are so well established that no one argues about them. For example, it is a fact, in this sense, that in the sixteenth century the influx of gold from America into western Europe caused a marked rise in prices. Obviously this is not a fact of the same order as the statement, “Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809,” but both have more in common with each other than with the statement, “There is some reason to believe that the Negro suffered less than any other class in the South from slavery.” The latter assertion is clearly an interpretation — a conclusion drawn by the author from his study of the history of the pre-Civil War South. It may be true, it may be exaggerated, it may be wrong; but immediately upon reading it we recognize that this is not something everyone accepts.

Another problem with the fact-interpretation distinction is that historians, like all social observers, select their facts. That is, they choose from an infinite number of data about everything that ever happened in the past. But their choice of facts is shaped by the questions they ask. The facts are not simply lying there, waiting for the observer to come along and put them in the “correct” pattern. The facts are selected depending on the author’s questions and methodological approach. We might even say that without interpretation, there can be no facts. For more on this subject, see chapter one of E.H. Carr, What Is History?

Critical reading does not necessarily mean disagreement with the author’s thesis or evidence. But if you agree, you should know why you agree. Similarly, you should be able to explain why you disagree and to think of evidence supporting your opinion. It is important to be specific in either case. Only by giving specific reasons why you agree or disagree with a point made by the author can you make clear what your own standards of judgment are.

Bearing in mind that these questions often will not work, you might find the following helpful some of the time:

• What seem to be the author’s assumptions and values? (Sometimes these are not directly stated.) What kind of academic training or other experience did the author have? What kinds of evidence does the author feel comfortable using? Whom does he appear to be addressing? Why does he think the topic is significant? Does he seem to subscribe to some ideological system such as Marxism (but don’t let it prejudice you against the writer)?
• How does the work relate to other reading in the course, or other books you’ve read? How does it relate to your personal experience?
• If the author is correct, so what? Does the work suggest further questions or problems to be examined? Does it change our view of the past or of the present?

If each good work of history has a thesis that the author is trying to elaborate and defend, that implies that historical writing is a kind of ongoing debate about the past. Historians occasionally bring to light new evidence — new facts — but for the most part, they debate issues of interpretation.

No serious historian doubts that the Holocaust occurred, for example, but they are still debating many questions about the Holocaust.

• Was the event a logical outcome of deeply-rooted antisemitic attitudes in German (and European) culture or was it an aberration?
• Did most Germans know about and support the Holocaust?
• Was it a unique event or should we view it as one among many attempts in world history to destroy entire peoples?
• What have been the effects of the event on postwar European politics and culture?

Discussion centers on why and how an event took place and what the consequences of the event have been. This applies not only to the Holocaust but to many other events of the past from the voyages of Columbus to the invention of the computer.

In your reading, then, you should not expect that historians will always agree, and you should not write a paper by trying to add up everything they say about a subject and assuming that the sum equals “the truth.” Instead, look for areas of disagreement, issues that people seem to be discussing and debating and on which two or more interpretive ideas seem to have taken shape. Those unsettled areas are the ones your professor is likely to want to discuss in class. They are the ones where you yourself can most readily make a contribution as a writer of history.

– Kirk Jeffrey, July 1999

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

19 Standards of Historical Writing

In this chapter, you will learn the basic expectations for writing an undergrad history research paper. At this point in your college career, you’ve likely had a great deal of instruction about writing and you may be wondering why this chapter is here. There are at least three reasons:

• For some of you, those lessons about writing came before you were ready to appreciate or implement them. If you know your writing skills are weak, you should not only pay close attention to this chapter, but also submit early drafts of your work to the History Tutoring Center (at UTA) or another writing coach. Only practice and multiple drafts will improve those skills.
• Those of you who were paying attention in composition courses know the basics, but may lack a good understanding of the format and approach of scholarly writing in history. Other disciplines permit more generalities and relaxed associations than history, which is oriented toward specific contexts and (often, but not always) linear narratives. Moreover, because historians work in a subject often read by non-academics, they place a greater emphasis on clearing up jargon and avoiding convoluted sentence structure. In other words, the standards of historical writing are high and the guidelines that follow will help you reach them.
• Every writer, no matter how confident or experienced, faces writing blocks. Going back to the fundamental structures and explanations may help you get past the blank screen by supplying prompts to help you get started.

