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This guide is an introduction to selected resources available for historical research.  It covers both primary sources (such as diaries, letters, newspaper articles, photographs, government documents and first-hand accounts) and secondary materials (such as books and articles written by historians and devoted to the analysis and interpretation of historical events and evidence).

"Research in history involves developing an understanding of the past through the examination and interpretation of evidence. Evidence may exist in the form of texts, physical remains of historic sites, recorded data, pictures, maps, artifacts, and so on. The historian’s job is to find evidence, analyze its content and biases, corroborate it with further evidence, and use that evidence to develop an interpretation of past events that holds some significance for the present.

Historians use libraries to

• locate primary sources (first-hand information such as diaries, letters, and original documents) for evidence
• find secondary sources (historians’ interpretations and analyses of historical evidence)
• verify factual material as inconsistencies arise"

( Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age, Fifth Edition, by Diana Hacker and Barbara Fister, Bedford/St. Martin, 2010)

This guide is meant to help you work through these steps.

Other helpful guides

This is a list of other historical research guides you may find helpful:

• Learning Historical Research Learning to Do Historical Research: A Primer for Environmental Historians and Others by William Cronon and his students, University of Wisconsin A website designed as a basic introduction to historical research for anyone and everyone who is interested in exploring the past.
• Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students by Patrick Rael, Bowdoin College Guide to all aspects of historical scholarship—from reading a history book to doing primary source research to writing a history paper.
• Writing Historical Essays: A Guide for Undergraduates Rutgers History Department guide to writing historical essays
• History Study Guides History study guides created by the Carleton College History Department

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• URL: https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/introhist

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Home » Historical Research – Types, Methods and Examples

Historical Research – Types, Methods and Examples

Table of Contents

Historical Research

Definition:

Historical research is the process of investigating and studying past events, people, and societies using a variety of sources and methods. This type of research aims to reconstruct and interpret the past based on the available evidence.

Types of Historical Research

There are several types of historical research, including:

Descriptive Research

This type of historical research focuses on describing events, people, or cultures in detail. It can involve examining artifacts, documents, or other sources of information to create a detailed account of what happened or existed.

Analytical Research

This type of historical research aims to explain why events, people, or cultures occurred in a certain way. It involves analyzing data to identify patterns, causes, and effects, and making interpretations based on this analysis.

Comparative Research

This type of historical research involves comparing two or more events, people, or cultures to identify similarities and differences. This can help researchers understand the unique characteristics of each and how they interacted with each other.

Interpretive Research

This type of historical research focuses on interpreting the meaning of past events, people, or cultures. It can involve analyzing cultural symbols, beliefs, and practices to understand their significance in a particular historical context.

Quantitative Research

This type of historical research involves using statistical methods to analyze historical data. It can involve examining demographic information, economic indicators, or other quantitative data to identify patterns and trends.

Qualitative Research

This type of historical research involves examining non-numerical data such as personal accounts, letters, or diaries. It can provide insights into the experiences and perspectives of individuals during a particular historical period.

Data Collection Methods

Data Collection Methods are as follows:

• Archival research : This involves analyzing documents and records that have been preserved over time, such as government records, diaries, letters, newspapers, and photographs. Archival research is often conducted in libraries, archives, and museums.
• Oral history : This involves conducting interviews with individuals who have lived through a particular historical period or event. Oral history can provide a unique perspective on past events and can help to fill gaps in the historical record.
• Artifact analysis: This involves examining physical objects from the past, such as tools, clothing, and artwork, to gain insights into past cultures and practices.
• Secondary sources: This involves analyzing published works, such as books, articles, and academic papers, that discuss past events and cultures. Secondary sources can provide context and insights into the historical period being studied.
• Statistical analysis : This involves analyzing numerical data from the past, such as census records or economic data, to identify patterns and trends.
• Fieldwork : This involves conducting on-site research in a particular location, such as visiting a historical site or conducting ethnographic research in a particular community. Fieldwork can provide a firsthand understanding of the culture and environment being studied.
• Content analysis: This involves analyzing the content of media from the past, such as films, television programs, and advertisements, to gain insights into cultural attitudes and beliefs.

Data Analysis Methods

• Content analysis : This involves analyzing the content of written or visual material, such as books, newspapers, or photographs, to identify patterns and themes. Content analysis can be used to identify changes in cultural values and beliefs over time.
• Textual analysis : This involves analyzing written texts, such as letters or diaries, to understand the experiences and perspectives of individuals during a particular historical period. Textual analysis can provide insights into how people lived and thought in the past.
• Discourse analysis : This involves analyzing how language is used to construct meaning and power relations in a particular historical period. Discourse analysis can help to identify how social and political ideologies were constructed and maintained over time.
• Statistical analysis: This involves using statistical methods to analyze numerical data, such as census records or economic data, to identify patterns and trends. Statistical analysis can help to identify changes in population demographics, economic conditions, and other factors over time.
• Comparative analysis : This involves comparing data from two or more historical periods or events to identify similarities and differences. Comparative analysis can help to identify patterns and trends that may not be apparent from analyzing data from a single historical period.
• Qualitative analysis: This involves analyzing non-numerical data, such as oral history interviews or ethnographic field notes, to identify themes and patterns. Qualitative analysis can provide a rich understanding of the experiences and perspectives of individuals in the past.

Historical Research Methodology

Here are the general steps involved in historical research methodology:

• Define the research question: Start by identifying a research question that you want to answer through your historical research. This question should be focused, specific, and relevant to your research goals.
• Review the literature: Conduct a review of the existing literature on the topic of your research question. This can involve reading books, articles, and academic papers to gain a thorough understanding of the existing research.
• Develop a research design : Develop a research design that outlines the methods you will use to collect and analyze data. This design should be based on the research question and should be feasible given the resources and time available.
• Collect data: Use the methods outlined in your research design to collect data on past events, people, and cultures. This can involve archival research, oral history interviews, artifact analysis, and other data collection methods.
• Analyze data : Analyze the data you have collected using the methods outlined in your research design. This can involve content analysis, textual analysis, statistical analysis, and other data analysis methods.
• Interpret findings : Use the results of your data analysis to draw meaningful insights and conclusions related to your research question. These insights should be grounded in the data and should be relevant to the research goals.
• Communicate results: Communicate your findings through a research report, academic paper, or other means. This should be done in a clear, concise, and well-organized manner, with appropriate citations and references to the literature.

Applications of Historical Research

Historical research has a wide range of applications in various fields, including:

• Education : Historical research can be used to develop curriculum materials that reflect a more accurate and inclusive representation of history. It can also be used to provide students with a deeper understanding of past events and cultures.
• Museums : Historical research is used to develop exhibits, programs, and other materials for museums. It can provide a more accurate and engaging presentation of historical events and artifacts.
• Public policy : Historical research is used to inform public policy decisions by providing insights into the historical context of current issues. It can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of past policies and programs.
• Business : Historical research can be used by businesses to understand the evolution of their industry and to identify trends that may affect their future success. It can also be used to develop marketing strategies that resonate with customers’ historical interests and values.
• Law : Historical research is used in legal proceedings to provide evidence and context for cases involving historical events or practices. It can also be used to inform the development of new laws and policies.
• Genealogy : Historical research can be used by individuals to trace their family history and to understand their ancestral roots.
• Cultural preservation : Historical research is used to preserve cultural heritage by documenting and interpreting past events, practices, and traditions. It can also be used to identify and preserve historical landmarks and artifacts.

Examples of Historical Research

Examples of Historical Research are as follows:

• Examining the history of race relations in the United States: Historical research could be used to explore the historical roots of racial inequality and injustice in the United States. This could help inform current efforts to address systemic racism and promote social justice.
• Tracing the evolution of political ideologies: Historical research could be used to study the development of political ideologies over time. This could help to contextualize current political debates and provide insights into the origins and evolution of political beliefs and values.
• Analyzing the impact of technology on society : Historical research could be used to explore the impact of technology on society over time. This could include examining the impact of previous technological revolutions (such as the industrial revolution) on society, as well as studying the current impact of emerging technologies on society and the environment.
• Documenting the history of marginalized communities : Historical research could be used to document the history of marginalized communities (such as LGBTQ+ communities or indigenous communities). This could help to preserve cultural heritage, promote social justice, and promote a more inclusive understanding of history.

Purpose of Historical Research

The purpose of historical research is to study the past in order to gain a better understanding of the present and to inform future decision-making. Some specific purposes of historical research include:

• To understand the origins of current events, practices, and institutions : Historical research can be used to explore the historical roots of current events, practices, and institutions. By understanding how things developed over time, we can gain a better understanding of the present.
• To develop a more accurate and inclusive understanding of history : Historical research can be used to correct inaccuracies and biases in historical narratives. By exploring different perspectives and sources of information, we can develop a more complete and nuanced understanding of history.
• To inform decision-making: Historical research can be used to inform decision-making in various fields, including education, public policy, business, and law. By understanding the historical context of current issues, we can make more informed decisions about how to address them.
• To preserve cultural heritage : Historical research can be used to document and preserve cultural heritage, including traditions, practices, and artifacts. By understanding the historical significance of these cultural elements, we can work to preserve them for future generations.
• To stimulate curiosity and critical thinking: Historical research can be used to stimulate curiosity and critical thinking about the past. By exploring different historical perspectives and interpretations, we can develop a more critical and reflective approach to understanding history and its relevance to the present.

When to use Historical Research

Historical research can be useful in a variety of contexts. Here are some examples of when historical research might be particularly appropriate:

• When examining the historical roots of current events: Historical research can be used to explore the historical roots of current events, practices, and institutions. By understanding how things developed over time, we can gain a better understanding of the present.
• When examining the historical context of a particular topic : Historical research can be used to explore the historical context of a particular topic, such as a social issue, political debate, or scientific development. By understanding the historical context, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of the topic and its significance.
• When exploring the evolution of a particular field or discipline : Historical research can be used to explore the evolution of a particular field or discipline, such as medicine, law, or art. By understanding the historical development of the field, we can gain a better understanding of its current state and future directions.
• When examining the impact of past events on current society : Historical research can be used to examine the impact of past events (such as wars, revolutions, or social movements) on current society. By understanding the historical context and impact of these events, we can gain insights into current social and political issues.
• When studying the cultural heritage of a particular community or group : Historical research can be used to document and preserve the cultural heritage of a particular community or group. By understanding the historical significance of cultural practices, traditions, and artifacts, we can work to preserve them for future generations.

Characteristics of Historical Research

The following are some characteristics of historical research:

• Focus on the past : Historical research focuses on events, people, and phenomena of the past. It seeks to understand how things developed over time and how they relate to current events.
• Reliance on primary sources: Historical research relies on primary sources such as letters, diaries, newspapers, government documents, and other artifacts from the period being studied. These sources provide firsthand accounts of events and can help researchers gain a more accurate understanding of the past.
• Interpretation of data : Historical research involves interpretation of data from primary sources. Researchers analyze and interpret data to draw conclusions about the past.
• Use of multiple sources: Historical research often involves using multiple sources of data to gain a more complete understanding of the past. By examining a range of sources, researchers can cross-reference information and validate their findings.
• Importance of context: Historical research emphasizes the importance of context. Researchers analyze the historical context in which events occurred and consider how that context influenced people’s actions and decisions.
• Subjectivity : Historical research is inherently subjective, as researchers interpret data and draw conclusions based on their own perspectives and biases. Researchers must be aware of their own biases and strive for objectivity in their analysis.
• Importance of historical significance: Historical research emphasizes the importance of historical significance. Researchers consider the historical significance of events, people, and phenomena and their impact on the present and future.
• Use of qualitative methods : Historical research often uses qualitative methods such as content analysis, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis to analyze data and draw conclusions about the past.

Advantages of Historical Research

There are several advantages to historical research:

• Provides a deeper understanding of the past : Historical research can provide a more comprehensive understanding of past events and how they have shaped current social, political, and economic conditions. This can help individuals and organizations make informed decisions about the future.
• Helps preserve cultural heritage: Historical research can be used to document and preserve cultural heritage. By studying the history of a particular culture, researchers can gain insights into the cultural practices and beliefs that have shaped that culture over time.
• Provides insights into long-term trends : Historical research can provide insights into long-term trends and patterns. By studying historical data over time, researchers can identify patterns and trends that may be difficult to discern from short-term data.
• Facilitates the development of hypotheses: Historical research can facilitate the development of hypotheses about how past events have influenced current conditions. These hypotheses can be tested using other research methods, such as experiments or surveys.
• Helps identify root causes of social problems : Historical research can help identify the root causes of social problems. By studying the historical context in which these problems developed, researchers can gain a better understanding of how they emerged and what factors may have contributed to their development.
• Provides a source of inspiration: Historical research can provide a source of inspiration for individuals and organizations seeking to address current social, political, and economic challenges. By studying the accomplishments and struggles of past generations, researchers can gain insights into how to address current challenges.

Limitations of Historical Research

Some Limitations of Historical Research are as follows:

