history essay bibliography

• Referencing
• Bibliographies

How to create a bibliography or reference list

A list of all cited source materials, known as a bibliography or reference list , must be included at the end of your essay.

They are divided into two sections: primary sources and secondary sources . Each of these sections need to be in alphabetical order .

Each bibliographical reference needs:

• the author's last name followed by their first initial(s)
• the year of publication
• the name of the work (in italics)
• the publication details

What is the difference between a bibliography and a reference list?

Depending on the assessment task, you will either be asked to create a bibliography or a reference list. Here are the differences between the two:

• A bibliography lists all of the materials that have been consulted during your research, regardless of whether or not you've quoted from them
• A reference list  states only the sources that you've quoted in your assignment

Regardless of which you're required to create, you must follow the formatting shown below.

Correct Format for Different Source Types

These examples use the popular APA (American Psychological Association) referencing style. 

Required Elements:

Author's Surname, First Initials. (Year of Publication).  Name of book . City of Publication: Name of Publishing Company.

Academic Journal Articles

Author's Surname, First Initials. (Year, Month day OR Season - if known - of publication). Article title.  Name of Journal the Article Appeared In ,  Journal Volume Number (Issue or Part Number), page number(s) of the article.

Newspaper or Magazine Articles

Author's Surname, First Initials. (Year, Month day of publication). Article title.  Name of Newspaper/Magazine , page number(s) of the article.

Speaker's Surname, First Initials. (Year, Month Day Speech was Given). Title of Speech.  Institution, City the Speech was Given at/in.

Author's Surname, First Initials. (Year of Publication). Name of webpage.  Retrieved from URL.

Ancient Sources

Ancient Author's Name.  Name of Ancient Work.  (Name of Modern Translator that You're Using, trans.). Location of Modern Translation's Publisher: Name of Modern Translation's Publishing Company, Year of Modern Translation's Publication.

Referencing a Source Found in Another Source

On some occasions you find a source in the pages of different source. Your first task should be to try and quote the source you have found separately from the book that it is in. Do this, look in the bibliography of the book in order to gain the necessary details.

However, if you cannot find the information necessary to create a separate bibliographical entry, you will need to create a bibliographical entry that acknowledges the book that the source was found in.

To do this you will need:

• as many of the details that you can find of the source you are using. (Anything you don't know is left out).
• the full bibliographical details of the book it was found in, along with the page number in the book where the source was found. This is preceded by the phrase "As found in" and the entire bibliographical reference is placed in brackets.

For example:

Nixon, R. (1969). (As found in US Government Printing Office 1969, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon , Washington D.C.: US Government Printing Office, pp. 903).

Example Reference List

Reference List

Primary Sources

Appian.  The Civil Wars .  (John Carter, trans). New York: Penguin, 1996.

Department of Defence. (1959). Strategic basis of Australian defence policy . Canberra: Department of Defence.

Department of Defence. (1976). Defence White Paper . Canberra: Department of Defence.

Millar, T. (1979). The political-military relationship in Australia . Strategic and Defence Studies Centre Working Paper , 6, p. 12.

Nixon, R. (1969). (As found in US Government Printing Office 1969, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon , Washington D.C.: US Government Printing Office, p. 903).

Secondary Sources

Dibb, P. (2007). The self-reliant defence of Australia: The History of an Idea . (As found in   Huisken, R., & Thatcher., M. (eds). History as policy: Framing the debate on the future of Australia’s defence policy . Canberra: ANU Press and Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, p. 11-26).

Horner, D. (1997). Security objectives . (As found in Mediansky, F. (ed). Australian foreign policy: Into the new millennium . South Melbourne: Macmillan, p. 73-92).

Lawson, E. (2009). The Australian defence environment . Australian Defence Force Journal , 179, p. 70-81.

White, H. (2007). Four decades of the defence of Australia: Reflections on Australian defence policy over the past 40 years . (As found in Huisken, R & Thatcher, M. (eds). History as policy: Framing the debate on the future of Australia’s defence policy . Canberra: ANU Press and Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, p. 163-187).

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How to organise a history essay or dissertation

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Sachiko Kusukawa

There are many ways of writing history and no fixed formula for a 'good' essay or dissertation. Before you start, you may find it helpful to have a look at some sample dissertations and essays from the past: ask at the Whipple Library.

Some people have a clear idea already of what they are going to write about; others find it more difficult to choose or focus on a topic. It may be obvious, but it is worth pointing out that you should choose a topic you find interesting and engaging. Ask a potential supervisor for a list of appropriate readings, chase up any further sources that look interesting or promising from the footnotes, or seek further help. Try to define your topic as specifically as possible as soon as possible. Sometimes, it helps to formulate a question (in the spirit of a Tripos question), which could then be developed, refined, or re-formulated. A good topic should allow you to engage closely with a primary source (text, image, object, etc.) and develop a historiographical point – e.g. adding to, or qualifying historians' current debates or received opinion on the topic. Specific controversies (either historically or historiographically) are often a great place to start looking. Many dissertations and essays turn out to be overambitious in scope, but underambition is a rare defect!

Both essays and dissertations have an introduction and a conclusion . Between the introduction and the conclusion there is an argument or narrative (or mixture of argument and narrative).

An introduction introduces your topic, giving reasons why it is interesting and anticipating (in order) the steps of your argument. Hence many find that it is a good idea to write the introduction last. A conclusion summarises your arguments and claims. This is also the place to draw out the implications of your claims; and remember that it is often appropriate to indicate in your conclusion further profitable lines of research, inquiry, speculation, etc.

An argument or narrative should be coherent and presented in order. Divide your text into paragraphs which make clear points. Paragraphs should be ordered so that they are easy to follow. Always give reasons for your assertions and assessments: simply stating that something or somebody is right or wrong does not constitute an argument. When you describe or narrate an event, spell out why it is important for your overall argument. Put in chapter or section headings whenever you make a major new step in your argument of narrative.

It is a very good idea to include relevant pictures and diagrams . These should be captioned, and their relevance should be fully explained. If images are taken from a source, this should be included in the captions or list of illustrations.

The extent to which it is appropriate to use direct quotations varies according to topic and approach. Always make it clear why each quotation is pertinent to your argument. If you quote from non-English sources say if the translation is your own; if it isn't give the source. At least in the case of primary sources include the original in a note if it is your own translation, or if the precise details of wording are important. Check your quotations for accuracy. If there is archaic spelling make sure it isn't eliminated by a spell-check. Don't use words without knowing what they mean.