As you read the following guide, keep in mind that it represents only our perspective on the basic standards. In all writing, even history research papers, there is room for stylistic variation and elements of a personal style. But one of the standards of historical writing is that only those who fully understand the rules can break them successfully. If you regularly violate the rule against passive voice verb construction or the need for full subject-predicate sentences, you cannot claim the use of sentence fragments or passive voice verbs is “just your style.” Those who normally observe those grammatical rules, in contrast, might on occasion violate them for effect. The best approach is first to demonstrate to your instructor that you can follow rules of grammar and essay structure before you experiment or stray too far from the advice below.

Introductions

Introductions are nearly impossible to get right the first time. Thus, one of the best strategies for writing an introduction to your history essay is to keep it “bare bones” in the first draft, initially working only toward a version that covers the basic requirements. After you’ve written the full paper (and realized what you’re really trying to say, which usually differs from your initial outline), you can come back to the intro and re-draft it accordingly. However, don’t use the likelihood of re-writing your first draft to avoid writing one. Introductions provide templates not only for your readers, but also for you, the writer. A decent “bare bones” introduction can minimize writer’s block as a well-written thesis statement provides a road map for each section of the paper.

So what are the basic requirements? In an introduction, you must:

• Pose a worthwhile question or problem that engages your reader
• Establish that your sources are appropriate for answering the question, and thus that you are a trustworthy guide without unfair biases
• Convince your reader that they will be able to follow your explanation by laying out a clear thesis statement.

Engaging readers in an introduction

When you initiated your research, you asked questions as a part of the process of narrowing your topic (see the “Choosing and Narrowing a Topic” chapter for more info). If all went according to plan, the information you found as you evaluated your primary sources allowed you to narrow your question further, as well as arrive at a plausible answer, or explanation for the problem you posed. (If it didn’t, you’ll need to repeat the process, and either vary your questions or expand your sources. Consult your instructor, who can help identify what contribution your research into a set of primary sources can achieve.) The key task for your introduction is to frame your narrowed research question—or, in the words of some composition instructors, the previously assumed truth that your inquiries have destabilized—in a way that captures the attention of your readers. Common approaches to engaging readers include:

• Telling a short story (or vignette) from your research that illustrates the tension between what readers might have assumed before reading your paper and what you have found to be plausible instead.
• Stating directly what others believe to be true about your topic—perhaps using a quote from a scholar of the subject—and then pointing immediately to an aspect of your research that puts that earlier explanation into doubt.
• Revealing your most unexpected finding, before moving to explain the source that leads you to make the claim, then turning to the ways in which this finding expands our understanding of your topic.

What you do NOT want to do is begin with a far-reaching transhistorical claim about human nature or an open-ended rhetorical question about the nature of history. Grand and thus unprovable claims about “what history tells us” do not inspire confidence in readers. Moreover, such broadly focused beginnings require too much “drilling down” to get to your specific area of inquiry, words that risk losing readers’ interest. Last, beginning with generic ideas is not common to the discipline. Typical essay structures in history do not start broadly and steadily narrow over the course of the essay, like a giant inverted triangle. If thinking in terms of a geometric shape helps you to conceptualize what a good introduction does, think of your introduction as the top tip of a diamond instead. In analytical essays based on research, many history scholars begin with the specific circumstances that need explaining, then broaden out into the larger implications of their findings, before returning to the specifics in their conclusions—following the shape of a diamond.

Clear Thesis Statements

Under the standards of good scholarly writing in the United States—and thus those that should guide your paper—your introduction contains the main argument you will make in your essay. Elsewhere—most commonly in European texts—scholars sometimes build to their argument and reveal it fully only in the conclusion. Do not follow this custom in your essay. Include a well-written thesis statement somewhere in your introduction; it can be the first sentence of your essay, toward the end of the first paragraph, or even a page or so in, should you begin by setting the stage with a vignette. Wherever you place it, make sure your thesis statement meets the following standards:

A good thesis statement :