• Reliance on incomplete or biased data: Historical research is often limited by the availability and quality of data. Many primary sources have been lost, destroyed, or are inaccessible, making it difficult to get a complete picture of historical events. Additionally, some primary sources may be biased or represent only one perspective on an event.
• Difficulty in generalizing findings: Historical research is often specific to a particular time and place and may not be easily generalized to other contexts. This makes it difficult to draw broad conclusions about human behavior or social phenomena.
• Lack of control over variables : Historical research often lacks control over variables. Researchers cannot manipulate or control historical events, making it difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Subjectivity of interpretation : Historical research is often subjective because researchers must interpret data and draw conclusions based on their own biases and perspectives. Different researchers may interpret the same data differently, leading to different conclusions.
• Limited ability to test hypotheses: Historical research is often limited in its ability to test hypotheses. Because the events being studied have already occurred, researchers cannot manipulate variables or conduct experiments to test their hypotheses.
• Lack of objectivity: Historical research is often subjective, and researchers must be aware of their own biases and strive for objectivity in their analysis. However, it can be difficult to maintain objectivity when studying events that are emotionally charged or controversial.
• Limited generalizability: Historical research is often limited in its generalizability, as the events and conditions being studied may be specific to a particular time and place. This makes it difficult to draw broad conclusions that apply to other contexts or time periods.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing Historical Research [without getting hysterical!] In addition to being a scholarly investigation, research is a social activity intended to create new knowledge. Historical research is your informed response to the questions that you ask while examining the record of human experience. These questions may concern such elements as looking at an event or topic, examining events that lead to the event in question, social influences, key players, and other contextual information. This step-by-step guide progresses from an introduction to historical resources to information about how to identify a topic, craft a thesis and develop a research paper. Table of contents: The Range and Richness of Historical Sources Secondary Sources Primary Sources Historical Analysis What is it? Who, When, Where, What and Why: The Five "W"s Topic, Thesis, Sources Definition of Terms Choose a Topic Craft a Thesis Evaluate Thesis and Sources A Variety of Information Sources Take Efficient Notes Note Cards Thinking, Organizing, Researching Parenthetical Documentation Prepare a Works Cited Page Drafting, Revising, Rewriting, Rethinking For Further Reading: Works Cited Additional Links So you want to study history?! Tons of help and links Slatta Home Page Use the Writing and other links on the lefhand menu I. The Range and Richness of Historical Sources Back to Top Every period leaves traces, what historians call "sources" or evidence. Some are more credible or carry more weight than others; judging the differences is a vital skill developed by good historians. Sources vary in perspective, so knowing who created the information you are examining is vital. Anonymous doesn't make for a very compelling source. For example, an FBI report on the antiwar movement, prepared for U.S. President Richard Nixon, probably contained secrets that at the time were thought to have affected national security. It would not be usual, however, for a journalist's article about a campus riot, featured in a local newspaper, to leak top secret information. Which source would you read? It depends on your research topic. If you're studying how government officials portrayed student activists, you'll want to read the FBI report and many more documents from other government agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Council. If you're investigating contemporary opinion of pro-war and anti-war activists, local newspaper accounts provide a rich resource. You'd want to read a variety of newspapers to ensure you're covering a wide range of opinions (rural/urban, left/right, North/South, Soldier/Draft-dodger, etc). Historians classify sources into two major categories: primary and secondary sources. Secondary Sources Back to Top Definition: Secondary sources are created by someone who was either not present when the event occurred or removed from it in time. We use secondary sources for overview information, to familiarize ourselves with a topic, and compare that topic with other events in history. In refining a research topic, we often begin with secondary sources. This helps us identify gaps or conflicts in the existing scholarly literature that might prove promsing topics. Types: History books, encyclopedias, historical dictionaries, and academic (scholarly) articles are secondary sources. To help you determine the status of a given secondary source, see How to identify and nagivate scholarly literature . Examples: Historian Marilyn Young's (NYU) book about the Vietnam War is a secondary source. She did not participate in the war. Her study is not based on her personal experience but on the evidence she culled from a variety of sources she found in the United States and Vietnam. Primary Sources Back to Top Definition: Primary sources emanate from individuals or groups who participated in or witnessed an event and recorded that event during or immediately after the event. They include speeches, memoirs, diaries, letters, telegrams, emails, proclamations, government documents, and much more. Examples: A student activist during the war writing about protest activities has created a memoir. This would be a primary source because the information is based on her own involvement in the events she describes. Similarly, an antiwar speech is a primary source. So is the arrest record of student protesters. A newspaper editorial or article, reporting on a student demonstration is also a primary source. II. Historical Analysis What is it? Back to Top No matter what you read, whether it's a primary source or a secondary source, you want to know who authored the source (a trusted scholar? A controversial historian? A propagandist? A famous person? An ordinary individual?). "Author" refers to anyone who created information in any medium (film, sound, or text). You also need to know when it was written and the kind of audience the author intend to reach. You should also consider what you bring to the evidence that you examine. Are you inductively following a path of evidence, developing your interpretation based on the sources? Do you have an ax to grind? Did you begin your research deductively, with your mind made up before even seeing the evidence. Historians need to avoid the latter and emulate the former. To read more about the distinction, examine the difference between Intellectual Inquirers and Partisan Ideologues . In the study of history, perspective is everything. A letter written by a twenty- year old Vietnam War protestor will differ greatly from a letter written by a scholar of protest movements. Although the sentiment might be the same, the perspective and influences of these two authors will be worlds apart. Practicing the " 5 Ws " will avoid the confusion of the authority trap. Who, When, Where, What and Why: The Five "W"s Back to Top Historians accumulate evidence (information, including facts, stories, interpretations, opinions, statements, reports, etc.) from a variety of sources (primary and secondary). They must also verify that certain key pieces of information are corroborated by a number of people and sources ("the predonderance of evidence"). The historian poses the " 5 Ws " to every piece of information he examines: Who is the historical actor? When did the event take place? Where did it occur? What did it entail and why did it happen the way it did? The " 5 Ws " can also be used to evaluate a primary source. Who authored the work? When was it created? Where was it created, published, and disseminated? Why was it written (the intended audience), and what is the document about (what points is the author making)? If you know the answers to these five questions, you can analyze any document, and any primary source. The historian doesn't look for the truth, since this presumes there is only one true story. The historian tries to understand a number of competing viewpoints to form his or her own interpretation-- what constitutes the best explanation of what happened and why. By using as wide a range of primary source documents and secondary sources as possible, you will add depth and richness to your historical analysis. The more exposure you, the researcher, have to a number of different sources and differing view points, the more you have a balanced and complete view about a topic in history. This view will spark more questions and ultimately lead you into the quest to unravel more clues about your topic. You are ready to start assembling information for your research paper. III. Topic, Thesis, Sources Definition of Terms Back to Top Because your purpose is to create new knowledge while recognizing those scholars whose existing work has helped you in this pursuit, you are honor bound never to commit the following academic sins: Plagiarism: Literally "kidnapping," involving the use of someone else's words as if they were your own (Gibaldi 6). To avoid plagiarism you must document direct quotations, paraphrases, and original ideas not your own. Recycling: Rehashing material you already know thoroughly or, without your professor's permission, submitting a paper that you have completed for another course. Premature cognitive commitment: Academic jargon for deciding on a thesis too soon and then seeking information to serve that thesis rather than embarking on a genuine search for new knowledge. Choose a Topic Back to Top "Do not hunt for subjects, let them choose you, not you them." --Samuel Butler Choosing a topic is the first step in the pursuit of a thesis. Below is a logical progression from topic to thesis: Close reading of the primary text, aided by secondary sources Growing awareness of interesting qualities within the primary text Choosing a topic for research Asking productive questions that help explore and evaluate a topic Creating a research hypothesis Revising and refining a hypothesis to form a working thesis First, and most important, identify what qualities in the primary or secondary source pique your imagination and curiosity and send you on a search for answers. Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive levels provides a description of productive questions asked by critical thinkers. While the lower levels (knowledge, comprehension) are necessary to a good history essay, aspire to the upper three levels (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). Skimming reference works such as encyclopedias, books, critical essays and periodical articles can help you choose a topic that evolves into a hypothesis, which in turn may lead to a thesis. One approach to skimming involves reading the first paragraph of a secondary source to locate and evaluate the author's thesis. Then for a general idea of the work's organization and major ideas read the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Read the conclusion carefully, as it usually presents a summary (Barnet and Bedau 19). Craft a Thesis Back to Top Very often a chosen topic is too broad for focused research. You must revise it until you have a working hypothesis, that is, a statement of an idea or an approach with respect to the source that could form the basis for your thesis. Remember to not commit too soon to any one hypothesis. Use it as a divining rod or a first step that will take you to new information that may inspire you to revise your hypothesis. Be flexible. Give yourself time to explore possibilities. The hypothesis you create will mature and shift as you write and rewrite your paper. New questions will send you back to old and on to new material. Remember, this is the nature of research--it is more a spiraling or iterative activity than a linear one. Test your working hypothesis to be sure it is: broad enough to promise a variety of resources. narrow enough for you to research in depth. original enough to interest you and your readers. worthwhile enough to offer information and insights of substance "do-able"--sources are available to complete the research. Now it is time to craft your thesis, your revised and refined hypothesis. A thesis is a declarative sentence that: focuses on one well-defined idea makes an arguable assertion; it is capable of being supported prepares your readers for the body of your paper and foreshadows the conclusion. Evaluate Thesis and Sources Back to Top Like your hypothesis, your thesis is not carved in stone. You are in charge. If necessary, revise it during the research process. As you research, continue to evaluate both your thesis for practicality, originality, and promise as a search tool, and secondary sources for relevance and scholarliness. The following are questions to ask during the research process: Are there many journal articles and entire books devoted to the thesis, suggesting that the subject has been covered so thoroughly that there may be nothing new to say? Does the thesis lead to stimulating, new insights? Are appropriate sources available? Is there a variety of sources available so that the bibliography or works cited page will reflect different kinds of sources? Which sources are too broad for my thesis? Which resources are too narrow? Who is the author of the secondary source? Does the critic's background suggest that he/she is qualified? After crafting a thesis, consider one of the following two approaches to writing a research paper: Excited about your thesis and eager to begin? Return to the primary or secondary source to find support for your thesis. Organize ideas and begin writing your first draft. After writing the first draft, have it reviewed by your peers and your instructor. Ponder their suggestions and return to the sources to answer still-open questions. Document facts and opinions from secondary sources. Remember, secondary sources can never substitute for primary sources. Confused about where to start? Use your thesis to guide you to primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources can help you clarify your position and find a direction for your paper. Keep a working bibliography. You may not use all the sources you record, but you cannot be sure which ones you will eventually discard. Create a working outline as you research. This outline will, of course, change as you delve more deeply into your subject. A Variety of Information Sources Back to Top "A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension." --Oliver Wendell Holmes Your thesis and your working outline are the primary compasses that will help you navigate the variety of sources available. In "Introduction to the Library" (5-6) the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers suggests you become familiar with the library you will be using by: taking a tour or enrolling for a brief introductory lecture referring to the library's publications describing its resources introducing yourself and your project to the reference librarian The MLA Handbook also lists guides for the use of libraries (5), including: Jean Key Gates, Guide to the Use of Libraries and Information Sources (7th ed., New York: McGraw, 1994). Thomas Mann, A Guide to Library Research Methods (New York: Oxford UP, 1987). Online Central Catalog Most libraries have their holdings listed on a computer. The online catalog may offer Internet sites, Web pages and databases that relate to the university's curriculum. It may also include academic journals and online reference books. Below are three search techniques commonly used online: Index Search: Although online catalogs may differ slightly from library to library, the most common listings are by: Subject Search: Enter the author's name for books and article written about the author. Author Search: Enter an author's name for works written by the author, including collections of essays the author may have written about his/her own works. Title Search: Enter a title for the screen to list all the books the library carries with that title. Key Word Search/Full-text Search: A one-word search, e.g., 'Kennedy,' will produce an overwhelming number of sources, as it will call up any entry that includes the name 'Kennedy.' To focus more narrowly on your subject, add one or more key words, e.g., "John Kennedy, Peace Corps." Use precise key words. Boolean Search: Boolean Search techniques use words such as "and," "or," and "not," which clarify the relationship between key words, thus narrowing the search. Take Efficient Notes Back to Top Keeping complete and accurate bibliography and note cards during the research process is a time (and sanity) saving practice. If you have ever needed a book or pages within a book, only to discover that an earlier researcher has failed to return it or torn pages from your source, you understand the need to take good notes. Every researcher has a favorite method for taking notes. Here are some suggestions-- customize one of them for your own use. Bibliography cards There may be far more books and articles listed than you have time to read, so be selective when choosing a reference. Take information from works that clearly relate to your thesis, remembering that you may not use them all. Use a smaller or a different color card from the one used for taking notes. Write a bibliography card for every source. Number the bibliography cards. On the note cards, use the number rather than the author's name and the title. It's faster. Another method for recording a working bibliography, of course, is to create your own database. Adding, removing, and alphabetizing titles is a simple process. Be sure to save often and to create a back-up file. A bibliography card should include all the information a reader needs to locate that particular source for further study. Most of the information required for a book entry (Gibaldi 112): Author's name Title of a part of the book [preface, chapter titles, etc.] Title of the book Name of the editor, translator, or compiler Edition used Number(s) of the volume(s) used Name of the series Place of publication, name of the publisher, and date of publication Page numbers Supplementary bibliographic information and annotations Most of the information required for an article in a periodical (Gibaldi 141): Author's name Title of the article Name of the periodical Series number or name (if relevant) Volume number (for a scholarly journal) Issue number (if needed) Date of publication Page numbers Supplementary information For information on how to cite other sources refer to your So you want to study history page . Note Cards Back to Top Take notes in ink on either uniform note cards (3x5, 4x6, etc.) or uniform slips of paper. Devote each note card to a single topic identified at the top. Write only on one side. Later, you may want to use the back to add notes or personal observations. Include a topical heading for each card. Include the number of the page(s) where you found the information. You will want the page number(s) later for documentation, and you may also want page number(s)to verify your notes. Most novice researchers write down too much. Condense. Abbreviate. You are striving for substance, not quantity. Quote directly from primary sources--but the "meat," not everything. Suggestions for condensing information: Summary: A summary is intended to provide the gist of an essay. Do not weave in the author's choice phrases. Read the information first and then condense the main points in your own words. This practice will help you avoid the copying that leads to plagiarism. Summarizing also helps you both analyze the text you are reading and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses (Barnet and Bedau 13). Outline: Use to identify a series of points. Paraphrase, except for key primary source quotations. Never quote directly from a secondary source, unless the precise wording is essential to your argument. Simplify the language and list the ideas in the same order. A paraphrase is as long as the original. Paraphrasing is helpful when you are struggling with a particularly difficult passage. Be sure to jot down your own insights or flashes of brilliance. Ralph Waldo Emerson warns you to "Look sharply after your thoughts. They come unlooked for, like a new bird seen on your trees, and, if you turn to your usual task, disappear...." To differentiate these insights from those of the source you are reading, initial them as your own. (When the following examples of note cards include the researcher's insights, they will be followed by the initials N. R.) When you have finished researching your thesis and you are ready to write your paper, organize your cards according to topic. Notecards make it easy to shuffle and organize your source information on a table-- or across the floor. Maintain your working outline that includes the note card headings and explores a logical order for presenting them in your paper. IV. Begin Thinking, Researching, Organizing Back to Top Don't be too sequential. Researching, writing, revising is a complex interactive process. Start writing as soon as possible! "The best antidote to writer's block is--to write." (Klauser 15). However, you still feel overwhelmed and are staring at a blank page, you are not alone. Many students find writing the first sentence to be the most daunting part of the entire research process. Be creative. Cluster (Rico 28-49). Clustering is a form of brainstorming. Sometimes called a web, the cluster forms a design that may suggest a natural organization for a paper. Here's a graphical depiction of brainstorming . Like a sun, the generating idea or topic lies at the center of the web. From it radiate words, phrases, sentences and images that in turn attract other words, phrases, sentences and images. Put another way--stay focused. Start with your outline. If clustering is not a technique that works for you, turn to the working outline you created during the research process. Use the outline view of your word processor. If you have not already done so, group your note cards according to topic headings. Compare them to your outline's major points. If necessary, change the outline to correspond with the headings on the note cards. If any area seems weak because of a scarcity of facts or opinions, return to your primary and/or secondary sources for more information or consider deleting that heading. Use your outline to provide balance in your essay. Each major topic should have approximately the same amount of information. Once you have written a working outline, consider two different methods for organizing it. Deduction: A process of development that moves from the general to the specific. You may use this approach to present your findings. However, as noted above, your research and interpretive process should be inductive. Deduction is the most commonly used form of organization for a research paper. The thesis statement is the generalization that leads to the specific support provided by primary and secondary sources. The thesis is stated early in the paper. The body of the paper then proceeds to provide the facts, examples, and analogies that flow logically from that thesis. The thesis contains key words that are reflected in the outline. These key words become a unifying element throughout the paper, as they reappear in the detailed paragraphs that support and develop the thesis. The conclusion of the paper circles back to the thesis, which is now far more meaningful because of the deductive development that supports it. Chronological order A process that follows a traditional time line or sequence of events. A chronological organization is useful for a paper that explores cause and effect. Parenthetical Documentation Back to Top The Works Cited page, a list of primary and secondary sources, is not sufficient documentation to acknowledge the ideas, facts, and opinions you have included within your text. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers describes an efficient parenthetical style of documentation to be used within the body of your paper. Guidelines for parenthetical documentation: "References to the text must clearly point to specific sources in the list of works cited" (Gibaldi 184). Try to use parenthetical documentation as little as possible. For example, when you cite an entire work, it is preferable to include the author's name in the text. The author's last name followed by the page number is usually enough for an accurate identification of the source in the works cited list. These examples illustrate the most common kinds of documentation. Documenting a quotation: Ex. "The separation from the personal mother is a particularly intense process for a daughter because she has to separate from the one who is the same as herself" (Murdock 17). She may feel abandoned and angry. Note: The author of The Heroine's Journey is listed under Works Cited by the author's name, reversed--Murdock, Maureen. Quoted material is found on page 17 of that book. Parenthetical documentation is after the quotation mark and before the period. Documenting a paraphrase: Ex. In fairy tales a woman who holds the princess captive or who abandons her often needs to be killed (18). Note: The second paraphrase is also from Murdock's book The Heroine's Journey. It is not, however, necessary to repeat the author's name if no other documentation interrupts the two. If the works cited page lists more than one work by the same author, include within the parentheses an abbreviated form of the appropriate title. You may, of course, include the title in your sentence, making it unnecessary to add an abbreviated title in the citation. > Prepare a Works Cited Page Back to Top There are a variety of titles for the page that lists primary and secondary sources (Gibaldi 106-107). A Works Cited page lists those works you have cited within the body of your paper. The reader need only refer to it for the necessary information required for further independent research. Bibliography means literally a description of books. Because your research may involve the use of periodicals, films, art works, photographs, etc. "Works Cited" is a more precise descriptive term than bibliography. An Annotated Bibliography or Annotated Works Cited page offers brief critiques and descriptions of the works listed. A Works Consulted page lists those works you have used but not cited. Avoid using this format. As with other elements of a research paper there are specific guidelines for the placement and the appearance of the Works Cited page. The following guidelines comply with MLA style: The Work Cited page is placed at the end of your paper and numbered consecutively with the body of your paper. Center the title and place it one inch from the top of your page. Do not quote or underline the title. Double space the entire page, both within and between entries. The entries are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name or by the title of the article or book being cited. If the title begins with an article (a, an, the) alphabetize by the next word. If you cite two or more works by the same author, list the titles in alphabetical order. Begin every entry after the first with three hyphens followed by a period. All entries begin at the left margin but subsequent lines are indented five spaces. Be sure that each entry cited on the Works Cited page corresponds to a specific citation within your paper. Refer to the the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (104- 182) for detailed descriptions of Work Cited entries. Citing sources from online databases is a relatively new phenomenon. Make sure to ask your professor about citing these sources and which style to use. V. Draft, Revise, Rewrite, Rethink Back to Top "There are days when the result is so bad that no fewer than five revisions are required. In contrast, when I'm greatly inspired, only four revisions are needed." --John Kenneth Galbraith Try freewriting your first draft. Freewriting is a discovery process during which the writer freely explores a topic. Let your creative juices flow. In Writing without Teachers , Peter Elbow asserts that "[a]lmost everybody interposes a massive and complicated series of editings between the time words start to be born into consciousness and when they finally come off the end of the pencil or typewriter [or word processor] onto the page" (5). Do not let your internal judge interfere with this first draft. Creating and revising are two very different functions. Don't confuse them! If you stop to check spelling, punctuation, or grammar, you disrupt the flow of creative energy. Create; then fix it later. When material you have researched comes easily to mind, include it. Add a quick citation, one you can come back to later to check for form, and get on with your discovery. In subsequent drafts, focus on creating an essay that flows smoothly, supports fully, and speaks clearly and interestingly. Add style to substance. Create a smooth flow of words, ideas and paragraphs. Rearrange paragraphs for a logical progression of information. Transition is essential if you want your reader to follow you smoothly from introduction to conclusion. Transitional words and phrases stitch your ideas together; they provide coherence within the essay. External transition: Words and phrases that are added to a sentence as overt signs of transition are obvious and effective, but should not be overused, as they may draw attention to themselves and away from ideas. Examples of external transition are "however," "then," "next," "therefore." "first," "moreover," and "on the other hand." Internal transition is more subtle. Key words in the introduction become golden threads when they appear in the paper's body and conclusion. When the writer hears a key word repeated too often, however, she/he replaces it with a synonym or a pronoun. Below are examples of internal transition. Transitional sentences create a logical flow from paragraph to paragraph. Iclude individual words, phrases, or clauses that refer to previous ideas and that point ahead to new ones. They are usually placed at the end or at the beginning of a paragraph. A transitional paragraph conducts your reader from one part of the paper to another. It may be only a few sentences long. Each paragraph of the body of the paper should contain adequate support for its one governing idea. Speak/write clearly, in your own voice. Tone: The paper's tone, whether formal, ironic, or humorous, should be appropriate for the audience and the subject. Voice: Keep you language honest. Your paper should sound like you. Understand, paraphrase, absorb, and express in your own words the information you have researched. Avoid phony language. Sentence formation: When you polish your sentences, read them aloud for word choice and word placement. Be concise. Strunk and White in The Elements of Style advise the writer to "omit needless words" (23). First, however, you must recognize them. Keep yourself and your reader interested. In fact, Strunk's 1918 writing advice is still well worth pondering. First, deliver on your promises. Be sure the body of your paper fulfills the promise of the introduction. Avoid the obvious. Offer new insights. Reveal the unexpected. Have you crafted your conclusion as carefully as you have your introduction? Conclusions are not merely the repetition of your thesis. The conclusion of a research paper is a synthesis of the information presented in the body. Your research has led you to conclusions and opinions that have helped you understand your thesis more deeply and more clearly. Lift your reader to the full level of understanding that you have achieved. Revision means "to look again." Find a peer reader to read your paper with you present. Or, visit your college or university's writing lab. Guide your reader's responses by asking specific questions. Are you unsure of the logical order of your paragraphs? Do you want to know whether you have supported all opinions adequately? Are you concerned about punctuation or grammar? Ask that these issues be addressed. You are in charge. Here are some techniques that may prove helpful when you are revising alone or with a reader. When you edit for spelling errors read the sentences backwards. This procedure will help you look closely at individual words. Always read your paper aloud. Hearing your own words puts them in a new light. Listen to the flow of ideas and of language. Decide whether or not the voice sounds honest and the tone is appropriate to the purpose of the paper and to your audience. Listen for awkward or lumpy wording. Find the one right word, Eliminate needless words. Combine sentences. Kill the passive voice. Eliminate was/were/is/are constructions. They're lame and anti-historical. Be ruthless. If an idea doesn't serve your thesis, banish it, even if it's one of your favorite bits of prose. In the margins, write the major topic of each paragraph. By outlining after you have written the paper, you are once again evaluating your paper's organization. OK, you've got the process down. Now execute! And enjoy! It's not everyday that you get to make history. VI. For Further Reading: Works Cited Back to Top Barnet, Sylvan, and Hugo Bedau. Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: A Brief Guide to Argument. Boston: Bedford, 1993. Brent, Doug. Reading as Rhetorical Invention: Knowledge,Persuasion and the Teaching of Research-Based Writing. Urbana: NCTE, 1992. Elbow, Peter. Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Gibladi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 4th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995. Horvitz, Deborah. "Nameless Ghosts: Possession and Dispossession in Beloved." Studies in American Fiction , Vol. 17, No. 2, Autum, 1989, pp. 157-167. Republished in the Literature Research Center. Gale Group. (1 January 1999). Klauser, Henriette Anne. Writing on Both Sides of the Brain: Breakthrough Techniques for People Who Write. Philadelphia: Harper, 1986. Rico, Gabriele Lusser. Writing the Natural Way: Using Right Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Powers. Los Angeles: Houghton, 1983. Sorenson, Sharon. The Research Paper: A Contemporary Approach. New York: AMSCO, 1994. Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New York: MacMillan, 1979. Back to Top This guide adapted from materials published by Thomson Gale, publishers. For free resources, including a generic guide to writing term papers, see the Gale.com website , which also includes product information for schools.

