What, exactly, was the Charity Organization Society? Was it a cluster of affluent women imposing their moral propriety on the poor in the early 20th Century? Or was it the first concerted effort to professionalize previously random, subjective allocations of benefits and entitlements? This book will help researchers explore systematically such fascinating questions and debates in social work and social welfare history. Mastering how to pose historical questions is as essential as finding the answers. This book, from its wide-ranging coverage of historiographic theory to detailed guidelines for conducting oral history and archival research, offers clear and practical research tools: how to design a study, select primary sources, understand the vocabulary of archives, determine useful secondary sources, and analyze them all. The book also features a guide to archives and special collections that details their holdings, access and locations, and research grants - essential knowledge for any researcher. The thrill of stumbling across unexplored data in the stacks of a library is notorious. Now, this clearly written pocket guide will help established scholars as well as doctoral students get the most out of historical data.

Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence, including the evidence of archaeology, to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. The study of historical method and of different ways of writing history is known as historiography. This book undertakes historical research and provides invaluable advice and support with methodological analysis. History Research: Theory and Methods presents a clear practical guide to the study research and writing of history. Each stage of historical research is covered from the selection of a topic and the organization and evaluation of source material through to the completion of a typescript. The book focuses on the study of history provides detailed guidance on research methods and includes comprehensive information on stylistic conventions for presenting historical work.

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

Appropriate for undergraduate history students researching and writing dissertations, and postgraduate research students. This is the first practical guide to cover the various stages of a history research project, from the selection of the topic and the organization and interpretation of source material, through to the completion of the written-up record.

A book providing practical help to students at the graduate and postgraduate levels. What is given in the book is precise, clear and solid. The book's coverage and comprehensiveness, its scientific, analytical and critical treatment, its near perfect organization and arrangement, its clarity and easy methods of reference will make it a useful compendium for students and teachers. A teacher and lover of history the author has brought out philosophical, scientific, and ideological and linguistic perspectives to bear on the subject. Whether a student or teacher or a general reader, the manual can be expected to develop a healthy interest in history. The author has brought to bear philosophical, scientific, ideological and linguistic perspectives to bear on the subject.

Historians have become increasingly sensitive to social and cultural theory since the 1980s, yet the actual methods by which research is carried out in History have been largely taken for granted. Research Methods for History encourages those researching the past to think creatively about the wide range of methods currently in use, to understand how these methods are used and what historical insights they can provide. This updated new edition has been expanded to cover not only sources and methods that are well-established in History, such as archival research, but also those that have developed recently, such as the impact of digital history research. The themes of the different chapters have been selected to reflect new trends in the subject, including landscape studies, material culture and ethics. Every chapter presents new insights and perspectives and will open researchers minds to the expanding possibilities of historical research.