• Could be debated by informed scholars : Your claim should not be so obvious as to be logically impossible to argue against. Avoid the history equivalent of “the sky was blue.”
• Can be proven with the evidence at hand : In the allotted number of pages, you will need to introduce and explain at least three ways in which you can support your claim, each built on its own pieces of evidence. Making an argument about the role of weather on the outcome of the Civil War might be intriguing, given that such a claim questions conventional explanations for the Union’s victory. But a great deal of weather occurred in four years and Civil War scholars have established many other arguments you would need to counter, making such an argument impossible to establish in the length of even a long research paper. But narrowing the claim—to a specific battle or from a single viewpoint—could make such an argument tenable. Often in student history papers, the thesis incorporates the main primary source into the argument. For example, “As his journal and published correspondence between 1861 and 1864 reveal, Colonel Mustard believed that a few timely shifts in Tennessee’s weather could have altered the outcome of the war.”
• Is specific without being insignificant : Along with avoiding the obvious, stay away from the arcane. “Between 1861 and 1864, January proved to be the worst month for weather in Central Tennessee.” Though this statement about the past is debatable and possible to support with evidence about horrible weather in January and milder-by-comparison weather in other months, it lacks import because it’s not connected to knowledge that concerns historians. Thesis statements should either explicitly or implicitly speak to current historical knowledge—which they can do by refining, reinforcing, nuancing, or expanding what (an)other scholar(s) wrote about a critical event or person.
• P rovide s a “roadmap” to readers : Rather than just state your main argument, considering outlining the key aspects of it, each of which will form a main section of the body of the paper. When you echo these points in transitions between sections, readers will realize they’ve completed one aspect of your argument and are beginning a new part of it. To demonstrate this practice by continuing the fictional Colonel Mustard example above: “As his journal and published correspondence between 1861 and 1864 reveals, Colonel Mustard believed that Tennessee’s weather was critical to the outcome of the Civil War. He linked both winter storms and spring floods in Tennessee to the outcome of key battles and highlighted the weather’s role in tardy supply transport in the critical year of 1863.” Such a thesis cues the reader that evidence and explanations about 1) winter storms; 2) spring floods; and 3) weather-slowed supply transport that will form the main elements of the essay.

Thesis Statement Practice

More Thesis Statement Practice

The Body of the Paper

What makes a good paragraph.

While an engaging introduction and solid conclusion are important, the key to drafting a good essay is to write good paragraphs. That probably seems obvious, but too many students treat paragraphs as just a collection of a few sentences without considering the logic and rules that make a good paragraph. In essence, in a research paper such as the type required in a history course, for each paragraph you should follow the same rules as the paper itself. That is, a good paragraph has a topic sentence, evidence that builds to make a point, and a conclusion that ties the point to the larger argument of the paper. On one hand, given that it has so much work to do, paragraphs are three sentences , at a minimum . On the other hand, because paragraphs should be focused to making a single point, they are seldom more than six to seven sentences . Though rules about number of sentences are not hard and fast, keeping the guidelines in mind can help you construct tightly focused paragraphs in which your evidence is fully explained.

Topic sentences

The first sentence of every paragraph in a research paper (or very occasionally the second) should state a claim that you will defend in the paragraph . Every sentence in the paragraph should contribute to that topic. If you read back over your paragraph and find that you have included several different ideas, the paragraph lacks focus. Go back, figure out the job that this paragraph needs to do—showing why an individual is important, establishing that many accept an argument that you plan on countering, explaining why a particular primary source can help answer your research question, etc. Then rework your topic sentence until it correctly frames the point you need to make. Next, cut out (and likely move) the sentences that don’t contribute to that outcome. The sentences you removed may well help you construct the next paragraph, as they could be important ideas, just not ones that fit with the topic of the current paragraph. Every sentence needs to be located in a paragraph with a topic sentence that alerts the reader about what’s to come.

Transitions/Bridges/Conclusion sentences in paragraphs

All good writers help their readers by including transition sentences or phrases in their paragraphs, often either at the paragraph’s end or as an initial phrase in the topic sentence. A transition sentence can either connect two sections of the paper or provide a bridge from one paragraph to the next. These sentences clarify how the evidence discussed in the paragraph ties into the thesis of the paper and help readers follow the argument. Such a sentence is characterized by a clause that summarizes the info above, and points toward the agenda of the next paragraph. For example, if the current section of your paper focused on the negative aspects of your subject’s early career, but your thesis maintains he was a late-developing military genius, a transition between part one (on the negative early career) and part two (discussing your first piece of evidence revealing genius) might note that “These initial disastrous strategies were not a good predictor of General Smith’s mature years, however, as his 1841 experience reveals.” Such a sentence underscores for the reader what has just been argued (General Smith had a rough start) and sets up what’s to come (1841 was a critical turning point).