The Princeton Guide to Historical Research

• Zachary Schrag

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The essential handbook for doing historical research in the twenty-first century

• Skills for Scholars

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The Princeton Guide to Historical Research provides students, scholars, and professionals with the skills they need to practice the historian’s craft in the digital age, while never losing sight of the fundamental values and techniques that have defined historical scholarship for centuries. Zachary Schrag begins by explaining how to ask good questions and then guides readers step-by-step through all phases of historical research, from narrowing a topic and locating sources to taking notes, crafting a narrative, and connecting one’s work to existing scholarship. He shows how researchers extract knowledge from the widest range of sources, such as government documents, newspapers, unpublished manuscripts, images, interviews, and datasets. He demonstrates how to use archives and libraries, read sources critically, present claims supported by evidence, tell compelling stories, and much more. Featuring a wealth of examples that illustrate the methods used by seasoned experts, The Princeton Guide to Historical Research reveals that, however varied the subject matter and sources, historians share basic tools in the quest to understand people and the choices they made.

• Offers practical step-by-step guidance on how to do historical research, taking readers from initial questions to final publication
• Connects new digital technologies to the traditional skills of the historian
• Draws on hundreds of examples from a broad range of historical topics and approaches
• Shares tips for researchers at every skill level

Skills for Scholars: The new tools of the trade

Awards and recognition.

• Winner of the James Harvey Robinson Prize, American Historical Association
• A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

• Introduction: History Is for Everyone
• History Is the Study of People and the Choices They Made
• History Is a Means to Understand Today’s World
• History Combines Storytelling and Analysis
• History Is an Ongoing Debate
• Autobiography
• Everything Has a History
• Narrative Expansion
• From the Source
• Public History
• Research Agenda
• Factual Questions
• Interpretive Questions
• Opposing Forces
• Internal Contradictions
• Competing Priorities
• Determining Factors
• Hidden or Contested Meanings
• Before and After
• Dialectics Create Questions, Not Answers
• Copy Other Works
• History Big and Small
• Pick Your People
• Add and Subtract
• Narrative versus Thematic Schemes
• The Balky Time Machine
• Local and Regional
• Transnational and Global
• Comparative
• What Is New about Your Approach?
• Are You Working in a Specific Theoretical Tradition?
• What Have Others Written?
• Are Others Working on It?
• What Might Your Critics Say?
• Primary versus Secondary Sources
• Balancing Your Use of Secondary Sources
• Sets of Sources
• Sources as Records of the Powerful
• No Source Speaks for Itself
• Languages and Specialized Reading
• Choose Sources That You Love
• Workaday Documents
• Specialized Periodicals
• Criminal Investigations and Trials
• Official Reports
• Letters and Petitions
• Institutional Records
• Scholarship
• Motion Pictures and Recordings
• Buildings and Plans
• The Working Bibliography
• The Open Web
• Limits of the Open Web
• Bibliographic Databases
• Full-Text Databases
• Oral History
• What Is an Archive?
• Archives and Access
• Read the Finding Aid
• Follow the Rules
• Work with Archivists
• Types of Cameras
• How Much to Shoot?
• Managing Expectations
• Duck, Duck, Goose
• Credibility
• Avoid Catastrophe
• Complete Tasks—Ideally Just Once, and in the Right Order
• Maintain Momentum
• Kinds of Software
• Word Processors
• Means of Entry
• A Good Day’s Work
• Word Count Is Your Friend
• Managing Research Assistants
• Research Diary
• When to Stop
• Note-Taking as Mining
• Note-Taking as Assembly
• Identify the Source, So You Can Go Back and Consult if Needed
• Distinguish Others’ Words and Ideas from Your Own
• Allow Sorting and Retrieval of Related Pieces of Information
• Provide the Right Level of Detail
• Notebooks and Index Cards
• Word Processors for Note-Taking
• Plain Text and Markdown
• Reference Managers
• Note-Taking Apps
• Relational Databases
• Spreadsheets
• Glossaries and Alphabetical Lists
• Image Catalogs
• Other Specialized Formats
• The Working Draft
• Variants: The Ten- and Thirty-Page Papers
• Thesis Statement
• Historiography
• Sections as Independent Essays
• Topic Sentences
• Answering Questions
• Invisible Bullet Points
• The Perils of Policy Prescriptions
• A Model (T) Outline
• Flexibility
• Protagonists
• Antagonists
• Bit Players
• The Shape of the Story
• The Controlling Idea
• Alchemy: Turning Sources to Stories
• Turning Points
• Counterfactuals
• Point of View
• Symbolic Details
• Combinations
• Speculation
• Is Your Jargon Really Necessary?
• Defining Terms
• Word Choice as Analysis
• Period Vocabulary or Anachronism?
• Integrate Images into Your Story
• Put Numbers in Context
• Summarize Data in Tables and Graphs
• Why We Cite
• Citation Styles
• Active Verbs
• People as Subjects
• Signposting
• First Person
• Putting It Aside
• Reverse Outlining
• Auditing Your Word Budget
• Writing for the Ear
• Conferences
• Social Media
• Coauthorship
• Tough, Fair, and Encouraging
• Manuscript and Book Reviews
• Journal Articles
• Book chapters
• Websites and Social Media
• Museums and Historic Sites
• Press Appearances and Op-Eds
• Law and Policy
• Graphic History, Movies, and Broadway Musicals
• Acknowledgments

"This volume is a complete and sophisticated addition to any scholar’s library and a boon to the curious layperson. . . . [A] major achievement."— Choice Reviews

"This book is quite simply a gem. . . . Schrag’s accessible style and comprehensive treatment of the field make this book a valuable resource."—Alan Sears, Canadian Journal of History

"A tour de force that will help all of us be more capable historians. This wholly readable, delightful book is packed with good advice that will benefit seasoned scholars and novice researchers alike."—Nancy Weiss Malkiel, author of "Keep the Damned Women Out": The Struggle for Coeducation

"An essential and overdue contribution. Schrag's guide offers a lucid breakdown of what historians do and provides plenty of examples."—Jessica Mack, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University

"Extraordinarily useful. If there is another book that takes apart as many elements of the historian's craft the way that Schrag does and provides so many examples, I am not aware of it."—James Goodman, author of But Where Is the Lamb?

"This is an engaging guide to being a good historian and all that entails."—Diana Seave Greenwald, Assistant Curator of the Collection, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

"Impressive and engaging. Schrag gracefully incorporates the voices of dozens, if not hundreds, of fellow historians. This gives the book a welcome conversational feeling, as if the reader were overhearing a lively discussion among friendly historians."—Sarah Dry, author of Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole

"This is a breathtaking book—wide-ranging, wonderfully written, and extremely useful. Every page brims with fascinating, well-chosen illustrations of creative research, writing, and reasoning that teach and inspire."—Amy C. Offner, author of Sorting Out the Mixed Economy

historyprofessor.org website, maintained by Zachary M. Schrag, Professor of History at George Mason University

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Fred Burchsted & Anna Assogba

Research Librarians

We are always happy to give you a tour of Widener and an orientation to our catalog, HOLLIS, and our other resources. Our emails are below.

This guide is intended as a point of departure for research in history.  We also have a more selective guide with major resources only: Introductory Library Research Guide for History .

• Finding Primary Sources Online  offers methods for finding digital libraries and digital collections on the open Web   and for finding Digital Libraries/Collections by Region or Language .
• Online Primary Source Collections for History  lists digital collections at Harvard and beyond by topic

Please feel free to email us with questions. We can make an appointment for you to come in, and we can talk at length about your project.

• Anna Assogba ([email protected]) Research Librarian and Liaison to the Department of History, Lamont Library (With particular knowledge of Zotero and other citation management systems).
• Fred Burchsted  ([email protected]) Research Librarian and Liaison to the Department of History, Widener Library.

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HOLLIS is the center of the Library ecosystem. This is often the best first step to see if we have something. In HOLLIS, click on "Online Access" or open the record and scroll down to the "Access Options" section. Check the HOLLIS section of this guide for more guidance.

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Books and other materials stored in facilities not on Harvard's main campus. Request this material through HOLLIS:

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• You will receive an email usually next business day (not weekends or holidays) morning. Item is usually ready for pick-up in mid-afternoon. 

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Use Scan & Deliver/Interlibrary Loan to request PDFs of articles and book chapters from HOLLIS when you cannot get online access. Limit: 2 chapters from a book or 2 articles from a journal.

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Request materials from other libraries via InterLibrary Loan :

• Some non-Harvard special collections may be willing and able to scan material (usually for a fee). Our Interlibrary Loan department will place the request and help with the cost (there is a cap).
• Contact the other repository to see if they're able to scan what you need. Get a price estimate for the material and the exact details (such as: Box 77 folder 4. This information is often available in Finding Aids).
• Fill in what you can (put in N/A if the field is inapplicable) with the price and other information in the Comments box.
• This will get the process going and ILL will get back to you if they need more information or to discuss the price.

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If there are materials you'd like to see added to the library's collections, submit a purchase request and we will look into acquiring it. We can buy both physical and electronic copies of materials; specify if have a preference.