An essay or a dissertation has three components: the main text , the notes , and the bibliography .

The main text is where you put in the substance of your argument, and is meant to be longer than the notes. For quotes from elsewhere, up to about thirty words, use quotation marks ("...", or '...'). If you quote anything longer, it is better to indent the whole quotation without quotation marks.

Notes may either be at the bottom of the page (footnotes) or at the end of the main text, but before the bibliography (endnotes). Use notes for references and other supplementary material which does not constitute the substance of your argument. Whenever you quote directly from other works, you must give the exact reference in your notes. A reference means the exact location in a book or article which you have read , so that others can find it also – it should include author, title of the book, place and date of publication, page number. (There are many different ways to refer to scholarly works: see below.) . If you cite a primary source from a secondary source and you yourself have not read or checked the primary source, you must acknowledge the secondary source from which the citation was taken. Whenever you paraphrase material from somebody else's work, you must acknowledge that fact. There is no excuse for plagiarism. It is important to note that generous and full acknowledgement of the work of others does not undermine your originality.

Your bibliography must contain all the books and articles you have referred to (do not include works that you did not use). It lists works alphabetically by the last name of the author. There are different conventions to set out a bibliography, but at the very least a bibliographic entry should include for a book the last name and initials/first name of the author, the title of the book in italics or underlined, and the place, (publisher optional) and date of publication; or, for an article, the last name and initials/first name of the author, the title in inverted commas, and the name of the journal in italics or underlined, followed by volume number, date of publication, and page numbers. Names of editors of volumes of collected articles and names of translators should also be included, whenever applicable.

• M. MacDonald, Mystical Bedlam: Madness, Anxiety, and Healing in Seventeenth-Century England , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
• William Clark, 'Narratology and the History of Science', Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 26 (1995), 1–72.
• M. F. Burnyeat, 'The Sceptic in His Place and Time', in R. Rorty, J. B. Schneewind and Q. Skinner (eds), Philosophy in History , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp. 225–54.

Alternatively, if you have many works to refer to, it may be easier to use an author-date system in notes, e.g.:

• MacDonald [1981], p. 89; Clark [1995a], p. 65; Clark [1995b], pp. 19–99.

In this case your bibliography should also start with the author-date, e.g.:

• MacDonald, Michael [1981], Mystical Bedlam: Madness, Anxiety, and Healing in Seventeenth-Century England , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Clark, William [1995a], 'Narratology and the History of Science', Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 26, 1–72.

This system has the advantage of making your foot- or endnotes shorter, and many choose it to save words (the bibliography is not included in the word limit). It is the system commonly used in scientific publications. Many feel however that something is historically amiss when you find in a footnote something like 'Plato [1996b]' or 'Locke [1975]'. In some fields of research there are standard systems of reference: you will find that this is the case if, for example, you write an essay/dissertation on classical history or philosophy of science. In such cases it is a good idea to take a standard secondary source as your model (e.g. in the case of classics, see G.E.R. Lloyd's The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practices of Ancient Greek Science , Berkeley 1987).

Whatever system you decide to follow for your footnotes, what matters most is that the end-product is consistent.

Keep accurate records of all the relevant bibliographic information as you do your reading for your essay/dissertation. (If you don't you may waste days trying to trace references when you are close to submission deadlines.)

Consistency of style throughout the essay/dissertation is encouraged. There are many professional guides to thesis writing which give you more information on the style and format of theses – for example the MLS handbook (British) and the Chicago Manual of Style (American), both in the Whipple, and a booklet, H. Teitelbaum, How to Write a Thesis: A Guide to the Research Paper , 3rd ed., 126 pp., New York: Macmillan (& Arco), 1994 (in the UL: 1996.8.2620). But don't try to follow everything they say!

Every now and then you should read through a printout of your whole essay/dissertation, to ensure that your argument flows throughout the piece: otherwise there is a danger that your arguments become compartmentalised to the size of the screen. When reading drafts, ask yourself if it would be comprehensible to an intelligent reader who was not an expert on the specific topic.

It is imperative that you save your work on disk regularly – never be caught out without a back-up.

Before you submit:

• remember to run a spell-check (and remember that a spell check will not notice if you have written, for example, 'pheasant' instead of 'peasant', or, even trickier, 'for' instead of 'from', 'it' instead of 'is', etc.);
• prepare a table of contents, with titles for each chapter of your essay/dissertation, page numbers and all;
• prepare a cover page with the title, your name and college;
• prepare a page with the required statement about length, originality etc.

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Guidelines for Footnotes and Bibliography

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The Use of Footnotes

Footnotes are the acceptable method of acknowledging material which is not your own when you use it in an essay.  Basically, footnoted material is of three types: 

• Direct quotations from another author's work.  (These must be placed in quotation marks).
• Citing authority for statements which are not quoted directly.
• Material of an explanatory nature which does not fit into the flow of the body of the text.

In the text of an essay, material to be footnoted should be marked with a raised number immediately following the words or ideas that are being cited.

"The only aspect of Frontenac's conduct the king...did not condemn was his care for military security," Eccles stated, condemning Frontenac's administration. 2

The footnotes may be numbered in sequence on each page or throughout the entire essay.

I.    Form and Content of Footnotes:

A.   from a book:.

      1 W. J. Eccles, Frontenac The Courtier Governor (Toronto:  McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1959), 14.

[The information given in a footnote includes the author, the title, the place of publication, the publisher, the date of publication and the page or pages on which the quotation or information is found.]

B.   From an article in a journal: 

      1 Peter Blickle, "Peasant Revolts in the German Empire in the Late Middle Ages," Social History , Vol. IV, No. 2 (May, 1979), 233.

C.   From a book containing quotations from other sources:

      1 Eugene A. Forsey, "Was the Governor General's Refusal Constitutional?", cited in Paul Fox, Politics:  Canada (Toronto:  McGraw-Hill Company of Canada Ltd., 1966), 186.