Explaining Evidence

Just as transitional sentences re-state points already made for clarity’s sake, “stitching” phrases or sentences that set-up and/or follow quotations from sources provide a certain amount of repetition. Re-stating significant points of analysis using different terms is one way you explain your evidence. Another way is by never allowing a quote from a source to stand on its own, as though its meaning was self-evident. It isn’t and indeed, what you, the writer, believes to be obvious seldom is. When in doubt, explain more.

For more about when to use a quotation and how to set it up see “How to quote” in the next section on Notes and Quotation.”

Conclusio ns

There exists one basic rule for conclusions: Summarize the paper you have written . Do not introduce new ideas, launch briefly into a second essay based on a different thesis, or claim a larger implication based on research not yet completed. This final paragraph is NOT a chance to comment on “what history tells us” or other lessons for humankind. Your conclusion should rest, more or less, on your thesis, albeit using different language from the introduction and evolved, or enriched, by examples discussed throughout the paper. Keep your conclusion relevant and short, and you’ll be fine.

For a checklist of things you need before you write or a rubric to evaluate your writing click here

How History is Made: A Student’s Guide to Reading, Writing, and Thinking in the Discipline Copyright © 2022 by Stephanie Cole; Kimberly Breuer; Scott W. Palmer; and Brandon Blakeslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Jump to navigation

• Inside Writing
• Teacher's Guides
• Student Models
• Writing Topics
• Minilessons
• Shopping Cart
• Inside Grammar
• Grammar Adventures
• CCSS Correlations
• Infographics

Sign up or login to use the bookmarking feature.

Reading a Personal Essay

You've probably written many personal narratives over the course of your schooling, but this may be your first personal essay. Instead of focusing on one brief event in your life, you will focus on a series of events over a longer period. As a result, you'll need to be selective about what events you report, and you'll need to tie them together so that they create a clear narrative arc. You can get a sense of how to do so by reading another student's personal essay.

Reading a Student Model

Read the following personal essay, in which Carson reflects on a winter of discontent and the surprising creative outlet that he discovered. Note how he zooms in to specific events with description and dialogue before zooming out with transition sentences to show the progress of time. Click on the side notes to see the different features of this personal essay.

Teaching Tip

This is a long personal essay, and some less-experienced students might feel daunted by it. They are often worried about what the page count or word count should be for their own writing. Put them at ease. The length of the narrative doesn't matter, only that it tells a compelling story about a significant period that changed who they are. Tell students to take as much—or as little—space as they need to tell their stories. Also encourage them to dig in to the events, showing readers just what this time period meant to them.

© 2024 Thoughtful Learning. Copying is permitted.

k12.thoughtfullearning.com

Francis Collins: Why I’m going public with my prostate cancer diagnosis

I served medical research. now it’s serving me. and i don’t want to waste time..

Over my 40 years as a physician-scientist, I’ve had the privilege of advising many patients facing serious medical diagnoses. I’ve seen them go through the excruciating experience of waiting for the results of a critical blood test, biopsy or scan that could dramatically affect their future hopes and dreams.

But this time, I was the one lying in the PET scanner as it searched for possible evidence of spread of my aggressive prostate cancer . I spent those 30 minutes in quiet prayer. If that cancer had already spread to my lymph nodes, bones, lungs or brain, it could still be treated — but it would no longer be curable.

Why am I going public about this cancer that many men are uncomfortable talking about? Because I want to lift the veil and share lifesaving information, and I want all men to benefit from the medical research to which I’ve devoted my career and that is now guiding my care.

Five years before that fateful PET scan, my doctor had noted a slow rise in my PSA, the blood test for prostate-specific antigen. To contribute to knowledge and receive expert care, I enrolled in a clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health, the agency I led from 2009 through late 2021.

At first, there wasn’t much to worry about — targeted biopsies identified a slow-growing grade of prostate cancer that doesn’t require treatment and can be tracked via regular checkups, referred to as “active surveillance.” This initial diagnosis was not particularly surprising. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the United States, and about 40 percent of men over age 65 — I’m 73 — have low-grade prostate cancer . Many of them never know it, and very few of them develop advanced disease.

Why am I going public about this cancer that many men are uncomfortable talking about? Because I want to lift the veil and share lifesaving information.

But in my case, things took a turn about a month ago when my PSA rose sharply to 22 — normal at my age is less than 5. An MRI scan showed that the tumor had significantly enlarged and might have even breached the capsule that surrounds the prostate, posing a significant risk that the cancer cells might have spread to other parts of the body.