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Special Collections are rare, unique, primary source materials in the library's collections. To access, look for "Request to Scan or Visit" in HOLLIS (to place a scanning request) or contact the repository directly. Most of our larger archival collections are able to provide scans.

Carrels at Widener Library

Graduate students and visiting scholars are eligible to have a carrel in the Widener Library stacks. Start the process with the  carrel request form . (If you do this right at the start of the semester, it may take a few weeks before you receive confirmation.) Materials from the Widener stacks, including non-circulating materials like bound periodicals, can be checked out to your carrel.

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The Digital Scholarship Group offers workshops and support to faculty, students, and staff interested in digital research methods.  See also   GIS Mapping Resources  and  Visualization Support .

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Sara Charles Claire Langhamer

About the journal

Published since 1923,  Historical Research , flagship publication of the  Institute of Historical Research , is a leading generalist history journal, covering the global history of the early middle ages to the twenty-first century...

Classic articles from the recent archives

The new virtual issue from Historical Research shines a light on some of the classic articles from the journal’s recent archive. It features some of the most read and most cited articles from the journal’s archives and covers a wide range of topics of perennial interest to both historians and to a wider readership.

Browse the virtual issue  

2020 Historical Research lecture, video now available

The video of this year's lecture -- 'Writing histories of 2020' -- held on 29 July, is now available. With panellists Professors Jo Fox, Claire Langhamer, Kevin Siena and Richard Vinen who discuss historians' responses to COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter.

Watch the video of the 2020 lecture

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IHR guide to free research resources

From April 2020, the Institute of Historical Research has created a listing of free research materials for historians currently unable to access libraries and archives. The list is regularly extended as researchers offer new suggestions.

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Latest posts on x, on history blog, building castle stories – insights from a chppc advisory board member, maud heath and beyond: exploring the lives of women before 1600, using the bibliography of british and irish history (bbih) as a phd research tool – phil winterbottom , glimpses of a transnational life: frank mathew and imports of everyday goods in fifteenth century london., bibliography of british and irish history february 2024 update , the annual pollard prize, about the prize.

The Pollard Prize is awarded annually for the best paper presented at an Institute of Historical Research seminar by a postgraduate student or by a researcher within one year of completing the PhD. The prize is supported by Oxford University Press.

Find out more about the prize and eligibility requirements on the IHR website .

2021 prize winners

Congratulations to Merve Fejzula for winning the Annual Pollard Prize for 2021 with their paper 'Toward a History of Intellectual Labor: Gender, Negritude, and the Black Public Sphere.' Congratulations also to runner up Lucy Clarke  for their paper '"I say I must for I am the King’s shrieve": magistrates invoking the monarch’s name in 1 Henry VI (1592) and The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon (1598)'.

Both papers will be published in  Historical Research  in due course.

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The Institute of Historical Research is the UK's national centre for history, dedicated to supporting historians of all kinds.

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Launched in 1996, Reviews in History now contains more than 2200 reviews, published monthly and are freely accessible as Open Access. Reviews are written by specialists in the field and all authors reviewed have an opportunity to respond.

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Explore news, articles, and research from  On History , a digital magazine curated and published by the Institute of Historical Research.

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The IHR is pleased to launch its new mission and strategy, setting out the values and vision for the IHR in the coming years.

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Tools and techniques for historical research

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If you are just starting out in HPS, this will be the first time for many years – perhaps ever – that you have done substantial library or museum based research. The number of general studies may seem overwhelming, yet digging out specific material relevant to your topic may seem like finding needles in a haystack. Before turning to the specific entries that make up this guide, there are a few general points that apply more widely.

Planning your research

Because good research and good writing go hand in hand, probably the single most important key to successful research is having a good topic. For that, all you need at the beginning are two things: (a) a problem that you are genuinely interested in and (b) a specific issue, controversy, technique, instrument, person, etc. that is likely to offer a fruitful way forward for exploring your problem. In the early stages, it's often a good idea to be general about (a) and very specific about (b). So you might be interested in why people decide to become doctors, and decide to look at the early career of a single practitioner from the early nineteenth century, when the evidence for this kind of question happens to be unusually good. You can get lots of advice from people in the Department about places to look for topics, especially if you combine this with reading in areas of potential interest. Remember that you're more likely to get good advice if you're able to mesh your interests with something that a potential supervisor knows about. HPS is such a broad field that it's impossible for any department to cover all aspects of it with an equal degree of expertise. It can be reassuring to know that your topic will evolve as your research develops, although it is vital that you establish some basic parameters relatively quickly. Otherwise you will end up doing the research for two, three or even four research papers or dissertations, when all you need is the material for one.

Before beginning detailed work, it's obviously a good idea to read some of the secondary literature surrounding your subject. The more general books are listed on the reading lists for the Part II lecture courses, and some of the specialist literature is listed in these research guides. This doesn't need to involve an exhaustive search, at least not at this stage, but you do need to master the fundamentals of what's been done if you're going to be in a position to judge the relevance of anything you find. If there are lectures being offered in your topic, make sure to attend them; and if they are offered later in the year, try to see if you can obtain a preliminary bibliography from the lecturer.

After that, it's usually a good idea to immerse yourself in your main primary sources as soon as possible. If you are studying a museum object, this is the time to look at it closely; if you're writing about a debate, get together the main papers relevant to it and give them a close read; if you're writing about a specific experiment, look at the published papers, the laboratory notebook, and the relevant letters. Don't spend hours in the early stages of research ferreting out hard-to-find details, unless you're absolutely positive that they are of central importance to the viability of your topic. Start to get a feel for the material you have, and the questions that might be explored further. Make an outline of the main topics that you hope to cover, organized along what you see as the most interesting themes (and remember, 'background' is not usually an interesting theme on its own).

At this stage, research can go in many different directions. At some point, you'll want to read more about the techniques other historians have used for exploring similar questions. Most fields have an established repertoire of ways of approaching problems, and you need to know what these are, especially if you decide to reject them. One of the advantages of an interdisciplinary field like HPS is that you are exposed to different and often conflicting ways of tackling similar questions. Remember that this is true within history itself, and you need to be aware of alternatives. This may well involve looking further afield, at classic books or articles that are not specifically on 'your' subject. For example, it may be that you could find some helpful ideas for a study of modern scientific portraiture in a book on the eighteenth century. The best books dealing with educational maps may not be on the astronomical ones you are studying, but on ones used for teaching classical geography. See where the inspiration for works you admire comes from, and have a look at the sources they have used. This will help you develop the kind of focussed questions that make for a successful piece of work.

As you develop an outline and begin to think through your topic in more detail, you'll be in good position to plan possible lines of research. Don't try to find out everything about your topic: pick those aspects that are likely to prove most fruitful for the direction your essay seems to be heading. For example, it may be worth spending a long time searching for biographical details about a person if their career and life are central to your analysis; but in many other cases, such issues may not be very important. If your interest is in the reception of a work, it is likely to be more fruitful to learn a lot about a few commentaries or reviews (where they appeared, who wrote them, and so forth) than to gather in randomly all the comments you can find.

Follow up hints in other people's footnotes. Works that are otherwise dull or outdated in approach are sometimes based on very solid research. One secondary reference to a crucial letter or newspaper article can save you hours of mindless trawling, and lead you straight to the information you need. Moreover, good historians often signal questions or sources that they think would be worth investigating further.

Remember that the best history almost always depends on developing new approaches and interpretations, not on knowing about a secret archive no one has used before. If you give your work time to develop, and combine research with writing, you will discover new sources, and (better still) a fresh importance for material that has supposedly been known for a long time. As you become familiar with your topic, you are likely to find that evidence you dug out at the beginning of your project is much more significant than you thought it was. In historical research, the most important evidence often isn't sitting there on the surface – it's something you need to dig out through close reading and an understanding of the situation in which the document you are studying was written, or in which the object was produced. This is especially true of instruments, paintings and other non-textual sources.

Some standard reference works

Your research should become more focussed as time goes on. Don't just gather randomly: you should always have at least some idea of why you are looking for something, and what you might hope to find. Make guesses, follow up hunches, see if an idea you have has the possibility to work out. At the beginning, it can be valuable to learn the full range of what is available, but eventually you should be following up specific issues, a bit like a detective tracing the clues to a mystery. It is at this stage of research, which is often best done in conjunction with writing up sections of your project, that knowing where to find answers to specific questions is most useful. There is nothing more disheartening than spending a week to find a crucial fact, only to discover that it's been sitting on the shelf next to you all term. The Whipple has a wide variety of guides, biographical dictionaries and bibliographies, so spend a few minutes early on looking at the reference shelves.

Every major country has a national biographical dictionary (the new version of the British one is the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , available 2004 online). For better-known scientists, a good place to start is Charles C. Gillispie (ed.) Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970–1980). There are more specialized dictionaries for every scientific field, from entomology to astronomy. The University Library has a huge selection of biographical sources; ask your supervisor about the best ones for your purpose.

Preliminary searching for book titles and other bibliographical information is now often best done online, and every historian should know how to use the British Library's online search facility; COPAC (the UK national library database); and WorldCat (an international database). All of these are accessible through the HPS Whipple Library website (under 'other catalogues'). At the time of writing, the University Library is remains one of the few libraries of its size to have many of its records not available online, so remember that you have to check the green guard-book catalogues (and the supplementary catalogues) for most items published before 1977. It is hoped that this situation will be rectified soon. There are also numerous bibliographies for individual sciences and subjects, together with catalogues of relevant manuscripts. Most of these are listed elsewhere in this guide.

As questions arise, you will want to be able to access books and articles by other historians that touch upon your subject. There are many sources for this listed elsewhere in this guide, but you should definitely know about the Isis Current Bibliography and The Wellcome Bibliography for the History of Medicine . Both are available online, the former through the RLG History of Science, Technology and Medicine database, the latter through the website of the Wellcome Library.

Libraries and museums

Finally, a word in praise of libraries and museums. As the comments above make clear, the internet is invaluable for searching for specific pieces of information. If you need a bibliographical reference or a general reading list from a course at another university, it is an excellent place to begin. If you are looking for the source of an unidentified quotation, typing it into Google (or an appropriate database held by the University Library) will often turn up the source in seconds. Many academic journals are now online, as are the texts of many books, though not always in a paginated or citable form.

For almost all historical topics, however, libraries filled with printed books and journals will remain the principal tools for research, just as museums will continue to be essential to any work dealing with the material culture of past science. The reason for this is simple: what is on the internet is the result of decisions by people in the past decade, while libraries and museums are the product of a continuous history of collecting over several thousand years. Cambridge has some of the best collections for the history of science anywhere. Despite what is often said, this is not because of the famous manuscripts or showpiece books (these are mostly available in other ways), but because of the depth and range of its collections across the whole field. The Whipple Library is small and friendly, and has an unparalleled selection of secondary works selected over many years – don't just go for specific titles you've found in the catalogue, try browsing around, and ask the librarians for help if you can't see what you are looking for. Explore the Whipple Museum and talk to the curator and the staff. There are rich troves of material in these departmental collections, on topics ranging from phrenology and microscopy to the early development of pocket calculators. Become familiar with what the University Library has to offer: it is large and sometimes idiosyncratic, but worth getting to know well if you are at all serious about research. It is a fantastic instrument for studying the human past – the historian's equivalent of CERN or the Hubble Telescope. And all you need to get in is a student ID.

Further reading

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. William, The Craft of Research , 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2003).

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Research Methods for History

• Lucy Faire and Simon Gunn
• X / Twitter

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Copyright year: 2016
• Audience: College/higher education;
• Main content: 288
• Other: 24 B/W illustrations
• Keywords: History
• Published: July 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781474408745

•   [email protected]

Historical Associations

Professional associations and academic communities are often a good place to start for scholarly information and materials on methods and research.

• American Historical Association The professional and academic organization of academic historians, this organization has a wealth of information about careers in history as well as a directory of historians and historical programs
• H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online H-Net "creates and coordinates Internet networks with the common objective of advancing teaching and research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences." Contains public discussion lists related to numerous disciplines.
• National Council on Public History The professional association for public historians, the NCPH serves practitioners by "building community among historians, expanding professional skills and tools, fostering critical reflection on historical practice, and publicly advocating for history and historians."
• Organization of American Historians Less focused on academic history, the OAH nonetheless provides quite a bit of information about the profession, jobs, and current topics in history.

Historical Research and Methods

Guides and major works.

The following is a list of works on Historical methods, philosophy, and subfields of history.

Writing Guide

A series of guides on reading, researching and writing history by Patrick Rael, professor of History at Bowdoin College can be found on this link

Source: Patrick Rael, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students (Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College, 2004).

Research Methods

The Shapiro Library subscribes to the SAGE Research Methods database, a resource designed for those who are doing research or who are learning how to do research. Methods and practices covered include writing research questions and literature reviews, choosing research methods, conducting oral histories, and more. 

• SAGE Research Methods - History Discipline The History discipline of SAGE Research Methods includes books, reference resources, videos, cases and datasets useful to historical researchers.
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How Institutions Use Historical Research Methods to Provide Historical Perspectives

An Overview of Historical Research Methods

Historical research methods enable institutions to collect facts, chronological data, and other information relevant to their interests. But historical research is more than compiling a record of past events; it provides institutions with valuable insights about the past to inform current cultural, political, and social dynamics.

Historical research methods primarily involve collecting information from primary and secondary sources. While differences exist between these sources, organizations and institutions can use both types of sources to assess historical events and provide proper context comprehensively.

Using historical research methods, historians provide institutions with historical insights that can give perspectives on the future.

Individuals interested in advancing their careers as historians can pursue an advanced degree, such as a Master of Arts in History , to help them develop a systematic understanding of historical research and learn about the use of digital tools for acquiring, accessing, and managing historical information.

Historians use historical research methods to obtain data from primary and secondary sources and, then, assess how the information contributes to understanding a historical period or event. Historical research methods are used with primary and secondary sources. Below is a description of each type of source.

What Is a Primary Source?              

Primary sources—raw data containing first-person accounts and documents—are foundational to historical and academic research. Examples of primary sources include eyewitness accounts of historical events, written testimonies, public records, oral representations, legal documents, artifacts, photographs, art, newspaper articles, diaries, and letters. Individuals often can find primary sources in archives and collections in universities, libraries, and historical societies.

A primary source, also known as primary data, is often characterized by the time of its creation. For example, individuals studying the U.S. Constitution’s beginnings can use The Federalist Papers, a collection of essays by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, written from October 1787 to May 1788, as a primary source for their research. In this example, the information was witnessed firsthand and created at the time of the event.

What Is a Secondary Source?              

Primary sources are not always easy to find. In the absence of primary sources, secondary sources can play a vital role in describing historical events. A historian can create a secondary source by analyzing, synthesizing, and interpreting information or data provided in primary sources. For example, a modern-day historian may use The Federalist Papers and other primary sources to reveal historical insights about the series of events that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution. As a result, the secondary source, based on historical facts, becomes a reliable source of historical data for others to use to create a comprehensive picture of an event and its significance.

The Value of Historical Research for Providing Historical Perspectives

Current global politics has its roots in the past. Historical research offers an essential context for understanding our modern society. It can inform global concepts, such as foreign policy development or international relations. The study of historical events can help leaders make informed decisions that impact society, culture, and the economy.

Take, for example, the Industrial Revolution. Studying the history of the rise of industry in the West helps to put the current world order in perspective. The recorded events of that age reveal that the first designers of the systems of industry, including the United States, dominated the global landscape in the following decades and centuries. Similarly, the digital revolution is creating massive shifts in international politics and society. Historians play a pivotal role in using historical research methods to record and analyze information about these trends to provide future generations with insightful historical perspectives.

In addition to creating meaningful knowledge of global and economic affairs, studying history highlights the perspectives of people and groups who triumphed over adversity. For example, the historical fights for freedom and equality, such as the struggle for women’s voting rights or ending the Jim Crow era in the South, offer relevant context for current events, such as efforts at criminal justice reform.