D.   From a standard reference work: 

      1 Norman Ward, “Saskatchewan,” in The Canadian Encyclopedia , 2 nd ed., Vol. 3, 1935.

      2 J. K. Johnson and P. B. Waite, “Macdonald, Sir John Alexander,” in The Dictionary of Canadian Biography , Vol. 12, 599

E.   From the Internet: 

In citing material read on the Internet, it is not sufficient to indicate the website alone.  You must provide information about author, title, and date of the document you are using, as follows:

      1 T. J. Pritzker, (1993).  "An Early Fragment from Central Nepal" [Online].  Available:  http://www.ingress.com/~astanart/pritzker/pritzker.html [1995, June].

The final date [1995, June] is the date the website was consulted.

For more information about how to cite electronic information see Xia Li and Nancy Crane, The Handbook for Citing Electronic Resources or http://www.uvm.edu/~ncrane/estyles/.

II.     Rules to Remember in Writing Footnotes:

• Titles of books, journals or magazines should be underlined or italicized.
• Titles of articles or chapters—items which are only a part of a book--are put in quotation marks.

III.   Abbreviating in Footnotes:

The first time any book or article is mentioned in a footnote, all the information requested above must be provided.  After that, however, there are shortcuts which should be used:

(a)  Several quotations in sequence from the same book:

The abbreviation to be used is "Ibid.," a Latin word meaning "in the same place."  (Notice that Ibid. is not underlined).  Ibid. can be used by itself, if you are referring to the same page as the previous footnote does, or it can be combined with a page number or numbers.

      1 Gerald Friesen, The Canadian Prairies:  A History (Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1984), 78.

      2 Ibid.  

      3 Ibid., 351.

(b)    Reference to a source that already has been cited in full form but not in the reference immediately preceding , is made by using the author's last name (but not the first name or initials unless another author of the same surname has been cited), the title--in shortened form, if desired--and the page number.

      1 William Kilbourn, The Firebrand (Toronto:  Clark, Irwin and Company Limited, 1956), 35.

      2 John L. Tobias, "Canada's Subjugation of the Plains Cree, 1879-1885," in Sweet Promises:  A Reader on Indian-White Relations in Canada , ed. J. R. Miller (Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1991), 224.

      3 Kilbourn, The Firebrand , 87.

      4 Tobias, "Canada's Subjugation of the Plains Cree," 226.

Bibliography

The bibliography should be on a separate page.  It should list the relevant sources used in the research for the paper.  This list should be arranged alphabetically by the surname of the author.  (Unlike the footnote reference, the surname is shown first, set off from the rest of the information.)  The information required is:  author, title, place of publication, publisher and date of publication.

NOTE:    The information is separated for the most part by periods (rather than by commas, as in the footnotes) and the parentheses enclosing the facts of publication are dropped.

Eccles, W. J.  Frontenac The Courtier Governor .  Toronto:  McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1959.

Johnson, J. K. and P. B. Waite.  “Macdonald, Sir John Alexander.”  In The Dictionary of Canadian Biography , Vol. 12,            591-612.

Koenigsberger, H. G. and George L. Mosse.  Europe in the Sixteenth Century .  London:  Longmans, 1971.

Laslett, Peter.  "The Gentry of Kent in 1640," Cambridge Historical Journal , Vol. IX, No. 2 (Spring 1948):  18-35.

Pritzker, T. J.  (1993).  "An Early Fragment from Central Nepal," [Online].  http://www.ingress. com/~astanart/pritzker       /pritzker.html.  [1995 June].

Tobias, John L.  "Canada's Subjugation of the Plains Cree, 1879-1885."  In Sweet Promises:  A Reader on Indian-White       Relations in Canada , ed. J. R. Miller.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1991:  212-240.

Ward, N.  “Saskatchewan.”  In The Canadian Encyclopedia , 2 nd ed., Vol. 3, 1931-1938.

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Citing and referencing in History

Demonstrating that you have read the major writers and acknowledging their ideas is a fundamental skill of academic work.

There are two common methods of referencing in history. These are:

In-text referencing: where the Author and Year of publication are identified in the essay and a list of References which have been cited are placed at the end of the essay. Examples of this style are Monash Harvard; APA; MHRA; Chicago and MLA.

Footnote referencing: where a number is allocated to each reference which is usually listed in full at the bottom of the page or section.  A bibliography is usually added at the end of the work which includes all the works read rather than just those cited. Examples of this style are MHRA; Chicago and MLA.

Traditionally the footnote style has been preferred in the humanities as it is less disruptive to the flow of writing.

In History it is recommended that students use the Essay writing guide for citing and referencing where examples of the 2 methods are described.  For more detailed information and plenty of referencing examples refer to the relevant tab of the  Citing and Referencing library guide .

EndNote: How to keep tabs on your references

Keeping track of what you have read for the different subjects, from a variety of sources can be time-consuming.

There are bibliographic software packages available which help with these tasks.

The University supports the EndNote software package which can be downloaded and used freely by students and staff at Monash.

The programme is a sophisticated system aimed at postgraduate and research needs, however undergraduate students are welcome to use it if they wish. The Library offers classes throughout the year on EndNote which can be booked online . I f you have a group of at least 5 students i t is also possible to request a class directly from the History librarian.

Online tutorials are available to help you get started.

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Bibliography and Historical Research

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This guide created by Geoffrey Ross, May 4, 2017.

A bibliography is a list of documents, usually published documents like books and articles. This type of bibliography is more accurately called "enumerative bibliography". An enumerative bibliography will attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, within whatever parameters established by the bibliographer.

Bibliographies will list both secondary and primary sources. They are perhaps most valuable to historians for identifying primary sources. (They are still useful for finding secondary sources, but increasingly historians rely on electronic resources, like article databases, to locate secondary sources.)

Think of a bibliography as a guide to the source base for a specific field of inquiry. A high quality bibliography will help you understand what kinds of sources are available, but also what kinds of sources are not available (either because they were never preserved, or because they were never created in the first place).

Take for example the following bibliography:

• British Autobiographies: An Annotated Bibliography of British Autobiographies Published or Written before 1951 by William Matthews Call Number: 016.920041 M43BR Publication Date: 1955

Like many bibliographies, this one includes an introduction or prefatory essay that gives a bibliographic overview of the topic. If you were hoping to use autobiographies for a paper on medieval history, the following information from the preface would save you from wasting your time in a fruitless search:

The essay explains that autobiography does not become an important historical source until the early modern period:

Finally, the essay informs us that these early modern autobiographies are predominantly religious in nature--a useful piece of information if we were hoping to use them as evidence of, for example, the early modern textile trade:

All bibliographies are organized differently, but the best include indexes that help you pinpoint the most relevant entries.

