History is vital to educating anyone. History is not social studies; it is the narrative of human experience. History embraces time, and no other discipline does that.
– Nick Thimmesch, Los Angeles Times
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Department of History Skills Outline
Description and Rationale
This curriculum outline is based on the principle that students will learn the craft of history by practicing appropriate exercises that increase incrementally in difficulty and complexity from level to level. Essential to this is the understanding that history is a discipline and a practice, not simply the acquisition of a body of knowledge. Nothing in the following outline of the craft of history is meant to suggest that students will not simultaneously acquire a vast knowledge of the content of history.
History is as much about process as it is about factual information. History is the study of change over time, of changing societies, of the causes of change, and of the results of change.
At the heart of history is historical method. In other words, history is something that one does. It involves locating, evaluating and using evidence to reconstruct and understand the past. It entails asking useful questions and then finding out where and how to find the answers. This includes being critical of the evidence found–are the sources genuine and, even if they are, is the information valid? Even honest answers can still be wrong. Once it is determined what evidence is credible, it must be organized into a larger, logical whole that can be clearly communicated to others. In short, historians find evidence, evaluate it for authenticity and bias, establish its historical context, determine what it all means, and communicate their findings to others. Not surprisingly, this method of investigation and reporting has been likened to detective work (see, for example, Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time).
...advice for would-be stockbrokers: go to college and be a history major. Learn perspective. It’s a valuable asset. In our business, you’re assaulted daily and minute by minute with information. The problem is to sort through it and make long-term decisions based on short-term information. – Carol Kleiman, Chicago Tribune columnist.
Many professional-level jobs in business, industry, and government are filled by people who must use precisely these skills, (e.g., analysts of all kinds, marketing specialists, managers, and of course detectives). Persons with historical training frequently have more aptitude for these jobs than others.
What history majors learn
[1] Communication Skills: writing reports, essays, and correspondence in plain language; speaking effectively to groups and individuals; listening carefully and empathetically; portraying ideas clearly and imaginatively in a variety of formats tailored to particular audience, such as visual media. (From William Zinsser, Writing to Learn)
[2] Problem-Solving: defining a problem clearly; critically evaluating alternative courses of action; creating divergent solutions to a problem when more than one answer is possible.
[3] Investigative Skills: identifying and locating people who have information relevant to a task or problem. Identifying source materials necessary to the solution of a problem.
[4] Interpretive Skills: ability to sense the worth of an idea, to determine how to capitalize on it, and to sell the idea to the right people. Ability to assess an area of work in terms of its effect on an entire organization.
[5] Human Relations: interacting cooperatively with others; communicating orders, instructions and feelings with openness and empathy; delegating tasks in ways that show respect for others and receptivity to new ideas; acquiring information from people who may be hard to reach or reluctant to divulge such information.
[6] Learning Skills: By emphasizing the connection between formal education and work, higher education has advanced the idea that job success correlates directly with what one knows. Actually, the reverse is more often true. Persons successful in their work are mostly engaged with what they do not know. Thus, they have to be adept learners, which liberal arts majors invariably are, because of the breadth of their education.
The following skills guideline lays out the skills and techniques that constitute the craft of history. It is expected that, at each course level, faculty will implement the elements of the craft of history using appropriate exercises. These broad goals will guide the professor in structuring courses and exercises appropriate to the course level.
I. Analysis
A. Types of Historical Evidence
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources
a. Traditional
b. Internet
B. Analyzing Evidence
1.External criticism (validity of sources)
2. Internal criticism (bias, credentials, authority)
II. Evidence: Framing Questions & Interpretation
A. Determining Causation
B. Establishing Context
III. Communicating History
A. Historiography/Analysis/Developing Argument
B. Writing History
C. Oral History
D. Presentations (AV, maps, Power Point, etc.)
HISTORY SKILLS GUIDE BY LEVEL
Please note that the following bulleted pedagogical practices listed
under each level are merely suggestions of some of the appropriate
exercises that might be used to implement the criteria of the skills
outline.
1000-LEVEL
Topics: broad surveys (temporal and geographical), core curriculum courses.
PEDAGOGICAL GOALS AND PRACTICES
Acquaint students with what professional historians do.
Introduce students to the craft of history:
◆basic understanding of primary and secondary sources
◆internet sources
◆interpretation, point-of-view, content analysis, comparative analysis, world view, cultural context
◆written analysis, thesis formulation
2000-LEVEL
Methods oriented courses organized by topics (temporal, geographical, and thematic)
PEDAGOGICAL GOALS AND PRACTICES:
Begin the process of training students to become professional historians and history teachers.
Elementary research methods:
◆identification, analysis, and use of primary and secondary sources
◆written prospectus
◆outline
◆rough draft
◆revision of rough draft
◆historical narrative
◆Chicago style documentation
◆oral presentations
◆identification and comparison of different interpretations
3000-LEVEL
Focused courses organized by topic (temporal/chronological, geographical, thematic, comparative, theoretical, interdisciplinary)
PEDAGOGICAL GOALS AND PRACTICES
Provide intensive training in the craft and communication of history.
Research methods:
◆identification, analysis, and use of primary and secondary sources
◆written prospectus
◆outline
◆rough draft
◆revision of rough draft
◆historical narrative
◆Chicago style documentation
◆historiographical essays
◆annotated bibliography
◆oral presentations
◆reading and writing book reviews
◆identification and comparison of different interpretations
◆introduction to theory
◆use of interdisciplinary methods
◆oral history
4000-LEVEL
Seminars that include readings and research in faculty specialties
PEDAGOGICAL GOALS AND PRACTICES
Application of skills and abilities in research, analysis, and communication.
Research methods:
◆identification, analysis, and use of primary and secondary sources
◆written prospectus
◆outline
◆rough draft
◆revision of rough draft
◆historical narrative
◆Chicago style documentation
◆historiographical essays
◆annotated bibliography
◆oral presentations
◆reading and writing book reviews
◆identification and comparison of different interpretations
◆application of theory
◆use of interdisciplinary methods
◆oral history
◆critiques of classmates’ work
◆editing
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