A Pocket Guide to Writing in History

by Mary Lynn Rampolla

A clear, accessible guide that helps college students research, write, and revise history papers effectively. This concise handbook covers key skills including source evaluation, thesis development, argument construction, and proper citation. Ideal for introductory and intermediate history courses.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Writing, Reference, Textbooks, School, Education

359 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Mervat · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب مفيد لأى باحث فى التاريخ من أول المقالة والتقرير حتى الرسائل الجامعية.. استفدت منه رغم إن عندى اساسيات البحث ، وفى الرسالة استخدمت الأساليب الإكاديمية المتفق عليها، لكن الكتاب نبهنى لنقاط الضعف خصوصًا فى الاقتباس و التوثيق..

[مؤرخ · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب فريد في أسلوبه وسهولته وتغطيته لكل ما يتعلق بكتابة بحث تاريخي. هذا كتاب مثالي لكل طالب وطالبة من بداية السنة الأولى في الجامعة إلى نهاية الدراسات العليا.

[Savannah McCauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Lynn Rampolla, an associate professor of history at Trinity Washington University, wrote A Pocket Guide to Writing in History in 2007. In 2015, Bedford/St Martin’s printed the newest version in Boston, Massachusetts. Writing in History gives students a portable, easy to read guide to help them in writing any history assignment, specifically at the undergraduate level. The book accomplishes this by providing easy to follow and sufficient advice on historical writing, but it lacks adequate examples and is missing some key content.
Each chapter in Writing in History is about one aspect of good writing. It starts discussing prewriting techniques, such as knowing the right sources to use and understanding the general format of history assignments. It then moves on to the writing process, explaining the ins and outs of creating a research paper, as well as the essential foundations of effective writing. Finally, it concludes with discussion about avoiding plagiarism by correctly citing sources and making a bibliography.
This book is an incredible resource because it thoroughly explains many of the key aspects of writing in history in a clear and well organized way. It addresses most things that the average student needs to know about history, including everything from tips about writing the perfect thesis statement to explanations for creating a detailed bibliography. Throughout explaining all of this information, it still sustains the utmost clarity, making sure that the reader is never lost or unsure about the concepts that they are reading about. It does this through maintaining remarkable organization, making sure that every section has a heading and including a surplus of bulleted lists. Overall, Writing in History is an extremely useful resource because it teaches students the information that they are seeking to learn in an organized and easy to understand way.
With that being said, there are some important aspects of historical writing that the book fails to mention, and still others that it does not provide examples for. Even though it covers most topics, there are a few that it completely ignores, such as annotated bibliographies. This causes the book to fall short of explaining everything that students might need to know, and thus fail to be a comprehensive guide. In addition, it sometimes lacks useful, relevant, examples. For instance, it spends multiple pages talking about essay exams, but it does not provide any example of the way that they should be formatted. This makes it harder for the student to apply the concepts to their own writing.
Overall, Writing in History is an incredible resource for any history student, because it provides clear, extensive, and well organized advice, even though it can sometimes neglect topics and examples. In general, it gives college students a lot of relevant information that can help them in all aspects of their education, not just history. I would give this book four out of five stars, because it is well put together and extraordinarily useful.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very simple if effective guide for the basic mechanics of writing historical analysis, centered around the American undergraduate system.

[Oscar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not letting anyone who starts a guidebook with a Harry Potter joke tell me how to write a high school history paper

[Boise City Department of Arts & History · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book.

[إيمان بدر · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب قيم جداً وسلس يتناول منهج الكتابة التاريخية وجوانبها مع الاستدلال بالأمثلة التوضيحية

[Joshua Lay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Resource

This small volume is a thorough and handy guide for those involved in doing and studying history. This volume contains useful information and help for beginners and those wanting a refresher, or even an update on how to utilize many of the tools available to historians.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was for my HIST 222 class. While short, it was dry, and I felt like there were many things I already knew about or didn't add to my prior knowledge. I don't fault the book for this, but it feels like it is talking to me as the reader as if I don't understand anything. This is a good overview for writing, but I don't feel like returning to it often.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer for introductory lower division courses on history.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a really nice guide when you need help getting started or checking your work on assignments. It simplifies things and is just a great basic resource.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find it any more useful than the "Writing History" book we used in Historical Writing.. but it was required, so it was read. *meh*

[Jenny]

An excellent guide - I read an older version and it didn't even feel that outdated. Considering purchasing a copy for my office.

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic guide for undergraduates studying history. Nothing too crazy.

[Raymond Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Handbook to carry with you

[Aya Badr · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب مهم جدا ووافي برأيي لكل من سيكتب بحث او مقالة او كتاب في التاريخ ومفيد للقارئ الغير متخصص كمعرفة ملامح عن أمانة الكاتب الذي يقرأ له...

