If you have a passion for the past, are motivated by your success, and are analytical, a career as a historian may be the perfect fit for you. A high annual wage and the opportunity to contribute to exciting historical projects, such as uncovering previously unknown but crucial material, are available to those with these skills.

Learning about the work of historians and the steps required to join their ranks will help you determine whether or not this field is a good fit for your interests, abilities, and life goals.

Let’s explore how to do Historical research and studying tips.

Who or What Exactly is a Historian?

A historian is a social science practitioner who researches and writes about significant historical events like wars, social movements, and the development and fall of ancient civilizations. Historiographers spend most of their time researching, interpreting, and writing up their findings.

Like in other social science topics, there is a wide range of job titles associated with history due to the breadth and depth of the subject. As a rule, historians specialize in one area of the past, such as the ancient world or the history of warfare. Historians may determine the nature and trajectory of a phenomenon over time by following a chain of causes and effects from the past to the present.

Most of a historian’s work is spent researching, reading primary sources, and analyzing the data to conclude the topic. The primary responsibilities of historians include:

• Using a variety of resources to learn about and answer questions about specific historical events
• examining documents, artifacts, and other forms of proof
• Producing papers that detail their results and their relevance
• Making predictions by drawing parallels between the present and the past
• Communicating with museums and historical places to guide the preservation of artifacts, monuments, and sites
• Working with museums, organizations, and other entities to further historical endeavors and preservation efforts through collaboration and consultation.
• Ensuring historical accuracy in museum exhibits and publications by conducting research and revising drafts
• Putting together a biography requires consulting a wide range of authoritative sources.
• Collaboration with other historians to divide up research tasks

How to Study History

Researching history might be intimidating for people with no prior expertise. Learn how to make studying history more enjoyable by applying these research strategies:

• Keep sight of the forest for the trees

Learning about the past doesn’t have to be a chore of rote memorization if you look at your research as an overarching assessment of a person or period. Consider broader cultural themes and movements that impact your study subjects as you conduct your research.

• Make sure you always take notes

There are more facts than anyone can memorize while studying world history, United States history, or the history of a particular cultural phenomenon. You should take notes to keep information manageable. To better find your way to the right page, use sticky notes, but if you own the book, write in the margins.

Additionally, flashcards are fantastic and can be used as study aids for future history tests. Everyone from a high school student working on their first history paper to a college history department chair researching primary sources for a journal article can benefit from taking notes as they learn about the past.

• Pay attention to the order of events

When researching a series of historical events, it’s helpful to have a sense of their relative timing relative to one another. However, your history research paper must be presented in a more relaxed chronological order. Try to think the way trained historians do, primarily in terms of overarching trends and societal shifts.

• Use primary resources

Anything created, shot, or recorded within your research period is considered a primary source. It could be anything from a letter to a treaty to a photograph to a newspaper article to official government records or even just the recollections of a person who was there at the time. Secondary materials, such as history textbooks, can be invaluable, but they always carry the author’s inherent prejudices. When conducting research, it is frequently best to get your information straight from the horse’s mouth by reading, watching, or listening to primary sources from the period you’re exploring. Primary papers are usually more important than secondary sources in a successful research effort.

• Locate data as needed

An online search engine is an excellent place to begin your historical study if you are a casual learner. Even while the results you get may prove helpful in the preliminary stages of your study, you will need to delve deeper if you want to produce truly outstanding findings.

It’s important to note that only some have equal access to the immense collections of historical documents housed by institutions like the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the National Archives. You may have access to these materials as a college student, or at the absolute least; you can use the resources available through your school library or interlibrary loan.

Companies and organizations of all sizes often employ their archivists, who are usually more than eager to assist researchers in finding the information they need. The best materials for any research paper can be found online if the researcher is willing to put in the time and effort required to conduct a comprehensive search.

• Atlases of history

Learning history from hardbound textbooks might be perplexing. Most historical novels today assume that readers already understand history well. Historians recommend using a timeline or a historical atlas to learn about the past.

Maps and charts depicting the evolution of geopolitical landscapes are included in historical atlases. They assist individuals in understanding history in a general sense by pinpointing the era in which historical events occurred.

• Viewing historical films

Movies that depict history are among the best methods to learn about it. While not all films adequately portray history, many films do an excellent job of depicting historical events. You may, for example, watch Schindler’s List, The Boy in Striped Pajamas, or The Pianist to understand more about the Holocaust.

• Read insightful autobiographies

Another approach to learning about history is through biographies. It allows you to experience history through the lives of those who lived it. Great autobiographies include Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, Samuel Pepys’ Diaries, and Vera Britain’s Testament of Youth.

• Museum visits

The Louvre Museum is located in Paris, France. 

Nothing beats seeing history through the eyes of a child. Most museums today house relics and diverse historical jewels such as antique clothing, utensils, and ancient rings that explain more about a place’s history than any history book. These items can nearly transport us back in time by allowing us to grasp how life was back then.

How to Study History on Your Own

Visiting historical sites

Visiting a memorial where a conflict or war has been commemorated, or troops have been honored can motivate you to learn more about the subject. Most people who visit historical sites merely take pictures and share them on social media without bothering to learn about the significance of the location.

When traveling to a new country or location. Try strolling the streets and seeing historical sites such as temples and churches. The work of Nancy R. Newhouse, Honoring the Fallen in the War to End All Wars, is an excellent example of a historical visit to France.

Participating in cultural events

It can be a lovely experience to learn about a country through its traditions. Try to see traditional dance and music performances when visiting a new place or nation. Try to participate to get the most out of the experience.