A smart researcher will also use the index to obtain an overview of the entire source base: the index as a whole presents a broad outline of the available sources--the extent of available sources, as well as the the strengths and weaknesses of the source base. Browsing the subject index, if there is one, is often an excellent method of choosing a research topic because it enables you quickly to rule out topics that cannot be researched due to lack of primary sources.

The index to British Autobiographies , for example, tells me that I can find many autobiographies that document British social clubs (like White's and Boodle's), especially from the 19th century:

Unlike indexes you might be familiar with from non-fiction books, the indexes in bibliographies usually reference specific entries, not page numbers.

A bibliography's index will often help guide you systematically through the available sources, as in this entry which prompts you to look under related index entries for even more sources:

There are four main types of enumerative bibliography used for historical research:

Click here to learn more about bibliography as a discipline .

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• Last Updated: Jan 4, 2023 2:21 PM
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• Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

Published on 1 May 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 7 November 2022.

In Harvard style , the bibliography or reference list provides full references for the sources you used in your writing.

• A reference list consists of entries corresponding to your in-text citations .
• A bibliography sometimes also lists sources that you consulted for background research, but did not cite in your text.

The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. If in doubt about which to include, check with your instructor or department.

The information you include in a reference varies depending on the type of source, but it usually includes the author, date, and title of the work, followed by details of where it was published. You can automatically generate accurate references using our free reference generator:

Harvard Reference Generator

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Table of contents

Formatting a harvard style bibliography, harvard reference examples, referencing sources with multiple authors, referencing sources with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard bibliographies.

Sources are alphabetised by author last name. The heading ‘Reference list’ or ‘Bibliography’ appears at the top.

Each new source appears on a new line, and when an entry for a single source extends onto a second line, a hanging indent is used:

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Reference list or bibliography entries always start with the author’s last name and initial, the publication date and the title of the source. The other information required varies depending on the source type. Formats and examples for the most common source types are given below.

• Entire book
• Book chapter
• Translated book
• Edition of a book

Journal articles

• Print journal
• Online-only journal with DOI
• Online-only journal without DOI
• General web page
• Online article or blog
• Social media post

Newspapers and magazines

• Newspaper article
• Magazine article

When a source has up to three authors, list all of them in the order their names appear on the source. If there are four or more, give only the first name followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Sometimes a source won’t list all the information you need for your reference. Here’s what to do when you don’t know the publication date or author of a source.

Some online sources, as well as historical documents, may lack a clear publication date. In these cases, you can replace the date in the reference list entry with the words ‘no date’. With online sources, you still include an access date at the end:

When a source doesn’t list an author, you can often list a corporate source as an author instead, as with ‘Scribbr’ in the above example. When that’s not possible, begin the entry with the title instead of the author:

Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

• A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation .
• A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

In Harvard style referencing , to distinguish between two sources by the same author that were published in the same year, you add a different letter after the year for each source:

• (Smith, 2019a)
• (Smith, 2019b)

Add ‘a’ to the first one you cite, ‘b’ to the second, and so on. Do the same in your bibliography or reference list .

To create a hanging indent for your bibliography or reference list :

• Highlight all the entries
• Click on the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the ‘Paragraph’ tab in the top menu.
• In the pop-up window, under ‘Special’ in the ‘Indentation’ section, use the drop-down menu to select ‘Hanging’.
• Then close the window with ‘OK’.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, November 07). Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 2 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-bibliography/

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Jack Caulfield

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Chicago Manual of Style

Documenting the sources you use in your senior essay is a key part of the research and writing process. Complete and accurate citations to the books, journal articles, primary sources, and other items you use will allow readers to verify your sources and explore them further if they'd like to learn more about the issues you've raised.

In the field of history, the standard citation style is the Chicago Style, and you will want to consult it to find the proper format for citing sources in your footnotes as well as at the end of your paper in your bibliography. Here are the main links for referring to the Chicago Manual of Style:

• Chicago Manual of Style Online (17th ed.)
• Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide

Also there is Kate L. Turabian's encapsulation of the Chicago Style :   A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers .

In addition, the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) offers a helpful overview of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

The key chapter to consult in the CMOS is Chapter 14, Notes and Bibliography, where you will find guidance on citing sources both in your footnotes and in your bibliography. Many examples of citations are provided throughout the chapter, but keep in mind that sometimes you may be citing a source that doesn't exactly fit within the chapter's models. In these cases, the main thing is to maintain a clear and consistent style, and to reach out to a librarian or your faculty advisor if you have any questions.

The guidance you'll find in Ch. 14 will offer direction on such general matters as:

• Notes and bibliography--an overview (14.19)
• Shortened Citations (starting at 14.29)
• Electronic resource identifiers (14.6)
• Short forms for URLs  (14.10)
• Library and other bibliographic databases (14.11)
• Access dates (14.12)
• Basic citation format for newspaper articles (14.191)
• * Click here to go to our guidelines for citing archival materials based on the Chicago Manual of Style

Citation Management Tools

You may already have a software program or a system for keeping track of your sources, but, if not, you will want to think about what way of organizing your research will work best for you this coming year. The Yale University Library has licenses to certain citation management tools, and there are also free tools on the web for managing your citations. Probably the two most useful tools to consider are:

• This is a resource licensed by the Yale Library; you will need to use your Yale e-mail address to create an account.
• This is an excellent tool that's used by many historians. The same organization that created it also makes available a research photo management tool - Tropy .

For more information and an overview of several of the resources that are available, see our citation management guide .

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Handbook for Historians

• Choosing a Paper Topic
• Thesis Statement
• What Sources Can I use?
• Gathering sources
• Find Primary Sources
• Paraphrasing and Quoting Sources
• How to create an Annotated Bibliography
• Formatting Endnotes/Footnotes
• Formatting Bibliographies

Formatting a Bibliography

Bibliography: books, bibliography: journal articles, bibliography: websites, bibliography: other sources.

• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Sample Papers
• Research Paper Checklist

A bibliography is additional to your endnotes/footnotes, and appears at the very end of your paper. It has hanging indents (here is a video on making a hanging indent in word and a link to making a hanging indent in Google Docs ), and is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name

Primary and secondary sources should be separated in your final bibliography. List all primary sources first, followed by secondary sources, subdivided between books and periodical articles. Read more about primary and secondary sources .