History also is the story of the collective identity of people and regions. Historical research can help promote a sense of community and highlight the vibrancy of different cultures, creating opportunities for people to become more culturally aware and empowered.

The Tools and Techniques of Historical Research Methods

A primary source is not necessarily an original source. For example, not everyone can access the original essays written by Hamilton because they are precious and must be preserved and protected. However, thanks to digitization, institutions can access, manage, and interpret essential information, artifacts, and images from the essays without fear of degradation.

Using technology to digitize historical information creates what is known as digital history. It offers opportunities to advance scholarly research and expand knowledge to new audiences. For example, individuals can access a digital copy of The Federalist Papers from the Library of Congress’s website anytime, from anywhere. This digital copy can still serve as a primary source because it contains the same content as the original paper version created hundreds of years ago.

As more primary and secondary sources are digitized, researchers are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to search, gather, and analyze these sources. An AI method known as optical character recognition can help historians with digital research. Historians also can use AI techniques to close gaps in historical information. For example, an AI system developed by DeepMind uses deep neural networks to help historians recreate missing pieces and restore ancient Greek texts on stone tablets that are thousands of years old.

As digital tools associated with historical research proliferate, individuals seeking to advance in a history career need to develop technical skills to use advanced technology in their research. Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program prepares students with knowledge of historical research methods and critical technology skills to advance in the field of history.

Prepare to Make an Impact

Through effective historical research methods, institutions, organizations, and individuals can learn the significance of past events and communicate important insights for a better future. In museums, government agencies, universities and colleges, nonprofits, and historical associations, the combination of technology and historical research plays a central role in extending the reach of historical information to new audiences. It can also guide leaders charged with making important decisions that can impact geopolitics, society, economic development, community building, and more.

Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History prepares students with knowledge of historical research methods and skills to use technology to advance their careers across many industries and fields of study. The program’s curriculum offers students the flexibility to choose from four concentrations—Public History, American History, World History, or Legal and Constitutional History—to customize their studies based on their career goals and personal interests.

Learn how Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History degree can prepare individuals for career success in the field of history.

Recommended Readings

What Is Digital History? A Guide to Digital History Resources, Museums, and Job Description Old World vs. New World History: A Curriculum Comparison How to Become a Researcher

Getting Started with Primary Sources , Library of Congress What Is a Primary Source? , ThoughtCo. Full Text of The Federalist Papers , Library of Congress Digital History , The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook Historians in Archives , American Historical Association How AI Helps Historians Solve Ancient Puzzles , Financial Times  

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History at MIT

Theories and methods in the study of history.

T 1-4, E51-285

Examines the distinctive ways in which historians in different parts of the world have approached the task of writing history. Explores methodologies used, such as political, social, economic, cultural, and popular histories through the reading and discussion of relevant and innovative texts. Introduces a variety of sources (archival documents, statistical data, film, fiction, memoirs, artifacts, and images) and the ways they can be used to research, interpret, and present the past. Assignments include an original research paper. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

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International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching

• © 2014
• Michael R. Matthews 0

School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

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• First ever handbook of surveying the past and present of research on history, philosophy and science teaching
• Comprehensive with 75 chapters ranging over pedagogical, theoretical, biographical and national research traditions
• International with 120 authors coming from 30 countries
• Cross-disciplinary with contributions from well-known philosophers, historians, educators and psychologists

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Table of contents (76 chapters)

Front matter, introduction: the history, purpose and content of the springer international handbook of research in history, philosophy and science teaching.

Michael R. Matthews

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Pendulum motion: a case study in how history and philosophy can contribute to science education, using history to teach mechanics.

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Teaching Optics: A Historico-Philosophical Perspective

• Igal Galili

Teaching and Learning Electricity: The Relations Between Macroscopic Level Observations and Microscopic Level Theories

• Jenaro Guisasola

The Role of History and Philosophy in Research on Teaching and Learning of Relativity

• Olivia Levrini

Meeting the Challenge: Quantum Physics in Introductory Physics Courses

• Ileana M. Greca, Olival Freire Jr.

Teaching Energy Informed by the History and Epistemology of the Concept with Implications for Teacher Education

• Manuel Bächtold, Muriel Guedj

Teaching About Thermal Phenomena and Thermodynamics: The Contribution of the History and Philosophy of Science

Pedagogical studies: chemistry, philosophy of chemistry in chemical education: recent trends and future directions.

• Sibel Erduran, Ebru Z. Mugaloglu

The Place of the History of Chemistry in the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry

• Kevin C. de Berg

Historical Teaching of Atomic and Molecular Structure

• José Antonio Chamizo, Andoni Garritz

Pedagogical Studies: Biology

History and philosophy of science and the teaching of evolution: students’ conceptions and explanations.

• Kostas Kampourakis, Ross H. Nehm

History and Philosophy of Science and the Teaching of Macroevolution

• Ross H. Nehm, Kostas Kampourakis

Twenty-First-Century Genetics and Genomics: Contributions of HPS-Informed Research and Pedagogy

• Niklas M. Gericke, Mike U. Smith

The Contribution of History and Philosophy to the Problem of Hybrid Views About Genes in Genetics Teaching

• Charbel N. El-Hani, Ana Maria R. de Almeida, Gilberto C. Bomfim, Leyla M. Joaquim, João Carlos M. Magalhães, Lia M. N. Meyer et al.
• Michael Matthews
• Nature of Science
• history of science
• history of science education
• history of science teaching
• mathematics education
• mathematics teaching
• philosphy of science
• philosphy of science teaching
• science curriculum
• science education
• science learning
• science teaching

About this book

This inaugural handbook documents the distinctive research field that utilizes history and philosophy in investigation of theoretical, curricular and pedagogical issues in the teaching of science and mathematics. It is contributed to by 130 researchers from 30 countries; it provides a logically structured, fully referenced guide to the ways in which science and mathematics education is, informed by the history and philosophy of these disciplines, as well as by the philosophy of education more generally. The first handbook to cover the field, it lays down a much-needed marker of progress to date and provides a platform for informed and coherent future analysis and research of the subject. The publication comes at a time of heightened worldwide concern over the standard of science and mathematics education, attended by fierce debate over how best to reform curricula and enliven student engagement in the subjects. There is a growing recognition among educators and policy makers thatthe learning of science must dovetail with learning about science; this handbook is uniquely positioned as a locus for the discussion. The handbook features sections on pedagogical, theoretical, national, and biographical research, setting the literature of each tradition in its historical context. It reminds readers at a crucial juncture that there has been a long and rich tradition of historical and philosophical engagements with science and mathematics teaching, and that lessons can be learnt from these engagements for the resolution of current theoretical, curricular and pedagogical questions that face teachers and administrators.

Science educators will be grateful for this unique, encyclopaedic handbook, Gerald Holton, Physics Department, Harvard University

This handbook gathers the fruits of over thirty years’ research by a growing international and cosmopolitan community  Fabio Bevilacqua, Physics Department, University of Pavia

“The Handbook edited by Michael R. Matthews is quite welcome in the domain of science education (SE). … The Handbook invites us to continue and sustain a dialogue among educators, SE researchers, historians and philosophers of science, and students at many levels. … the International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching provides substantial information and solid arguments that are the sole weapons to fight our battles.” (Zuraya Monroy-Nasr, Science and Education, Vol. 24, 2015)

“Science educators will be grateful for this unique, encyclopaedic handbook, which provides a balanced guide to the whole spectrum of research on the inclusion of history and philosophy in science teaching.” (Gerald Holton, Physics Department, Harvard University)

“This handbook is the most comprehensive attempt at bridging the worldwide “two cultures” gap in education. It gathers the fruits of over thirty years’ research by a growing international and cosmopolitan community.” (Fabio Bevilacqua, Physics Department, University of Pavia)

Editors and Affiliations

About the editor, bibliographic information.

Book Title : International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching

Editors : Michael R. Matthews

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7654-8

Publisher : Springer Dordrecht

eBook Packages : Humanities, Social Sciences and Law , Education (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Hardcover ISBN : 978-94-007-7653-1 Published: 07 August 2014

Softcover ISBN : 978-94-024-0716-7 Published: 04 May 2017

eBook ISBN : 978-94-007-7654-8 Published: 03 July 2014

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XII, 2532

Number of Illustrations : 66 b/w illustrations, 20 illustrations in colour

Topics : Educational Philosophy , Science Education , Philosophy of Education , History of Science , Philosophy of Science

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Possibilities of Pedagogy

Preparing History Teachers to Develop Young People's Historical Thinking

Terrie Epstein | May 1, 2012

During the past 20 years, research on learning and teaching history has grown exponentially. In a 2007 review of the research on history education, Keith C. Barton found over 200 empirical studies on young people's historical understanding, ranging in topics from how young people make sense of primary and secondary history sources to how sociocultural contexts and identities shape their interpretations of historical concepts and content. 1 Research in the area of historical cognition has illustrated that for most young people, historical thinking is an "unnatural act," 2 something counterintuitive to their assumptions about how historians reconstruct the past.

In this article, I discuss four of the most common misconceptions that young people bring to historical inquiry, as well as some pedagogical strategies that researchers have employed to correct or complicate young people's ideas. In summarizing the research, I've also simplified it. Therefore, please take into account these caveats: at every age, students' historical understandings range in sophistication, although older students generally have more complex ideas than do younger. And with sustained instruction, which challenges students' misconceptions, young people can develop more complex ideas about the nature of historical investigation.

Misconceptions about Historical Knowledge

Perhaps the most significant misunderstanding held by young people about history relates to the nature of historical knowledge. Many children and adolescents think of historical narratives as true or objective accounts of the past, with little or no room for ambiguity or contestation. Many see the historian's task simply as accumulating and piecing together evidence from the past, with little understanding of the leap taken from analyzing evidence to constructing interpretive accounts. They consider history textbooks to be complete and authoritative because they're written by experts; similar to other accounts; or validated by photographs—and they often read them uncritically, without raising questions.

When researchers gave young people diverse accounts of the same event and asked why they differed, students have suggested that the authors have limited knowledge, incorrect information, or personal biases. A few have recognized that the historian's perspective or framework influenced his or her account, and that two different, even competing accounts, may be valid. Many young people have determined the validity of competing historical accounts by privileging those that are more concrete, include more facts or details, or are more recently published, while more sophisticated students cite the consistency of an argument or comprehensiveness of an interpretation. 3

Overall, without prompting from researchers or instruction to the contrary, young people rarely take time to consider their conceptions (or misconceptions) of history. When they are asked to comment on the nature of historical accounts, most consider history to be an objective recording of the past, assembled from a clear and complete body of information. Few think of historical narratives as interpretive reconstructions of the past, assembled from fragmentary, sometimes contradictory traces.

Misconceptions about Primary Sources

Children and adolescents also have a limited grasp of the credibility of primary sources, and even less of the process by which those sources are evaluated and synthesized. Many consider primary sources to have greater credibility than secondary sources because the creators of primary sources were "there at the time." Young people also interpret primary sources uncritically, often taking the text as fact or at face value. Few take into account how authors' perspectives or intentions shape their representations, and even more sophisticated students interpret primary sources uncritically, taking into account only the most obvious examples of author bias. Most can barely analyze or critique one primary source in relation to another, nor can they adequately evaluate and synthesize primary sources with conflicting information. And studies that examined high school students' use of primary sources to construct historical arguments have produced mixed findings about whether students can use evidence to support their explanations.

Even when students recognize that primary sources provide partial and perspectival information, they have difficulty understanding how historians make the leap from the analysis of evidence to synthesis and interpretation. Some assume that once there is enough evidence to complete a fairly comprehensive picture, the historian simply organizes it and writes up an account. Others believe that historians create accounts from conflicting primary sources by adding up the evidence for and against a particular claim, adopting the assertion for which there is the most evidence, and disregarding that which runs contrary. Few high school students comprehend the role that historians' perspectives or frameworks play in evaluating and synthesizing primary source evidence to construct historical interpretations. 4

Misconceptions about Human Motivation and Action

Researchers consistently have found that young people possess a limited understanding of historical actors' and groups' motivations and actions. When asked to explain why historical actors or groups believed or behaved as they did, students describe people in the past as less intelligent than people today, or even "stupid." Young people also rely on presentism, that is, they project themselves into a historical period, recognizing that circumstances were different than they are now, but responding to a specific situation from a contemporary standpoint. Students also tend to be very judgmental of historical actors, critically asking, for example, why enslaved people "didn't just run away" or how people "voted for a crook like Nixon." 5

Misconceptions about Historical Change and Consequence

Young people also hold simplistic ideas about the complexity and effects of historical change. When asked why things in the past changed, many credited singular leaders or causes, explaining their influence in straightforward and linear ways. This is especially the case for young people in the United States, who overestimate the significance of great individuals as forces for change. Young people also have difficulty comprehending complex relationships between or among individuals, groups, processes or events, and rarely credit large-scale economic, political or social factors for change. In explaining the transformation in status for people of color or women, for example, many suggest that shifts in individual or group attitudes—rather than economic, political or legal shifts—are the driving factors of change.

Similarly, young people think of historical consequences and effects primarily in relation to individuals or groups. They often discuss how processes or events changed people's conditions or beliefs for better or worse, but rarely examine how events like the Civil War transformed the economy, political alignments and social relations. In considering historical causes and effects, older students are typically more capable than younger students of explaining how multiple causes and consequences have shaped the past. 6

Teaching History as Inquiry and Interpretation

By reorganizing traditional teaching practices, even in small ways, teachers can provide experiences for students to comprehend and construct historical accounts in more credible and complex ways. By organizing lessons around open-ended questions, rather than definitive texts, teachers can begin to reshape young people's views of the objective and authoritative nature of historical accounts. Questions that require students to evaluate the revolutionary consequences of the American Revolution or the progressive nature of the Progressive Era, for example, encourage young people to challenge their (and textbooks') assumptions about neat categorizations. Students who confront different historical accounts of the same actors or events can compare the questions, evidence conclusions authors drew. Through these exercises, teachers can enable young people to see history more as an investigation into a past shaped at least as much by the nature of the questions posed and methodologies employed as the answers generated. 7

Teachers who have taught students to interpret primary sources have had some success. Students who've been encouraged to question authors' identities and intentions have become more critical in their interpretations of primary sources. Teachers also have organized lessons around historical questions, provided primary sources to address those questions, and challenged and extended students' interpretations and syntheses of the sources. These methods have enabled students to craft historically sound explanations and create more inclusive and complex interpretations as they've learned to handle more challenging primary sources. 8

More ambitious attempts to challenge students' misconceptions have involved organizing entire courses around teaching young people to interpret evidence to answer historical questions. Teachers also have modeled—and had students continually practice through oral presentation and written texts—evaluating one or more primary sources, and/or synthesizing primary sources to generate evidence and construct historical accounts. Key elements of these interventions included sustained instruction over the course of a semester or year in historical analysis, synthesis, and argumentation. 9

Teachers who have focused instruction around particular goals, such as enabling young people to construct more sophisticated ideas about human motivation or cause and effect, also have had some positive impact. Successful teachers have included materials that illustrate the complexity of human intentions and actions. They've required students to reference evidence when making claims about historical actors' thoughts and actions, and challenged implausible or ahistoric explanations. Teachers also have chipped away at students' presentist views of human motivation and action by explaining how the historical contexts in which ideas and actions unfolded make some explanations more plausible than others. Similarly, teachers who have taught about multiple and interrelated historical causes and consequences, as well as the reasons for and effects of large-scale economic, political and social change, have enabled young people to move beyond naming or explaining singular and simple causes and effects. 10

While it's never been an easy task to teach young people to think as historians do, it is possible and desirable to challenge their misconceptions about how we come to understand the past. While most may never acquire the subtle and complex understanding of historical epistemology that years of graduate training and professional practice make possible, all young people can become better educated about how history is practiced and historical accounts are produced.