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very useful guide for history teachers and students to use. It is easy to follow, gives lots of great advice that I would echo, and gives great examples to use.

[Alexander Jolley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful for historical writing

[Phillip Howerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirty years ago a history professor of mine required this little gem in his course, and I have been careful to keep it at hand. A terse and non-nonsense guide. A classic.

[Robbie Deacon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Pocket Guide to writing in history is an excellent work and I would have given it five stars if it weren’t grossly overpriced. This should cost $20, not $50

[Robin Hatcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a college class. Basic but good.

[pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book and memorize passengers from it like I’m reading scripture.

[Swarm Feral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great scaffolding for a critical historiography.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this earlier for class, and it's like the first time I've been taught how to write in college and it changed how i approach everything in school now, thanks.

[Steffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book A Pocket Guide to Writing in History by Mary Lynn Rampolla provides readers with a basic understanding of the methods that should be used when writing historical documents. This book was published by Trinity Washington University in 2015. Rampolla is an associate professor of history at Trinity Washington University, she has various publications in the field, as well as a doctorate making her an expert in the field. After the seventh edition was created, it was reviewed by 221 other professionals, helping solidify the eighth edition. All though this book provides an excellent overview of the skills needed to write history. The weaknesses include the lack of explanation on an outline as well as the lack of inductive versus deductive reasoning.

Throughout the entire book Rampolla explains the method of Chicago style. She goes into detail by first discussing research questions, and the importance of thesis’s. A thesis is indeed one of the most important parts of a paper. It explains all of the arguments of a paper in one sentence. She also discusses the demographics of a research paper, from start to finish. The book is roughly 162 pages, and analyzes the key factors in writing a research paper in Chicago style.

There are a plenty of strengths about this book including the extensive coverage in research tips. Towards the start of the book Rampolla discusses the importance of being an active reader, these can include notetaking or highlighting (which is less active). Starting off with being active can make the entire process easier. The next thing she discusses is synthesis, providing the reader with the proper techniques to learn the challenge of finding ones’ own opinion. Further into the book Rampolla gives multiple tips on the key to being a successful writer while using Chicago style citations.

The weaknesses are the lack of information on an outline as well as the lack of inclusion on inductive and deductive reasoning. The most important part of a paper is an outline; this can make or break a paper. Rampolla fails to mention the importance or even details of the process of making a noteworthy outline. The book also did not include inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is making broad generalizations about specifics and deductive reasoning starts broad and then goes specific. This is an important thing to know for research, because it helps researchers decipher the way the research will go.

Overall Rampolla creates an extremely helpful guide to those in the beginning of their undergraduate degrees. It provides multiple tips and tricks for learning Chicago. It does have flaws, the outline issue is huge, as well as the lack of inductive versus deductive reasoning. This book earns a 4.5/5 stars due to the overwhelming amount of strengths throughout the novel.

[EvaLovesYA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also posted on Eva Lucias blog

“A Pocket Guide to Writing in History” is a short but detailed description and introduction of how the academic student deals with history: how to read it, how to understand it and why we read history.

I used this source for an exam which dealt with a specific time period of British literature. When looking into literature, one cannot avoid looking into the same historical period and what occurred. In the course we investigated many historical sources, talked about the canon and which literary pieces are considered as canon material. Furthermore, we had many discussions on why we read and how we read it.

To interesting quotes I stumbled upon in “A Pocket Guide to Writing in History” were the following:

– “The historian’s goal is not to collect “facts” about the past, but rather to acquire insight into the ideas and realities that shaped the lives of men and women of earlier societies […] when we study the people of the past, what we are really learning about is the rich diversity of human experience”.

– “An examination of the past can tell us a great deal about how we came to be who we are. When we study history, we are looking at the roots of modern institutions, ideas, values and problems”.

Naturally, it is important to know more about our past in order to explore and examine our present and future, both sociologically, politically and historically. This short introduction to history sets the mind going and presents an easy introduction to history from an academical aspect.

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[Christine B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and straightforward book about writing in History courses. It covers what a thesis is, how to go from a paper 'topic' to an argument, the use and incorporation of primary and secondary sources, and has a good guide to writing papers. It also gives good examples of citations. A colleague included it on her syllabus for a research topics class so I read through it today. I very well may end up using it in my classes.

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, straightforward and concise. Rampolla lays out everything you need to know in a logical manner, and makes the style known clearly. Easiest version of a style guide I've ever read. Absolute best version to use when writing in CMS.

[Jewels · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is more for those people who write research papers for a living. While it goes step by step in building the paper, it also veers off on tangents that would only matter to professionals.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have for anyone writing in History.