• How to format your bibliography Click here for a printable version.

A. A Book by a Single Author.

Author, last name first. Title . City of Publisher: Publisher, year.

Egerton, Douglas R. Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America . New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

B. Books by Two, Three or Four Authors.

Author, last name first for first author only. Title . City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Judge, Edward H., and John W. Langdon. A Hard and Bitter Peace: A Global History of the Cold War . New York: Prentice Hall, 1996.

Sánchez, Joseph P., Bruce A. Erickson, and Jerry L. Gurulé. Between Two Countries: A History of Coronado National Memorial, 1939-1990 . Los Ranchos de Albuquerque: Rio Grande Books, 2007.

C. Books by Corporate Authors.

Author. Title . City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

American Historical Association. The Introductory History Course: Six Models . 2nd ed. Washington: American His­torical Association, 1984.

D. Edited Books/Parts of Collections of Writings by Different Authors .

Author, last name first. “Title of article.” In Title , edited by editors names, first name first, page numbers. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Langdon, John W. "Whither the Postards? Graduates of the Ecole Sainte-Geneviève, 1914-1954." In The Making of Frenchmen , eds. Donald N. Baker and Patrick J. Harrigan, 429-439. Waterloo, Ontario: Historical Reflections Press, 1980.

NOTE: Page numbers of the portion of the collection you are citing must be included: "429-439" above.

D2. Edited Books ( no other author) .

Author, last name first, ed. Title . City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Beatty, Jack, ed. Colossus: How the Corporation Changed America . New York: Broadway Books, 2001.

E. Multivolume Books with a Single Title by a Single Author.

Author, last name first. Title . Number of volumes. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Chamberlin, William Henry. The Russian Revolution . 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1935.

F. Multivolume Books by a Single Author with a Separate Title for Each Volume.

Author, last name first. Title . Volume number of Series title . Number of volumes. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Viansson-Ponté, Pierre. Le temps des orphelins . Vol. 2 of Histoire de la République Gaullienne . 2 vols. Paris: Fayard, 1976.

G. Multivolume Books with a Different Author and Title for Each Volume.

Author, last name first. Title . Volume number of editor’s name, ed. Series Title . Number of volumes. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Spitz, Lewis B. The Protestant Reformation . Vol. 3, William L. Langer, ed. The Rise of Modern Europe . 20 vols. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

H. Two or More Parts of a Collection of Writings by Different Authors. (Use this format if you are citing from several different sections of a multi-author book.)

Author, last name first. “Article title.” In Editor’s Last name, Title , inclusive pages.

Hinterberger, Martin. “Emotions in Byzantium.” In James, A Companion to Byzantium , 123-34.

Louth, Andrew. “Christology and Heresy.” In James, A Companion to Byzantium, 187-98.

James, Liz. Ed. A Companion to Byzantium. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

I. Books With More than One Edition.

See section C.

J. Translated Books .

Author, last name first. Title . Translated by Translator’s name. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Fischer, Fritz. War of Illusions . Translated by Marian Jackson. New York: Norton, 1975.

K. A letter (or diary entry, memo, etc.) in a published collection.

Original Author. Title. Edited by Editor’s name. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Adams, Henry. Letters of Henry Adams, 1858-1891. Edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford. Boston: Hougton Mifflin, 1930.

L. A Primary Source Quoted by a Second Source.

Note: it is preferable that the original source is consulted and cited on its own, but if the original source cannot be obtained use this format .) Use “quoted” if you are taking a direct quote, “cited” if you are paraphrasing .

Author of original source, last name first, Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Quoted/Cited in Author of secondary work, last name first, Title . City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Ismay, Hastings. The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay. New York: Viking Press, 1960. Quoted in Holland, James. The Battle of Britain. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010.

Note: you should include a separate citation for the secondary source alone in the bibliography.

M. Books published electronically. Cite the book as you would normally, but include the online format that you used (i.e. Kindle, Nook, Pdf). If you accessed the book online, include the date accessed and the URL.

Kayali, Hasan. Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism, and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1918 . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Accessed 21 May 2009, http://escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft7n39p1dn;query=;brand=ucpress .

Churchill, Winston. The Gathering Storm. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947. Kindle edition.

N. Articles in Print Journals.

Author, last name first. “Article title.” Journal Title Volume Number:Issue Number (Year): page numbers.

Xu, Yamin. “Policing Civility on the Streets: Encounter with Litterbugs, ‘Nightsoil Lords,’ and Street Corner Urinators in Republican Beijing.” Twentieth-Century China 30:2 (2005): 28-71.

Note: Format multiple authors in the same way as for books.

A Word about CITING ELECTRONIC SOURCES

Citations of electronic resources are different from citations for print sources. The following elements must be included:

• Electronic full-text Journal articles and E-Books from the library’s databases, though they are accessed online, are regarded as published sources. Citations for these must contain full documentation of the publication as well as electronic access information.
• Subscription databases, such as JSTOR or Proquest , must be accessed through a subscribing library or other institution.
• Because material on the internet can change without notice, the last date on which the material was accessed is part of the citation.
• The web address, or URL, is a required part of the citation. Most databases will include a stable URL, a permalink, or a DOI (digital object identifier) that you should use.

Proper citation formats, with examples, are shown below:

O. Articles in Online Journals. (Many online publications are now using a DOI (digital object identifier) to create a persistent link to the article’s information. If no DOI is available, use the URL and date accessed.)

Author, last name first. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume number:Issue Number (date): inclusive pages (leave blank if there are no pages). doi: or Accessed date. URL.

Egerton, Douglas R. “The Material Culture of Slave Resistance.” History Now: American History Online (December 2004). Accessed 20 June 2011. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/12_2004/historian2.php.

Huebner, Timothy S. “Roger B. Taney and the Slavery Issue: Looking Beyond –and before- Dred Scott.” The Journal of American History 97:1 (2010): 17-38. doi: 10.2307/jahist/97.1.17.

P. Articles in Newspapers or Magazines. (If you consulted the article online, include access date and URL. If no author is identified, begin citation with article title.)

Author, Last name first. “Article Title.” Title of Newspaper/Magazine , Date. Accessed date. URL.