Terrie Epstein is a Professor of Education at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Interpreting National History: Race, Identity and Pedagogy in Classrooms and Communities and co-author (with Diana Turk, Rachel Mattson and Robert Cohen) of Teaching U. S. History: Dialogs among Social Studies Teachers and Historians , both published in 2009 by Routledge Press She recently has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar Research Award, to be completed during the Spring 2013 semester, for the project, "How the Past Informs the Present: New Zealand Adolescents' Views of the Treaty of Waitangi."

1. Keith C. Barton, "Research on Students' Ideas about History," in Handbook of Research in Social Studies Education , ed. Linda S. Levstik and Cynthia A. Tyson (New York: Routledge Press, 2008).

2. Sam Wineburg, "Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts," Phi Delta Kappan 80 (1999): 488-499.

3.Bruce A. VanSledright and Christine Kelly, "Reading American History: The Influence of Multiple Sources on Six Fifth Graders," Elementary School Journal , 98 (1998): 239–265; Richard Paxton, "A Deafening Silence: History Textbooks and the Students who Read Them," Review of Educational Research , 69 (1999): 315–339; Stuart J. Foster and Elizabeth A. Yeager, "'You Just Got to Put the Pieces Together: English Twelve Year Olds Encounter and Learn from Historical Evidence," Journal of Curriculum and Supervision , 14 (1999): 286–317; Yi-Mei Hsiao, "Taiwanese Students' Understanding of Differences in History Textbook Accounts," in Rosalyn Ashby, Peter Gordon and Peter Lee, Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education , vol. 4 of International Review of History Education (London: Routledge Press, 2004): 54–67; Isabel Barca, "'Till New Facts are Discovered': Students' Ideas about Objectivity in History," in Ashby, Gordon and Lee, Understanding History , 68–82.

4. Samuel S. Wineburg, "On the Reading of Historical Texts: Notes on the Breach between School and Academy," American Educational Research Journal 28 (1991): 495–519; Marcy Gabella, "Beyond the Looking Glass: Bringing Students Into the Conversation of Historical Inquiry," Theory and Research in Social Education 22 (1994): 340–363; VanSledright and Kelly, "Reading American History;" Elizabeth Yeager, Stuart Foster, Sean Maley, Tom Anderson and James Morris, "Why People in the Past Acted as They Did: An Exploratory Study in Historical Empathy," International Journal in Social Education 13 (1998): 8–14; Gaea Leinhardt and Kathleen M. Young, "Writing from Primary Documents," Written Communication 15 (1998): 25–68; Keith C. Barton, "Primary Children's Understanding of Historical Evidence: Comparisons Between the United States and Northern Ireland," International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research , 1 (2001), 21–30; Peter Lee, "History in an Information Culture," International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 1 (2001); Marilia Gago, "Children's Understanding of Historical Narrative in Portugal," in Ashby, Gordon and Lee, Understanding History , 83–97; Jade Kohlmeier, "'Couldn't She Just Leave?' The Relationship between Consistently Using Class Discussions and the Development of Historical Empathy in a Ninth Grade World History Course," Theory and Research in Social Education 34 (2006): 34–57 .

5.Dennis Shemilt, "Adolescent Ideas about Evidence and Methodology in History," in The History Curriculum for Teachers , ed. Christopher Portal (London: Heinemann, 1987): 39–61; Rosalyn Ahsby and Peter Lee, "Children's Concepts of Empathy and Understanding of History," in The History Curriculum for Teachers , ed. Portal, 62–88; Kohlmeier, "Couldn't She Just Leave?"; Peter Lee and Rosalyn Ashby, "Empathy, Perspective Taking and Rational Understanding," in Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies , ed. O. L. Davis, Elizabeth Yeager and Stuart Foster (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001): 199–222; Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past (Philadelphia: Temple University Press: 2000); Terrie Epstein, Edwin Mayorga and Joseph Nelson, "Teaching about Race in an Urban History Class: The Effects of Culturally Relevant Teaching," Journal of Social Studies Research 35 (2011): 1-28.

6.John Wills, "Who Needs Multicultural Education? White Students, U. S. History and the Construction of a Usable Past," Anthropology and Education Quarterly 27 (1996): 365–389; Keith C. Barton, "'Bossed Around by the Queen': Elementary Students' Understanding of Individuals and Institutions in History," Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 12 (1997): 290–214; Keith C. Barton, "A Sociocultural Perspective on Children's Understanding of Change: Comparative Findings from Northern Ireland and the United States," American Educational Research Journal 38 (2001): 881–913; Lee and Ashby, "Empathy, Perspective Taking and Rational Understanding."

7. Robert H. Bain, "Into the Breach: Using Research and Theory to Shape History Instruction," in Knowing, Teaching and Learning History: National and International Perspectives , ed. Peter Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg (New York: NYU Press, 2000): 331–352; Bruce A. VanSledright, In Search of America's Past: Learning to Read History in Elementary School (New York: Teachers College Press, 2002); Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, Doing History: Investigating with Children in Elementary and Middle Schools (New York: Taylor and Francis, 2005); Kohlmeier, "Couldn't She Just Leave?"; Diana Turk, Rachel Mattson, Terrie Epstein and Robert Cohen, eds., Teaching U. S. History: Dialogs among Social Studies Teachers and Historians (New York: Routledge Press, 2009); Chauncey Monte-Sano, " Beyond Reading Comprehension and Summary: Learning to Read and Write in History by Focusing on Evidence, Perspective and Interpretation," Curriculum Inquiry 41 (2011); 212–248.

8. Fred Newmann, "Higher Order Thinking in Teaching Social Studies: A Rationale for the Assessment of Classroom Thoughtfulness," Journal of Curriculum Studies 22 (1990): 41–56; Terrie Epstein, "The Arts of History: An Analysis of Secondary Students' Interpretations of the Arts in Historical Contexts," Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 9 (1994): 174–194; Marcy Gabella, "The Arts of Historical Sense" Journal of Curriculum Studies 27 (1994): 139–163; Elizabeth Yeager and O. L. Davis, "Classroom Teachers' Thinking about Historical Texts: An Exploratory Study," Theory and Research in Social Education 24 (1996): 146–166; Foster and Yeager, "'You Just Got to Put the Pieces Together'" ; Keith C. Barton, "'I Just Kinda Know': Elementary Students' Ideas about Historical Evidence," Theory and Research in Social Education 25 (1997): 407–430; VanSledright, In Search of America's Past; Rosalyn Ashby, "Developing a Concept of Historical Evidence: Students' Ideas about Testing Singular Factual Claims," International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4 (2004); Monte-Sano, "Beyond Reading Comprehension and Summary."

9. See Note 8.

10. Dennis Shemilt, History Evaluation 13–16 Evaluation Study (Edinburgh: Holmes McDougall, 1980); Newmann, "Higher Order Thinking"; Jere Brophy, "Elementary Students Learn about Native Americans: The Development of Knowledge and Empathy," Social Education 63 (1999): 38–45; Barton, "A Sociocultural Perspective"; Linda S. Levstik and Jeanette Groth, "Ruled by Our Own People: Ghanian Adolescents' Conceptions of Citizenship," Teachers College Press 107 (2005): 563–586; Kohlmeier, "Couldn't She Just Leave?"; Epstein, Mayorga and Nelson, "Teaching about Race in an Urban History Class."

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Cuneiform commentaries project.

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This page reviews the history of research on Mesopotamian commentaries, from the earliest publications in the late 19 th century to the Cuneiform Commentaries Project . 1

Early History of Research

The first publications of cuneiform commentaries appeared in the foundational period of Assyriology. As early as 1866, E. Norris provided in 2 R , 44 (no. 7) CCP 3.1.u73 and 47 CCP 3.1.u72 autographs of two Nineveh commentaries, one astrological, the other commenting on several different texts. However, cuneiform studies were at that time still so much in their infancy that Norris, unaware of what the texts actually represented, characterized them simply as bilingual lists. Progress in the analysis of the genre was slow. But when C. Bezold, between 1889 and 1899, published his catalogue of cuneiform tablets found by the British excavators at Nineveh, he was already able to distinguish in his index a large number of “commentaries” from texts that were merely “explanatory lists” ( Bezold, 1889/1899 C. Bezold , Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum. Vol. I-V . British Museum Press, 1889. : 2098-2100). In an introductory work on Babylonian and Assyrian culture from 1903, Bezold C. Bezold , Ninive und Babylon . Velhagen & Klasing, 1903. “Besondere Hervorhebung verdienen ... die Kommentare ... Man hat solche Kommentare zu einigen Tafeln einer Serie von Omentexten und zu mehreren Stücken des großen alten astrologischen Werkes ... gefunden. Da von diesen Stücken selbst noch mehrere Fragmente in der Bibliothek [Assurbanipals] erhalten sind, so läßt sich nun Zeile für Zeile des Textes mit dem Kommentar vergleichen und ersehen, mit welchen Schwierigkeiten schon 2600 Jahre vor unserer Zeit die berufsmäßigen Erklärer jener alten astrologischen Sammlungen zu kämpfen hatten. Auch einige religiöse Texte wurden von den Assyrern mit erläuternden Bemerkungen versehen und zwar in der Weise, daß nur gelegentlich ein einzelnes Wort oder ein selteneres Wortzeichen eine Erklärung erhält, ähnlich wie das heute noch in den Bemerkungen zu unseren Schulausgaben der alten Klassiker geschieht” (Bezold, 1903: 136-37). also provided one of the earliest brief general descriptions of the genre. Another significant step forward was made when L. W. King, in his book on the Babylonian Epic of Creation, presented a full edition of an important text commentary alongside the text to which it referred ( King, 1902 L. W. King , The Seven Tablets of Creation. Or the Babylonian and Assyrian Legends Concerning the Creation of the World and of Mankind . Luzac, 1902. : 157-75). Additional autograph copies of commentaries, both from Nineveh and from Babylonian cities, were published in subsequent decades by C. Virolleaud ( ACh , 1905-1912 C. Virolleaud , L'Astrologie Chaldéenne: le livre intitulé "Enuma (Anu) ilu.Bel" . Librairie Paul Gauthner, 1910. ), T. Meek ( 1920 T. J. Meek , “ Some Explanatory Lists and Grammatical Texts ” , Revue d'Assyriologie , vol. 17, pp. 117-206, 1920. ), C. J. Gadd ( CT 41 = Gadd, 1931 C. J. Gadd , Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum. Part XLI . British Museum Press, 1931. : nos. 25-50), and many others.

Labat’s Commentaires

Gadd’s CT volume inspired what until 2011 remained the only monographic treatment of Mesopotamian text commentaries, R. Labat’s Commentaires assyro-babyloniens sur les presages ( Labat, 1933 R. Labat , Commentaires assyro-babyloniens sur les présages . Imprimerie-Librairie de l’Université, 1933. ), a book that offers editions of altogether twenty-two commentaries as well as an introduction that attempts to define the genre. Labat’s work deserves praise because of its pioneering character and many valuable insights, but its usefulness is limited by the small number of commentaries considered. Moreover, some of the author’s conclusions seem unjustified. When Labat claims, for example, that the commentaries “manifestent très rarement un effort intelligent d’interprétation” ( Labat, 1933 R. Labat , Commentaires assyro-babyloniens sur les présages . Imprimerie-Librairie de l’Université, 1933. : 22), his judgement may reflect more of the author’s own ability to understand the commentaries than their actual exegetical potential.

The Modern Era

With the exception of J. Krecher’s useful but brief entry on “Kommentare” in RlA 6 ( Krecher, 1980/1983 J. Krecher , “ Kommentare ” , Reallexikon der Assyriologie , vol. 6, pp. 188-191, 1980. Like Labat, Krecher pays comparatively little attention to the vast body of mukallimtu -commentaries on astrological and extispicy texts. ), there have been no comprehensive treatments of Mesopotamian commentaries since Labat’s book, but several important studies of individual commentaries and commentary groups have appeared. The number of commentaries available in form of autographs or editions has radically increased over the past decades, with the series Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk , authored by H. Hunger H. Hunger , Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk. Teil I . Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1976. and E. von Weiher E. von Weiher , Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk. Teil II . Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1983. E. von Weiher , Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk. Teil III . Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1988. E. von Weiher , Spätbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat U 18 . Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1993. E. von Weiher , Spätbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat U 18 . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1998. and a number of publications by U. Koch(-Westenholz) ( 1999 U. Koch-Westenholz , “ The Astrological Commentary Šumma Sîn ina tāmartīšu Tablet 1 ” , Res Orientales , vol. 12, pp. 149-165, 1999. , 2000b U. Koch-Westenholz , Babylonian Liver Omens. The Chapters Manzāzu, Padānu and Pān Tākalti of the Babylonian Extispicy Series mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library . Museum Tusculanum, 2000. , 2005 U. S. Koch , Secrets of Extispicy. The Chapter Multābiltu of the Babylonian Extispicy Series and Niṣirti bārûti Texts mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library . Ugarit-Verlag, 2005. ) providing the bulk of the new material In addition, many astrological commentaries have been published in the BPO volumes authored by E. Reiner and D. Pingree: E. Reiner and Pingree, D. , Babylonian Planetary Omens. Part Two. Enūma Anu Enlil Tablets 50-51 . Undena Publications, 1985. E. Reiner and Pingree, D. , Babylonian Planetary Omens. Part Three . Styx, 1998. E. Reiner and Pingree, D. , Babylonian Planetary Omens. Part Four . Brill, Styx, 2005. . Particular attention has been paid to the hermeneutical techniques used in the commentaries ( Civil, 1974a M. Civil , “ Medical Commentaries from Nippur ” , Journal of Near Eastern Studies , vol. 33, pp. 329-338, 1974. , Cavigneaux, 1976 A. Cavigneaux , Die sumerisch-akkadischen Zeichenlisten. Überlieferungsprobleme . PhD thesis, 1976. : 151-160, Bottéro, 1977 J. Bottéro , “ Les noms de Marduk, l'écriture et la 'logique' en Mésopotamie Ancienne ” , in Essays on the Ancient Near East in memory of Jacob Joel Finkelstein , deJ. M. Ellis, Ed. Archon Books, 1977, pp. 5-28. , Cavigneaux, 1987 A. Cavigneaux , “ Aux sources du Midrash: L'herméneutique babylonienne ” , Aula Orientalis , vol. 5, pp. 243-255, 1987. , Limet, 1982 H. Limet , “ De la philologie à la mystique en Babylonie ” , in Studia Paulo Naster oblata II: Orientalia Antiqua , J. Quaergebeur, Ed. Peeters, 1982. , George, 1991 A. R. George , “ Babylonian Texts from the folios of Sidney Smith. Part Two: Prognostic and Diagnostic Omens, Tablet I ” , Revue d'Assyriologie , vol. 85, pp. 137-167, 1991. , Hunger, 1995 H. Hunger , “ Ein Kommentar zu Mond-Omina ” , in Vom Alten Orient zum Alten Testament. Festschrift für Wolfram Freiherrn von Soden zum 85. Geburtstag am 19. Juni 1993 , W. Dietrich and Loretz, O. , Eds. Butzon & Kevelaer, 1995, pp. 105-118. , Seminara, 2001 S. Seminara , La versione accadica del Lugal-e. La tecnica babilonese della traduzione dal sumerico e le sue "regole" . Dipartimento di Studi Orientali, 2001. : 546-48), and some authors have compared these techniques to those employed in rabbinical exegesis ( Lambert, 1954/1956 W. G. Lambert , “ An Address of Marduk to the Demons ” , Archiv für Orientforschung , vol. 17, pp. 310-321, 1954. : 311, Cavigneaux, 1987 A. Cavigneaux , “ Aux sources du Midrash: L'herméneutique babylonienne ” , Aula Orientalis , vol. 5, pp. 243-255, 1987. , Lieberman, 1987 S. J. Lieberman , “ A Mesopotamian Background for the So-Called Aggadic 'Measures' of Biblical Hermeneutics? ” , Hebrew Union College Annual , vol. 58, pp. 157-225, 1987. ). Less work has been done to illuminate the socio-cultural context of the commentaries ( Meier, 1937/1939b G. Meier , “ Kommentare aus dem Archiv der Tempelschule in Assur ” , Archiv für Orientforschung , vol. 12, pp. 237-246, 1937. and 1942 G. Meier , “ Ein Kommentar zu einer Selbstprädikation des Marduk aus Assur ” , Zeitschrift für Assyriologie , vol. 47, pp. 241-246, 1942. , George, 1991 A. R. George , “ Babylonian Texts from the folios of Sidney Smith. Part Two: Prognostic and Diagnostic Omens, Tablet I ” , Revue d'Assyriologie , vol. 85, pp. 137-167, 1991. , Frahm, 2004 E. Frahm , “ Royal Hermeneutics: Observations on the Commentaries from Ashurbanipal's Libraries at Nineveh ” , Iraq , vol. 66, pp. 45-50, 2004. ), but a number of studies of the milieu in which first millennium Babylonian and Assyrian scribes operated have paved the ground to tackle this issue in greater depth ( Parpola, 1983b S. Parpola , Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, Part II: Commentary and Appendices . Butzon & Bercker, 1983. , Pongratz-Leisten, 1999 B. Pongratz-Leisten , Herrschaftwissen in Mesopotamien. Formen der Kommunikation zwischen Gott und König im 2. und 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1999. , Brown, 2000 D. Brown , Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-Astrology . Styx, 2000. , Frahm, 2002 E. Frahm , “ Zwischen Tradition und Neuerung: Babylonische Priestergelehrte im achämenidenzeitlichen Uruk ” , in Religion und Religionskontakte im Zeitalter der Achämeniden , R. G. Kratz, Ed. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2002, pp. 74-108. , Clancier, 2009 P. Clancier , Les bibliothèques en Babylonie dans le deuxième moitié du 1er millénaire av. J.-C. Ugarit-Verlag, 2009. ). Our understanding of the emergence of canonical texts in Mesopotamia, a phenomenon intimately linked to the birth of the commentary, has also received considerable attention in the past years ( Rochberg-Halton, 1984 F. Rochberg , “ Canonicity in Cuneiform Texts ” , Journal of Cuneiform Studies , vol. 36, pp. 127-144, 1984. , Finkel, 1988 I. L. Finkel , “ Adad-apla-iddina, Esagil-kin-apli, and the series SA.GIG ” , in A scientific humanist: studies in memory of Abraham Sachs , E. Liechty, Ellis, MdeJ. , Gerardi, P. , and Gingerich, O. , Eds. University Museum, 1988, pp. 143-159. , Veldhuis 2003 N. Veldhuis , “ Mesopotamian Canons ” , in Homer, the Bible, and Beyond. Literary and Religious Canons in the Ancient World , M. Finkelberg and Stroumsa, G. G. , Eds. Brill, 2003. , Heeßel, 2010a N. P. Heeßel , “ Neues von Esagil-kīn-apli. Die ältere Version der physiognomischen Omenserie alamdimmû ” , in Assur-Forschungen. Arbeiten aus der Forschungsstelle »Edition literarischer Keilschrifttexte aus Assur« der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften , S. M. Maul and Heeßel, N. P. , Eds. Harrassowitz, 2010, pp. 139-187. ).