New biopsies taken from the mass showed transformation into a much more aggressive cancer. When I heard the diagnosis was now a 9 on a cancer-grading scale that goes only to 10, I knew that everything had changed.

Thus, that PET scan, which was ordered to determine if the cancer had spread beyond the prostate, carried high significance. Would a cure still be possible, or would it be time to get my affairs in order? A few hours later, when my doctors showed me the scan results, I felt a rush of profound relief and gratitude. There was no detectable evidence of cancer outside of the primary tumor.

Later this month, I will undergo a radical prostatectomy — a procedure that will remove my entire prostate gland. This will be part of the same NIH research protocol — I want as much information as possible to be learned from my case, to help others in the future.

While there are no guarantees, my doctors believe I have a high likelihood of being cured by the surgery.

My situation is far better than my father’s when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer four decades ago. He was about the same age that I am now, but it wasn’t possible back then to assess how advanced the cancer might be. He was treated with a hormonal therapy that might not have been necessary and had a significant negative impact on his quality of life.

Because of research supported by NIH, along with highly effective collaborations with the private sector, prostate cancer can now be treated with individualized precision and improved outcomes.

As in my case, high-resolution MRI scans can now be used to delineate the precise location of a tumor. When combined with real-time ultrasound, this allows pinpoint targeting of the prostate biopsies. My surgeon will be assisted by a sophisticated robot named for Leonardo da Vinci that employs a less invasive surgical approach than previous techniques, requiring just a few small incisions.

Advances in clinical treatments have been informed by large-scale, rigorously designed trials that have assessed the risks and benefits and were possible because of the willingness of cancer patients to enroll in such trials.

I feel compelled to tell this story openly. I hope it helps someone. I don’t want to waste time.

If my cancer recurs, the DNA analysis that has been carried out on my tumor will guide the precise choice of therapies. As a researcher who had the privilege of leading the Human Genome Project , it is truly gratifying to see how these advances in genomics have transformed the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

I want all men to have the same opportunity that I did. Prostate cancer is still the No. 2 killer of men. I want the goals of the Cancer Moonshot to be met — to end cancer as we know it. Early detection really matters, and when combined with active surveillance can identify the risky cancers like mine, and leave the rest alone. The five-year relative survival rate for prostate cancer is 97 percent, according to the American Cancer Society , but it’s only 34 percent if the cancer has spread to distant areas of the body.

But lack of information and confusion about the best approach to prostate cancer screening have impeded progress. Currently, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all men age 55 to 69 discuss PSA screening with their primary-care physician, but it recommends against starting PSA screening after age 70.

Other groups, like the American Urological Association , suggest that screening should start earlier, especially for men with a family history — like me — and for African American men, who have a higher risk of prostate cancer. But these recommendations are not consistently being followed.

Our health-care system is afflicted with health inequities. For example, the image-guided biopsies are not available everywhere and to everyone. Finally, many men are fearful of the surgical approach to prostate cancer because of the risk of incontinence and impotence, but advances in surgical techniques have made those outcomes considerably less troublesome than in the past. Similarly, the alternative therapeutic approaches of radiation and hormonal therapy have seen significant advances.

A little over a year ago, while I was praying for a dying friend, I had the experience of receiving a clear and unmistakable message. This has almost never happened to me. It was just this: “Don’t waste your time, you may not have much left.” Gulp.

Having now received a diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer and feeling grateful for all the ways I have benefited from research advances, I feel compelled to tell this story openly. I hope it helps someone. I don’t want to waste time.

Francis S. Collins served as director of the National Institutes of Health from 2009 to 2021 and as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1993 to 2008. He is a physician-geneticist and leads a White House initiative to eliminate hepatitis C in the United States, while also continuing to pursue his research interests as a distinguished NIH investigator.

• Anxious about your first mammogram? Here’s what I learned. April 13, 2024 Anxious about your first mammogram? Here’s what I learned. April 13, 2024
• Medical Mysteries: Years of hives and fevers traced to a startling cause April 13, 2024 Medical Mysteries: Years of hives and fevers traced to a startling cause April 13, 2024
• Francis Collins: Why I’m going public with my prostate cancer diagnosis April 12, 2024 Francis Collins: Why I’m going public with my prostate cancer diagnosis April 12, 2024