Forero, Juan. “Turbulent Bolivia Is Producing More Cocaine, the U.N. Reports.” New York Times on the Web , 15 June 2005. Accessed 16 June 2005. www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/international/americas/15coca.html.

Q. Articles/Newspapers retrieved from Databases.

Note: Include all journal information and provide database name and a permanent link to the article from the database.

Format with url (seen in articles retrieved from ProQuest databases):

Author, last name first. "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume number: Issue Number (date): inclusive pages. Database name. url.

Zens, Robert. “In the Name of the Sultan: Haci Mustapha, Pasha of Belgrade and Ottoman Provincial Rule in the Late 18th Century.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 44:1 (2012): 130-139. ProQuest Central. http://0-search.proquest.com.library.lemoyne.edu/docview/1531929597/4F00F029CDF14BBBPQ/16?accountid=27881

Format with permalink (seen in articles retrieved from Ebsco databases):

Author, last name first. “Title of Article.” Journal Title Volume number:Issue Number (date): inclusive pages. Database Name. Permanent Link.

Blaszak, Barbara. “Martha Jane Bury (1851-1913): A Case Study of Class Identity.” Labour History Review 67:2 (August 2002): 130-148. Historical Abstracts with Full Text. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.lemoyne.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=9502395&site=ehost-live.

Format with stable url link: (seen in articles retrieved from the JSTOR database)

Tisza, Stephen, and Hamilton Fish Armstrong. “A Letter of Count Tisza’s.” Foreign Affairs 6:3 (April 1928): 501-504. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20028631.

Newspaper with Permanent URL link

Author, first name first (leave blank if no author). “Article Title.” Publication Title. Date. Database name. Permanent link.

“General Discussion of the Contest.” New York Times (1857-1922). 22 May 1861. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.lemoyne.edu/pqdweb?did=78657656&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1518&RQT=309&VName=HNP.

Web-based sources should be used sparingly and very carefully. Students must have all sources, Internet or otherwise, approved by the instructor before they are used.

R. Primary source document found online. (Use this format when using approved websites containing primary source material.) Include as many of the following elements as are available.

Author of original document, last name first. “Title of document.” Date of document. Title of Web Site where document is found. Author, Editor, or Producer of site. Date accessed. URL.

Smith, Sydney. “Fallacies of Anti-Reformers.” 1824. Internet Modern History Sourcebook . Paul Halsall, ed. Accessed 22 June 2011. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/smithantireform.html.

Veblen, Thorstein. “The Theory of the Leisure Class.” 1899. Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Paul Halsall, ed. Accessed 22 June 2011. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1899veblen.html.

Example (no author given):

“Codex Justinianus: Protection of Freewomen Married to Servile Husbands.” 530 A.D. Internet Medieval Source Book . Paul Halsall, ed. Accessed 25 February 2002. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/codexVIl-24-i.html.

Note: Many print primary sources are reproduced in digital format on various websites, such at the ones above. Most sites should give original publication information, but if not, you can try to locate original source information by searching online (try google books or worldcat.org). When possible, cite your sources according to the appropriate print format, and include the date accessed and the URL. For example, Veblen’s book The Theory of the Leisure Class can now be found in Google Books and would be cited similar to section N as follows:

Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Instituions. London: Macmillan & Co., 1912. Accessed 22 June 21 2011. http://books.google.com/books?id=2kAoAAAAYAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Thorstein%20Veblen%22&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false.

S. Other Approved Website (Include as much information as available.)

Author of webpage. “Title of Webpage.” Title of Entire Website. Publication Date. Accessed Date. URL.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. “May Day: On the Current Conditions of the Palestinian Working Class.” Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine . Accessed 21 May 2009. www.pflp.ps/english/?q=may-day-current-conditions-struggle-palestinian-wo.

T. Book Reviews.

Book Review found in a journal:

Author of review. “Title of Review.” (if available) Review of Title of Book, by Author of book. Title of Journal Volume: Issue (year). url.

Kerr, Audrey Elisa. “Everybody’s Oprah.” Review of Embracing Sisterhood: Class Identity and Contemporary Black Women, by Katrina Bell McDonald. The Women’s Review of Books 26:2 (2009). http://www.jstor.org/stable/20476833

Book Review found on a website:

Author, “Title of Review” (if available). Review of Title of Book, by Reviewer Name. Website where review appeared. Date. URL.

David Ponton, III. Review of Spatializing Blackness: Architectures of Confinement and Black Masculinity in Chicago, by Rashad Shabazz. H-Net Online. June 2016. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=46538.

U. Audio/Visual Materials (films, photographs, images, etc.)

Note: In most cases, visual sources are not acceptable; however some primary sources, such as the Watergate trials or Nazi propaganda, are appropriate and must be cited correctly. All sources must be approved by your instructor. The Library of Congress has an excellent set of example citations that you should consult.

General Format:

Author (or Creator) of image or video. “Title.” Format. Date. Source . Accessed date. URL.

Example: (primary video accessed from library)

The WPA Film Library. “Nazi Anti-Semitic Propaganda,” Video. 1939. Films on Demand . Accessed 14 September 2014. http://library.lemoyne.edu/record=b1418786

Example: (speech/video found online)

Harry S. Truman. “Speech after Hiroshima Bombing.” Video. August 6. 1945. Critical Past. Accessed 13 August 2016. https://youtu.be/e3Ib4wTq0jY

If the book or article you wish to cite differs from all of the models given here, please consult http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html . If none of those seem to fit, ask your professor or the History Librarian.

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• Citation Styles

What citation style to use for history

There are plenty of citation styles you can use for research papers but do you actually know which ones are used specifically in the history field? In order to ease your way into your paper, we compiled a list of the main citation styles used for history. Each style includes an explanation of its system, just like reference examples.

The Modern Language Association style is known for being the most frequently used in the humanities, which includes history. It uses an author-page citation system, which consists of in-text citations formed by the author's last name and the page number of the source. These point to a reference list at the end of the paper.

Check out these MLA style resources

🌐 Official MLA style guidelines

🗂 MLA style guide

📝 MLA citation generator

MLA style examples

An in-text citation in MLA style:

However, research introduced a new perspective on history (Walke 224) .

A bibliography entry in MLA style:

Walke, Anika. “‘To Speak for Those Who Cannot’: Masha Rol’nikaite on the Holocaust and Sexual Violence in German-Occupied Soviet Territories.” Jewish History , vol. 33, no. 1–2, 2020, pp. 215–244.