Because no synthesis of the information gathered in these studies is available at present, recent works that analyze the history and typology of the commentary from a multi-disciplinary perspective have paid little attention to commentaries from Babylonia and Assyria. Assmann & Gladigow, 1995 J. Assmann and Gladigow, B. , Text und Kommentar . Fink, 1995. , the broadest and intellectually most stimulating recent treatment of the commentary tradition, with discussions of exegetical texts from Egypt, the classical world, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, India, China, and the West, ignores them altogether. Most, 1999 G. W. Most , Commentaries - Kommentare . 1999. includes an important article on cuneiform “etymography” by Maul S. M. Maul , “ Das Wort im Worte, Orthographie und Etymologie als hermeneutische Verfahren babylonischer Gelehrter ” , in Commentaries/Kommentare , G. W. Most, Ed. Göttingen: , 1999, pp. 1-18. , but it, too, fails to discuss the cuneiform commentaries.

Frahm’s Origins and the Cuneiform Commentaries Project

It took several more years, however, before the first comprehensive study of the corpus appeared. In 2011, Eckart Frahm, the Principal Investigator of the Cuneiform Commentaries Project , published his monograph Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries: Origins of Interpretation , in the series Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual Record (Münster). The book, based on several years of research, provides a complete catalog of nearly 900 cuneiform commentaries scattered among museums and private collections around the world, discusses the scribes who copied and collected them, and analyzes the principal hermeneutical techniques, their self-designations, and their intertextual references.

Frahm’s study did not aim to publish large numbers of commentaries. In fact, it presents only two commentaries, one from Assyria ( Frahm, 2011 E. Frahm , Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation . Ugarit-Verlag, 2011. : 384-396) and one from Babylonia ( Frahm, 2011 E. Frahm , Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation . Ugarit-Verlag, 2011. : 396-404), in complete, annotated editions. But with its comprehensive catalog, the book provided a starting point for the more ambitious goal of editing all the commentaries in full, including those that have never been properly studied before. 2 Important studies on Mesopotamian commentaries have appeared after the publication of this monograph, especially Gabbay, 2012 U. Gabbay , “ Akkadian Commentaries from Ancient Mesopotamia and Their Relation to Early Hebrew Exegesis ” , Dead Sea Discoveries , vol. 19, pp. 267-312, 2012. and Gabbay, 2014 U. Gabbay , “ Actual Sense and Scriptural Intention: Literal Meaning and Its Terminology in Akkadian and Hebrew Commentaries ” , in Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians, and Babylonians , U. Gabbay and Secunda, S. , Eds. Mohr Siebeck, 2014, pp. 335-370. .

The main goal of the Cuneiform Commentaries Project is to provide full editions of all known text commentaries from ancient Mesopotamia. As outlined in the section About the Project , the project started in Fall 2013. Eckart Frahm, Principal Investigator, and Enrique Jiménez, Postdoctoral Associate, have created an electronic database of all known commentaries and built a searchable website that makes the database available to a global audience. In cooperation with the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus ( Oracc ), Frahm and Jiménez have also created online editions of several dozen commentary tablets and fragments. The available editions (50 as of January 2015) are accessible in the section Catalog of Commentaries . Editions of all remaining texts will be prepared and made available on the project’s website during the next few years.

• 1. The first paragraphs of this page have been adapted from E. Frahm , Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation . Ugarit-Verlag, 2011. Pp. 4-6
• 2. Published reviews of E. Frahm’s Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries: Origins of Interpretation include: Couto, 2013 É. Couto , “ Review of Frahm Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries (GMTR 5) ” , Historiae , vol. 10, pp. 149-150, 2013. , Gertz, 2012 J. C. Gertz , “ Review of Frahm Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries (GMTR 5) ” , Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft , vol. 124, pp. 137-138, 2012. , Glassner, In Press J. - J. Glassner , “ Review of Frahm Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries (GMTR 5) ” , Archiv für Orientforschung , vol. 53, pp. 137-138, Submitted. , and Livingstone, 2012 A. Livingstone , “ Review of Frahm Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries (GMTR 5) ” , Theologische Literaturzeitung , vol. 137, pp. 1179–1180, 2012. .

• hispanic heritage

Momentum grows behind Houston's proposed Hispanic History Research Center

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Hispanic History Research Center in Houston has been in the works for years, but now, significant signs of progress are developing.

The center is designed to be a home for the Houston Public Library's Latino archives, but community leaders are also adding their input for a grander vision.

More than 200 people got to talk with city leaders over the weekend about their ideas for a center that hosts the archives, community, and resource rooms, as well as exhibits unearthing Hispanic history in Houston.

That meeting was held at the center's future facility located in the East End on Navigation Boulevard along Buffalo Bayou's Turkey Bend. The city bought the building for about $10 million last year.

Voters approved funding for the center in 2017, but community activists said they had a hard time getting information about progress for years after that.

SEE ALSO: Hispanic Heritage Month: Latina-owned publishing company providing bilingual books in Texas schools

Now, they welcome the momentum and attention their effort is getting, especially with the recent election of three new Hispanic city council members.

The council members are also working together with the support of state leaders to digitize the archives and make them accessible to everyone at the new center.

David and Millie Contreras are community activists and also members of Houston's chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC.

"There's a lot of history out there that, perhaps, you may not know or your grandparents may know, but you never asked. Unless you ask, they'll tell you. There's stories out there, and this is community history. It's Houston history. It's Texas history. And it's American history. So that's what the youngsters and people in the community are missing out on," the Contrerases said.

The two activists are hoping none of us have to miss out on this history for too much longer.

The Hispanic History Research Center is expected to be completed sometime in 2026.

For updates on this story, follow Briana Conner on Facebook , X and Instagram .

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Stanford Humanities Today

Arcade: a digital salon.

Hope: The Future of an Idea | 2024 Spring Salon

Where is hope in humanities research? Perhaps it's a concept with a particular history, perhaps a force whose effects are latent or invisible; or it may be absent altogether for reasons to explain. Does hope motivate one's work? What does hope mean intellectually and personally?

Please join us for brief responses to these questions by current fellows, followed by a general discussion with Q&A moderated by SHC Director Roland Greene . The event will conclude with a reception.

About the Speakers

Samia Errazzouki (Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow) is a historian of early Northwest Africa. She holds a PhD in history from the University of California, Davis and an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. Her research and teaching focuses on trans-regional histories of racial capitalism, slavery, and empire. Errazzouki formerly worked as a Morocco-based journalist with the Associated Press, and later, with Reuters. She is currently a co-editor of Jadaliyya and assistant editor of The Journal of North African Studies .

Jisha Menon (Violet Andrews Whittier Internal Fellow) is Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, and, by courtesy, of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. She is the author of Brutal Beauty: Aesthetics and Aspiration in Urban India (Northwestern UP, 2021) and The Performance of Nationalism: India, Pakistan and the Memory of Partition (Cambridge UP, 2013). She is also co-editor of two volumes: Violence Performed: Local Roots and Global Routes of Conflict (Palgrave-Macmillan Press, 2009) and Performing the Secular: Religion, Representation, and Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

Joseph Wager (SHC Dissertation Prize Fellow) is a PhD Candidate in Iberian and Latin American Cultures at Stanford University. He is writing a dissertation focused on the form of the stories about desaparecidos, what is said about desaparecidos, in contemporary Colombia and Mexico. The dissertation places social-scientific inquiry, the work of activists and collectives, and legal instruments in dialogue with art installations, film, novels, performances, and poems. Underpinning this combination is 1. the idea that human-rights changes stem from how individual and collective actions resist institutionalization or translate into institutions and 2. that cultural products (e.g., art) and their form are crucial to the understanding of such processes.

Ya Zuo (External Faculty Fellow) is an associate professor of History at University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a cultural historian of middle and late imperial China. She is the author of Shen Gua’s Empiricism (Harvard University Press, 2018) and a range of articles on subjects such as theory of knowledge, sensory history, medical history, book history, and the history of emotions.

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A history of hypochondria wonders why we worry

In ‘a body made of glass,’ caroline crampton writes about the ways in which society has thought about diagnosis and delusion.

In the late 14th century, a spate of patients scattered across Europe developed an unusual delusion: They came to believe that their bodies were made of glass. Those suffering from this bizarre affliction were terrified of shattering — at least one of them insisted on sleeping in heaps of straw so as to prevent any mishaps. But to modern-day hypochondriacs, this archaic phobia might represent both a fear and a perverse fantasy. A glass person would be perilously breakable, but her condition would also be blissfully transparent.

The journalist Caroline Crampton often wishes that she could see her own insides. She is as desperate for knowledge of the darkest corners of her anatomy as she is terrified of her fragility. “I am a hypochondriac,” she writes in her new book, “ A Body Made of Glass: A Cultural History of Hypochondria .” “Or, at least, I worry that I am, which really amounts to the same thing.” She has suffered from this secondary malady since she was diagnosed with the primary malady of Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teenager. After months of treatment, her doctors assured her that she was in remission — but a year later, the disease returned. Crampton beat it again, but her anxiety lingers to this day. Is her apprehension irrational?

“A Body Made of Glass” proposes that it is and it isn’t. On the one hand, Crampton often experiences symptoms that she later recognizes to be psychosomatic; on the other, her hyper-vigilance after her supposedly successful first cancer treatment enabled her to spot a suspicious lump the second time. “My fears about health are persistent and at times intrusive,” she concedes, “but they are not necessarily unwarranted.” She concludes that “diagnosable illness and hypochondria can coexist.” Although “we tend to think of hypochondria as shorthand for an illness that’s all in your head,” the people most worried about their health are very often the people who have the most reason to be.

Unfortunately, many of us have cause to brood on the indignities of embodiment. Crampton writes that “a serious illness is much easier to cope with if it can be slotted into a familiar structure with a beginning, middle, and end,” but she knows that the comforts of recovery and resolution are denied to the ever-increasing number of patients with chronic or autoimmune conditions. Like those conditions, hypochondria is “a plotless story.”

“Without a firm diagnosis for my unreliable symptoms, I am stuck in the first scene of the drama, endlessly looping around the same few lines of dialogue,” Crampton writes. “The compulsion to narrativize this experience is always there, but always thwarted.” There is no satisfying ending, no definitive interpretation of a vague pain or a mysterious twinge.

Indeed, there is no absolute agreement about what qualifies as diagnosis and what qualifies as delusion. In a society riddled with biases, credibility is not apportioned equally, and marginalized populations are often dismissed as hysterical. A host of studies have demonstrated that doctors are less likely to listen to women and non-White people, and Crampton knows that she is “taken more seriously in medical examinations” because she is White and upper middle class. The prejudice cuts both ways: Patients, too, rely on “irrelevant details like confidence, carriage, and body language” to determine whether a physician is trustworthy.

And of course, sickness itself — and therefore hypochondria — is a culturally specific construct that is always subject to revision. The catalogue of medically reputable diseases expands and contracts as research advances and outdated theories are debunked. “It is now possible to test for conditions that were previously undetectable,” Crampton writes. The novelist Marcel Proust was regarded by his contemporaries (and even his father) as deranged because he took such strenuous precautions to avoid fits of coughing, but contemporary medicine might have vindicated his concerns. One century’s hypochondriac is another’s confirmed patient.

In 1733, the physician George Cheyne described hypochondria as a “disease of civilization.” According to Crampton, he meant that it was “a consequence of the excesses of an imperial and consumerist society that had abandoned the simplicity of earlier human existence in favor of an indulgent diet and inactive lifestyle,” but hypochondria is also a disease of civilization because it increases as our knowledge does. The more we understand about the myriad ways our bodies can fail, the more we have to fear.

Because the boundaries delineating hypochondria from verifiable sickness are not fixed, it is difficult to pin down either notion with precision. Crampton acknowledges that her topic of choice “resists definition, like oil sliding over the surface of water.” She is right that hypochondria is a shifting target, but her refusal to venture even a provisional characterization can make for frustrating reading.

“A Body Made of Glass” is a product of impressively thorough research, but it is sometimes circuitous and digressive to the point of frenzy. It blends memoir and literary criticism with micro-histories of subjects of varying relevance, among them the emergence of quack medicine and the medieval theory of the humors.