Discovering your family’s historical origins

Making history relevant to your life is one method to develop an interest in the subject. So, why not start tracing your family tree to learn more about your ancestors? Wouldn’t it be amazing to discover that you were related to George Washington? There are numerous websites available nowadays that can assist you in accomplishing this. Ancestry.com, for example, is an excellent resource for tracing your ancestors. It has a vast collection of historical materials and facts that will assist you in learning more about your family’s past.

Historical cooking recipes

Viking Cuisine on Viking Culture Day. 

For breakfast, what did Vikings eat? What kinds of cakes did people enjoy eating in 1935? In 1833, what ingredients were used to make donuts? Nobody finds the topic of eating dull. Anyone interested in learning more about their country’s history should begin by eating like their forefathers. Who can say? Investigating ancient food recipes may help you discover your inner chef.

History does not have to be dull. Cultivating a passion for history via appreciation and reminiscence of the past allows us to comprehend our present and future more humanely. The best approach to studying history is to experience it from several points of view.

How to Get Better at History

Make history your domain

When something is not in your domain or of interest to you, you may dislike studying it. So, before you start learning or studying history, be sure you enjoy it. It only takes a few tips and methods to add it to your domain, and then you’re done. Above all, you must understand your objective.

Be prepared to learn the dates

If you prefer to avoid memorizing dates, please understand that you may have some issues achieving your best in History. Continue scrolling to learn more about memorizing dates.

Avoid being biased while learning history

When a subject or issue becomes our favorite, we become biased. Just don’t do it. It is detrimental to your performance. Let us illustrate with an example: suppose you want to study historical buildings rather than the person who owned them. This way, you’d only have half the information. Try to learn entirely without biasing the course.

Manage your time

Time is required to master any subject. When studying a subject such as history, more time is required than usual. Manage your time by dividing your subject into subsidiaries, then those subsidiaries into quarter-subsidiaries, and finally, allocating time to each issue. This is the most effective technique to learn history.

Take additional quizzes

The key is practice. The more quizzes or tests you take, the better you will be able to study history. Everything takes time and perfection, and when you have both, you steal the show. Quizzes will not only help you learn history and inform you about the paper design and how difficult the questions may be.

Create a mind map

A mind map is produced when your thoughts are expressed as words. Is a mind map the definitive answer to how to learn history? A mind map can accomplish things that no other tool can. Create a mind map, and you’ll ace the show.

Learn before and after the nineteenth century

Every coin has two sides, just as history did before and after the nineteenth century. History was different before the nineteenth century and completely different after the nineteenth century. And a competent history student understands both sides of the coin. Furthermore, certain events were interconnected but occurred in different centuries, so how would you become a history expert if you studied only part of the period?

Use visual illustrations to help you visualize your ideas

You may have read about an event and could not identify it based on a photograph. Alas! What a colossal letdown. Because a history student must know everything, learning becomes even more exciting and unique with visual drawings. You can be extremely sure about your thoughts and occurrences. Isn’t that wonderful?

Look for a subject

The first step is to select a topic without stating the obvious. Most of us have some general period in history that piques our curiosity. Nonetheless, it might help to hone in. You can get more specific by using “Henry VIII’s wives” or “those at Elizabeth I’s court” instead of “The Tudors.”

While broad topics seem great in an introduction, they can be a real pain to investigate. It’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re given a wide-ranging topic or period to investigate without specific instructions. Be sure to focus on a narrower area of interest.

And no rule says you can’t make alterations down the road. Many historians, if not most, will tell you that their initial focus shifted as they dug more into a topic.

 Think about what it is about this topic that interests you

It’s a good idea, but people frequently skip this step. Think about what it is about this particular historical puzzle that piques your interest. Do you have funding from an organization to investigate this question? Is it something in your own family’s past? Was it introduced to you by a professor or teacher you admire in an earlier course?

There is no such thing as an incorrect response. To determine your research’s outcome, you must first understand its purpose. If you’re writing a family saga, you might start with a family tree that stretches back X generations. Or, if the project is funded, you may be required to write up a report for the company outlining the details of the situation. What if the outcome doesn’t matter to anyone but you? Although it won’t tell you which path to take, it can help narrow down the options.

 Compile a list of your primary and secondary sources

At this point, real work may begin, so let’s look at some sources. Determine all of your potential resources. In historical research, primary sources are those produced during the studied period and have a direct bearing on the event in question. There is an infinite variety of possible primary sources, including but not limited to letters, diaries, receipts, documents, clothes, and legislation.

It may take some time, but it is well worth learning about your options. Get in touch with any institutions (such as museums and libraries) that might contain useful primary sources. If they say no, that’s the worst-case scenario. Knowing which primary sources you have access to and can utilize in your project early on is essential; that list will grow as you conduct more research. (Most won’t be public.)

It’s easier and more challenging to use secondary sources. They are typically simpler to spot. You can sift through bibliographies, look up references, and solicit suggestions. However, physically obtaining them may prove more challenging. If your library doesn’t offer inter-library lending, you can ask another library to help you out. (They could obtain them from a different library.) If you want a copy of an article or essay, you can politely ask the author for one by contacting them personally. Sometimes it’s more challenging than you’d imagine getting your hands on secondary sources.

Bottom Line

These are the essential tips for learning history with ease and success. When someone develops an interest in a subject, it becomes easier for them to learn about it. The more you give to a subject, the more it will give back to you. However, to become an experienced historian, you must study smartly rather than complexly. Simply follow the guidelines above, and you will notice a difference. Take some tests, many are available online, and put yourself to the test. Your progress will undoubtedly improve dramatically.