Chicago style is another form of citation used for history papers and journals. Its system offers two types of format: a notes and bibliography system, and an author-date system. The notes and bibliography system is mostly used for the humanities, whereas the author-date system is used in science and business. The latter is composed by in-text citations formed by the author's last name and date of publication that point to a reference list at the end of the paper.

Check out these Chicago style resources

🌐 Official Chicago style guidelines

🗂 Chicago style guide

📝 Chicago citation generator

Chicago style examples

An in-text citation in Chicago author-date style:

Clearly, an opposing view dominated the topic (Tuncay 2018) .

A bibliography entry in Chicago author-date style:

Lima Navarro, Pedro de, and Cristina de Amorim Machado. 2020. “An Origin of Citations: Darwin’s Collaborators and Their Contributions to the Origin of Species.” Journal of the History of Biology 53 (1): 45–79.

The Modern Humanities Research Association style is a frequently used citation format for history papers. Its system has two format options, author-date or footnotes . The author-date system consists of in-text citations with the author's last name and date of publication, whereas footnotes give an in-text superscript number and a source reference at the end of the page. Both of these formats require a reference list at the end of the paper.

Check out these MHRA style resources

🌐 Official MHRA style guidelines

🗂 MHRA style guide

📝 MHRA citation generator

MHRA style examples

An in-text citation in MHRA author-date style:

The image of women in leading positions has evolved throughout time (Loomis 2010) .

A bibliography entry in MHRA style:

Loomis, Catherine. 2010. The Death of Elizabeth I: Remembering and Reconstructing the Virgin Queen (Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan) https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230112131

The Historical Journal citation style is one of the most popular journals about history. Its system differs from other citation styles, as it requires a full bibliographical reference at the first in-text citation, and then an author-short-title in subsequent citations. It also allows the use of footnotes ; for a detailed description of its system take a look at the official HIS guidelines linked below.

Check out these HIS style resources

🌐 Official HIS style guidelines

HIS style examples

The first in-text bibliographical citation in HIS style:

As seen in journey of president Roosevelt, J. Lee Thompson, Theodore Roosevelt Abroad: Nature, Empire, and the Journey of an American President (2010) pp. 130-170 .

Second and subsequent in-text references in HIS style:

For instance, president Roosevelt, Thompson, Theodore Roosevelt , pp. 132 , showed to be an exemplary contemporary figure.

#5 History and Theory

History and Theory is an international journal devoted to the theory and philosophy of history. Its citation system consists of footnotes and in-text superscript numbers . For more details about its citation system refer to the journal's official guidelines linked below.

Check out these History and Theory style resources

🌐 Official History and Theory style guidelines

History and Theory style examples

An in-text citation in History and Theory style:

In colonial times, human skulls were a sign of conquer ¹ .

A footnote in History and Theory style:

¹ Ricardo Roque, Headhunting and Colonialism: Anthropology and the Circulation of Human Skulls in the Portuguese Empire , 1870–1930 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

Frequently Asked Questions about citation styles used for history

The top 2 citation styles used for history papers are MLA and Chicago styles.

The easiest way to create a reference list for history papers is by using the BibGuru citation generator . This generator creates the fastest and most accurate citations possible, which will save you time and worries. The best part is, it is completely free!

History papers may use citation styles with author-date systems, such as MHRA or Chicago. Alternatively, you can also use numeric citation styles which insert superscript numbers to indicate a source, like MHRA or History and Theory.

Some of the most prominent history journals are: The American Historical Review , The Journal of Economic History , and History and Theory , among others.

You can add footnotes to history papers as long as you use one of the following citations styles that allow the use of footnotes: History and Theory, The Historical Journal (HIS), and MHRA.

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Patrick Rael, “Reading, Writing, and Research for History: A Guide for Students” (Bowdoin College, 2004)

Hamilton College, "Writing a Good History Paper" A nice overview; the discussion of pitfalls in editing/revision is excellent.

Prof. William Cronon on Historical Writing Prof. William Cronon's excellent guide to historical writing; part of an even larger guide to doing historical research.

How to Organize a Research Paper

Writing Center Handout on History Writing

List of Resources on History Writing

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Writing a 4-7 page History Paper (David Herzberg, 1992, Wesleyan University)

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20 When to use Citations and Quotations

Basic rules for both:.

A good historical essay keeps the support for its argument transparent and its readers engaged. These two priorities—allowing readers to follow the evidence and judge it for themselves, while reminding them why they should care, as the story involves real people and their thoughts—can help students decide when they must use a citation and/or when they should use a quote from their sources, whether primary or secondary.

When to include a footnote (or endnote):

In terms of citations (footnotes or endnotes, depending on your professor’s instructions or your preference in the absence of instructions, as they are the same), the general rule is that you need to help your readers check your evidence to see if your evidence supports your thesis, should they choose to so. However, there are some specific occasions when you must use a footnote/endnote:

• Direct quotes from a primary or secondary source
• P araphrased information from either a primary or secondary source. Even if you are changing the words, you are still responsible for showing where you got your information. Mature scholars name the source (or, more likely, sources) that laid the groundwork for their own analysis. Doing so doesn’t make you seem unknowledgeable, but rather helps your readers understand how you are building knowledge.
• Facts that are not well known . You do not have to cite a source for noting when the US joined World War I, or for the route that Lewis and Clark took—as those are knowable facts from any number of sources. But if you cite specific conversations held between cabinet officials prior to the War, or detail the Native groups met at each bend in the river—material another scholar found by research primary sources—you must cite that scholar. Show your readers where you found new, or not widely known information.
• Another scholar’s controversial opinion . If you refer to a claim about the past that isn’t widely accepted—that is, not concerning when the Civil War began, but rather which politicians were to blame for its outbreak—you need to cite where you got that opinion. (Of course, you do not need to provide citations for your own analysis, controversial or otherwise.)
• Statistics – these are like lesser-known facts, given that statistics can vary depending upon who compiled them. For this reason, you need to cite where you found your numerical facts and figures.