“Hypochondria” is an old word but a relatively new concept, and it is not always clear whether Crampton’s book traces the history of the phenomenon or the history of the term. Sometimes, her concern is etymological: She informs us that the word first appeared in the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of medical tracts produced and disseminated in ancient Greece, where it referred to “the place where hard ribs give way to soft abdomen.” Elsewhere, however, Crampton discusses not language but terror in the face of mortality. Her wide-ranging reflections touch on such eminences as John Donne, Molière and Charles Darwin, all of whom had both palpable ailments and debilitating anxiety about their palpable ailments. (It’s difficult to have the former without the latter, it turns out.)

Still, “A Body Made of Glass” is full of fascinating forays. If it is hard to read for its claims or conclusions, it can still be read for its many sobering observations about sickness — a misfortune that will eventually befall even the heartiest among us. After all, as Crampton darkly notes, “hypochondria is merely the human condition with the comforting fictions stripped away. Whether we choose to think about it all the time or not, we are all just one freak accident away from the end.”

Becca Rothfeld is the nonfiction book critic for The Washington Post and the author of “All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess.”

A Body Made of Glass

A Cultural History of Hypochondria

By Caroline Crampton

Ecco. 321 pp. $29.99

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The order your siblings were born in may play a role in identity and sexuality

Selena Simmons-Duffin

Rachel Carlson

Rebecca Ramirez

It's National Siblings Day ! To mark the occasion, guest host Selena Simmons-Duffin is exploring a detail very personal to her: How the number of older brothers a person has can influence their sexuality.

Scientific research on sexuality has a dark history, with long-lasting harmful effects on queer communities. Much of the early research has also been debunked over time. But not this "fraternal birth order effect." The fact that a person's likelihood of being gay increases with each older brother has been found all over the world – from Turkey to North America, Brazil, the Netherlands and beyond. Today, Selena gets into all the details: What this effect is, how it's been studied and what it can (and can't) explain about sexuality.

Interested in the science of our closest relatives? Check out more stories in NPR's series on the Science of Siblings .

Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear from you.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify , Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts .

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave .

This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact-checked by Brit Hanson. Maggie Luthar was the audio engineer.

More from the Science of Siblings series:

• The origin story of National Sibling Day is a celebration of love — and grief
• In the womb, a brother's hormones can shape a sister's future
• These identical twins both grew up with autism, but took very different paths
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Most U.S. bank failures have come in a few big waves

The collapses in March of  Silicon Valley Bank  (SVB) and  Signature Bank  – two of the largest U.S. banks to fail since the Great Depression of the 1930s – have led some to wonder if the nation may be headed for a new widespread banking crisis .

SVB, which catered to technology startups and venture capital firms, had more than $209 billion in assets at the end of 2022, making it the second-biggest bank to fail since the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) started keeping records in 1934.

Signature – which counted many big New York law firms and real estate companies as customers and was one of the few mainstream banks to seek out cryptocurrency deposits – had nearly $110.4 billion in assets at the end of 2022, ranking it as the fourth-largest bank failure after adjusting for inflation.

After the rapid-fire collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the  voluntary shutdown of Silvergate Capital , and the sale of long-troubled  Credit Suisse  to rival UBS, Pew Research Center wanted to put the current banking industry turmoil into some historical perspective.

Our main source for this analysis was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures customer deposits at banks, savings-and-loans (S&Ls) and similar institutions. ( Credit unions have their own deposit-insurance system .) The FDIC’s BankFind tool  has a wealth of data on failed banks, going back to 1934. SVB and Signature’s failures are too recent to be in BankFind, so we obtained data on them from a separate  failed bank list  also maintained by the FDIC, as well as from asset and deposit figures from the banks’ quarterly call reports, archived by the  Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council . The FDIC also provides  historical data on bank failures that predated the agency’s creation.

Because we wanted to compare the size of failed banks over a span of decades, we needed to adjust asset and deposit amounts for inflation. For the years 1978 to present, we used the Consumer Price Index retroactive series using current methods ( R-CPI-U-RS ), which incorporates changes made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the CPI over the decades to create a consistent measurement of historical inflation. Because the retroactive series only goes back to 1978, we used the regular Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the years 1930-1977.

Our roster of “failed banks” includes S&Ls, savings banks and other similar institutions (collectively “thrifts”) which failed in large numbers during the  S&L crisis  of the 1980s and 1990s. It also includes “open bank assistance” transactions , in which the federal government didn’t shut down a troubled bank or thrift immediately but tried to keep it afloat, with tactics that ranged from infusing cash into it to taking it over and running it until a buyer could be found. Such assistance was used extensively during the S&L crisis – with, at best, mixed results – but hasn’t been employed since.

Since the creation of the FDIC during the Depression, the United States has gone through two major banking crises, both of which caused hundreds of institutions to fail. Aside from SVB and Signature, the largest U.S. banking failures (as measured by total assets) all happened during those two earlier crises.

Four decades ago, the prolonged savings-and-loan crisis devastated that industry. Between 1980 and 1995, more than 2,900 banks and thrifts with collective assets of more than $2.2 trillion failed, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of FDIC data.

More recently, the mortgage meltdown and subsequent global financial crisis took down more than 500 banks between 2007 and 2014, with total assets of nearly $959 billion. That includes Washington Mutual (WaMu), still the  largest bank failure in U.S. history. WaMu had some $307 billion in assets when it collapsed, equivalent to more than $424 billion in today’s dollars. (The aggregate figures don’t include investment banks such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, which weren’t federally insured, nor banks that were sold under pressure but didn’t technically fail, such as Countrywide Financial and Wachovia.)

Outside of those two crisis periods, American banking failures have generally been uncommon, at least since the end of the Great Depression. Between 1941 and 1979, an average of 5.3 banks failed a year. There was an average of 4.3 bank failures per year between 1996 and 2006, and 3.6 between 2015 and 2022. Before SVB and Signature, in fact, it had been over two years since the last bank failure.

A century ago, the picture was very different. According to FDIC figures, an average of 635 banks failed each year from 1921 to 1929. These were mostly small, rural banks, which were common because many states limited banks to a single office. Only eight states had  deposit-guarantee funds , and in their absence people who had money in a failed bank were pretty much out of luck. That meant depositors had a strong incentive to pull out their money at the first sign of trouble.

The Depression ravaged the nation’s banking industry. Between 1930 and 1933,  more than 9,000 banks failed  across the country, and this time many were large, urban, seemingly stable institutions. The few state deposit-guarantee funds were quickly overwhelmed. Overall, depositors in the failed institutions lost more than $1.3 billion (about $27.4 billion in today’s dollars), or 19.6% of total deposits.

The FDIC was created in 1933 (deposit insurance itself started on Jan. 1, 1934), and spent the rest of the decade cleaning up the remains of the U.S. banking system. But federal deposit insurance greatly reduced the incentive for panicky depositors to pull their money out of a troubled bank before it went under: Between 1934 and 1940, the FDIC shut down an average of 50.7 banks a year.

Banks can fail for many reasons, but generally they fall into a few broad categories: a run on deposits (which leaves the bank without the cash to pay everyone who wants to withdraw their money); too many bad loans or assets that fall precipitously in value (both of which erode the bank’s capital reserves); or a mismatch between what the bank can earn on its assets (primarily loans) and what it has to pay on its liabilities (primarily deposits).

Not infrequently, more than one of these factors is at work. At SVB, for instance,  the bank’s large holdings of government bonds  lost value as the Federal Reserve rapidly hiked interest rates. At the same time, as funding for startups became scarcer, more SVB customers began withdrawing their money . When SVB took extraordinary steps to shore up its balance sheet — selling off its entire bond portfolio at a $1.8 billion loss and saying it would sell $2.25 billion worth of new shares – anxious depositors took that as a signal to speed up their withdrawals. (Roughly 86% of SVB’s total deposits were above the then-insurance cap of $250,000, according to the bank’s Dec. 31  call report .)

As banking industry observers wonder whether more dominoes will fall , about a third of Americans (36%) say they’re very concerned about the stability of banks and financial institutions – considerably smaller than the shares expressing that level of concern about consumer prices and housing costs – according to a recent Pew Research Center survey .

Nor can banks count on much public sympathy. More than half of Americans (56%) say banks and other financial institutions have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country these days, while 40% say they have a positive effect, according to an October 2022 Center survey . A dim view of the financial services industry, in fact, is one of the few things that unites partisans. In the same October 2022 survey, similar shares of Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party (59%) and Democrats and Democratic leaners (57%) said banks and financial institutions have a negative effect on the country.

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Bitcoin Halving Explained: History, Impact, & 2024 Predictions

April 16, 2024

Read Time 6 MIN

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Please note that VanEck may have a position(s) in the digital asset(s) described below.

The next Bitcoin halving is set for ~April 19, 2024, bringing opportunities and uncertainties for the Bitcoin community. This event, built into Bitcoin's foundational code, changes the rewards for miners and could significantly influence Bitcoin's value and role within the broader ecosystem.

The Bitcoin Halving Cycle Explained

A history of bitcoin halvings, the 2024 bitcoin halving: what to expect.

• Bitcoin Halving Impact on Miners & Market

The Future of Bitcoin Post-Halving

Bitcoin halving is a critical event in the world of Bitcoin that impacts investors and others involved with it. About every four years, the reward for mining new Bitcoin blocks is cut in half. This is done to control the supply of Bitcoin and make it more like scarce resources such as gold. The halving helps keep Bitcoin's value stable over time by reducing the rate at which new Bitcoins are created.

Bitcoin halving was introduced by its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, to control inflation and ensure the digital currency remains a deflationary asset. Initially, miners received 50 bitcoins as a reward for processing transactions and supporting the blockchain network. After the first halving in 2012, this reward was cut to 25 bitcoins, and it has halved subsequently at regular intervals, with the reward decreasing further each time.

Bitcoin's halving history is interesting, showing its growth from its beginnings in 2009. Since then, Bitcoin has experienced several halving events, each one playing a big part in its development.

• The first halving (November 2012): The inaugural Bitcoin halving occurred when the network reached 210,000 blocks. The mining reward was reduced from 50 to 25 bitcoins per block. This event marked the first test of Satoshi’s theory of controlled money supply and deflationary economics. Despite initial uncertainties, the Bitcoin network remained stable, and the aftermath saw the price of Bitcoin catapult from $10.59 to $126.24 within 180 days, reinforcing the viability of its underlying economic principles.
• The second halving (July 2016): With bitcoin firmly established in the public consciousness, the second halving reduced the block reward to 12.5 bitcoins. This period saw the rise of cryptocurrency as a legitimate investment class, with increasing participation from both retail and institutional investors. Following this halving, bitcoin experienced a significant rise, peaking at over $1002.92 and laying the groundwork for the bull run of 2017.
• The third halving (May 2020): The last halving reduced the reward to 6.25 bitcoins per block. Occurring amid global economic uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this halving was watched closely by investors worldwide. It played a crucial role in bitcoin’s remarkable performance through 2020 and into 2021, with the cryptocurrency reaching new all-time highs of $14,849.09 within 180 days and becoming a focal point of discussions around digital currencies’ role in the future of finance.

Source: Glassnode as of 4/10/2024. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results . Not intended as a recommendation to buy or to sell any of the securities mentioned herein. A Terahash represents 1 trillion hashes per second. A Exahash represents 1 quintillion hashes per second. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Bitcoin’s most explosive gains are typically post-halving

Source: Glassnode as of 4/10/2024. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Not intended as a recommendation to buy or to sell any of the securities mentioned herein. A Terahash represents 1 trillion hashes per second. A Exahash represents 1 quintillion hashes per second. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

The forthcoming halving promises to be a watershed event, with the reward diminishing to 3.125 bitcoins per block. This moment is expected to profoundly impact the mining landscape, potentially reshaping profitability metrics and accelerating technological advancements in mining efficiency. Historical precedents suggest a period of adjustment as miners navigate the reduced incentives, with potential implications for the network’s hash rate and overall security.

Historically, the hash rate (the total computational power dedicated to mining and processing transactions) dips after a halving as unprofitable miners disconnect, but it tends to recover within weeks. This is because the halving reinforces Bitcoin's scarcity, potentially driving up the price and increasing profits for those able to keep mining. If the price increase outpaces the reward reduction, as has been the case in the year after each prior halving, mining can remain profitable, even with fewer coins per block. This is because the survivors pick up the network's market share as others exit. Additionally, the halving incentivizes miners to invest in more efficient equipment to stay competitive. So, the hash rate tends to experience a temporary dip, followed by a rise in efficiency and overall hash rate in the long run.

That is why we suggested in our 2024 predictions piece that investors underweight bitcoin miners in the six months prior to halving, as the market generally discounts the first-order effect of higher costs. Miners often issue lots of capital during this tricky period. Post-halving, some miners may be forced to shut down, leading to a potential short-term decrease in the network's hash rate – the combined computational power dedicated to mining.

Bitcoin Halving Impact on the Miners and the Market

That said, the impact on bitcoin miners will vary. Power costs associated with running energy-intensive mining equipment make up the largest expense for miners, typically accounting for 75-85% of a miner’s total cash operating expenses. Current power costs for the listed universe average around $0.04/kWh. At this cost, we estimate the all-in cash costs of the top 10 listed miners will be about $45k/bitcoin post-halving. Larger miners with lower per-coin costs will see their margins shrink but likely remain profitable, especially if the price of bitcoin appreciates. We believe the halving will likely lead to consolidation within the mining industry, with smaller miners being squeezed out and larger players expanding their market share. However, this trend is already in place, as publicly traded miners now control a record % of the hash rate. Historically, bitcoin mining equities have recovered strongly post-halving and outperformed the spot price in halving years.

As mining rewards decrease, transaction fees may become more important for miner profitability. The halving emphasizes Bitcoin's scarcity, attracting investment and speculation. It reaffirms Bitcoin's principles as a decentralized, limited, and secure asset, shaping its role in the evolving financial landscape.

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Disclosures

Coin Definitions

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries.

Risk Considerations

This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned are unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

Index performance is not representative of fund performance. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

The information, valuation scenarios and price targets presented on any digital assets in this commentary are not intended as financial advice, a recommendation to buy or sell these digital assets, or any call to action. There may be risks or other factors not accounted for in these scenarios that may impede the performance these digital assets; their actual future performance is unknown, and may differ significantly from any valuation scenarios or projections/forecasts herein. Any projections, forecasts or forward-looking statements included herein are the results of a simulation based on our research, are valid as of the date of this communication and subject to change without notice, and are for illustrative purposes only. Please conduct your own research and draw your own conclusions.

Investments in digital assets and Web3 companies are highly speculative and involve a high degree of risk. These risks include, but are not limited to: the technology is new and many of its uses may be untested; intense competition; slow adoption rates and the potential for product obsolescence; volatility and limited liquidity, including but not limited to, inability to liquidate a position; loss or destruction of key(s) to access accounts or the blockchain; reliance on digital wallets; reliance on unregulated markets and exchanges; reliance on the internet; cybersecurity risks; and the lack of regulation and the potential for new laws and regulation that may be difficult to predict. Moreover, the extent to which Web3 companies or digital assets utilize blockchain technology may vary, and it is possible that even widespread adoption of blockchain technology may not result in a material increase in the value of such companies or digital assets.

Digital asset prices are highly volatile, and the value of digital assets, and Web3 companies, can rise or fall dramatically and quickly. If their value goes down, there’s no guarantee that it will rise again. As a result, there is a significant risk of loss of your entire principal investment.

Digital assets are not generally backed or supported by any government or central bank and are not covered by FDIC or SIPC insurance. Accounts at digital asset custodians and exchanges are not protected by SPIC and are not FDIC insured. Furthermore, markets and exchanges for digital assets are not regulated with the same controls or customer protections available in traditional equity, option, futures, or foreign exchange investing.

Digital assets include, but are not limited to, cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, assets stored or created using blockchain technology, and other Web3 products.

Web3 companies include but are not limited to, companies that involve the development, innovation, and/or utilization of blockchain, digital assets, or crypto technologies.

All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. As with any investment strategy, there is no guarantee that investment objectives will be met and investors may lose money. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

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