Two other footnote/endnote rules:

• “Talking” or annotated notes: If it’s helpful for readers to understand additional information that’s not so critical that it belongs in the text, you may provide an explanatory foot/end note with information beyond the source citation. Beware though—some editors and instructors don’t approve, as they believe that any information not critical to the argument is not critical to the essay.
• Condensing foot/end notes: Many journals and instructors allow you to provide a citation at the end of a paragraph with the multiple sources that helped you create that paragraph, rather than providing a citation at every sentence, or portion of sentence that rested on a secondary source.

When to quote directly:

In many ways, the same situations that call for a citation to the general source also make for a good situation in which to include a direct quotation (as opposed to paraphrasing your information). At the same time, you don’t want to overquote—we’re interested in your thoughts, not those of five other experts. You should also use your own words unless there’s a compelling need to quote, such as bringing in a unique voice or capturing a controversial fact or opinion. A good essay offers variety in a number of ways—word choice, sentence structure, and which sources provide quotations. Here are some places where a direct quotation from the source are warranted:

• An authoritative source—the main book on a topic—says something important or controversial.
• When any source uses language that is compelling, and thus should not just be paraphrased.
• In order to get the “flavor” or language of the wording from a primary source.
• Most quotes in your paper should come from primary sources, not secondary ones.

How to quote:

• Avoid “block quotes” unless the reader must see a large portion of the primary source to understand your analysis, and all of that explanation must be in the source’s voice. That is, when quoting, include just enough of the quotation to make sense, without adding parts of the quote that don’t pertain to your analysis or go into more detail than needed. But on the whole, phrases or a single sentence cover your bases.
• When you do need to use a block quote, indent it and use single spacing.
• Never let any quote—including a rare block quote—stand on its own. You must explain what the source means. The requirement that all sources must be analyzed in the text means that you should not begin or end a paragraph with a quotation, except perhaps in a very rare stylistic moment when doing so will not leave the reader confused.
• If you do not want to use all your source’s words, you may use ellipses, which are three spaced dots like this (make sure you put a space between each period, never put them directly beside each other): . . .
• If you would like to use a source’s words, but need to change something to make it fit into your sentence (such as a verb tense or a pronoun) use square brackets for a word you changed. You may NOT change an entire word.
• However, if you need to change several words in a quotation, it’s usually best to quote only a phrase, rather than burdening a quote with ellipses and brackets.
• Make sure that your quote supports the point you’re trying to make and doesn’t read like a random quote from the individual under examination.

Some examples from Mary Rowland’s Captivity Narrative [1682]

Mary Rowlandson was a Puritan woman who was captured by Native Americans during King Phillip’s War and held captive for eleven weeks. When she returned to her home, she wrote a narrative about her experiences. What follows are some examples of how you might use parts of one quotation from Rowlandson’s book. From that primary source:

“It is not my tongue, or pen, can express the sorrows of my heart, and bitterness of my spirit that I had at this departure: but God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail. One of the Indians carried my poor wounded babe upon a horse; it went moaning all along, ‘I shall die, I shall die.’ I went on foot after it, with sorrow that cannot be expressed.”

• Double quotation marks [“] signal the beginning and end of a quotation. If there are quotations within what you are quoting—in this case, the words of the child [“I shall die, I shall die”]—mark them with single quotation marks [‘]. The use of double quotations are standard in American English (but not British English). Single quotes within double quotes indicate interior quotes the passage.
• See the indent in the example above, which counts as “long.”

If I wanted to use the quote to discuss Rowlandson’s state of mind :

Early in her captivity, Mary Rowlandson experienced enormous fear and loss. As she put it, her “pen [could not] express the sorrows of my heart, and bitterness of my spirit” upon leaving her community.

• In the state of mind quote above, the part of the quote that covers her faith isn’t necessary to make this point and is omitted.
• In the above example, the altered verb tense ( could not , rather than can ) flows better with the sentence but does not change Rowlandson’s meaning.
• Changing verb tenses and substituting or clarifying a pronoun that is not clear in the original mark the limits of altering a quote, for the most part.
• Any source quoted must fit the point .
• This passage is about her feelings, not what the Indians were doing.
• It’s also incorrect because there are no “stitching” words or a colon to link the primary source quote to the analytical statement of the author.
• Correct : The Indians who captured Rowlandson were particularly cruel. As Rowlandson noted, while her child moaned, she “went on foot after it, with sorrow that cannot be expressed.”
• For example, in a sentence about how Rowlandson used language that suggested a physical experience of faith: Rowlandson referred to physical, rather than emotional, manifestations of her faith frequently. For example, she spoke of “God . . . carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit.”
• Note that brackets were not necessary because all words are in original.
• Note that the language of “poor wounded babe” is an expressive phrase that captures Rowlandson’s voice.
• Substituting [the child] for “it” makes the sentence clearer.

How History is Made: A Student’s Guide to Reading, Writing, and Thinking in the Discipline Copyright © 2022 by Stephanie Cole; Kimberly Breuer; Scott W. Palmer; and Brandon Blakeslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Why and how to: annotated bibliographies, examples of annotated bibliographies, finding sources: primary, secondary, teritiary, citation linking and impact factor, citation management, learning online.

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Using information fairly and acknowledging sources accurately is an essential part of any research project. Citations provide information to help readers locate the sources you use and provide a way for you to credit other scholars for their original ideas or findings. Most researchers use  style guides or manuals  to format their citations in a consistent way so their readers can quickly identify and locate cited sources.

• How do I cite resources?
• Chicago Manual of Style This link opens in a new window & more less... The online version of the Chicago Manual of Style. Includes both the 15th and 16th editions.

Annotated bibliographies help to organize and summarize your research on a topic, which can help motivate you to write. An annotated bibliography includes a citation and a brief statement of its argument or purpose in your words. You can also include how you would use the source in your research.

• Writing an annotated Bibliography & more less... From the Univ of Toronto Library

• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Philosophy This link opens in a new window & more less... Regularly updated annotated bibliography addressing themes and topics in Philosophy
• African-American Holiness Pentecostal Movement: an annotated bibliography by Sherry S. DuPree ISBN: 0824014499 Publication Date: 1995-11-01
• John Rawls and His Critics : an annotated bibliography by David T. Mason; J. H. Wellbank; Denis Snook ISBN: 0824092856 Publication Date: 1982-08-01

There are three general types of resources that may appear in an annotated bibliography. Primary sources provide your   first-hand evidence. Secondary sources include analysis or commentary on a primary source. Tertiary sources are summaries or compilations of primary and secondary sources. For example, if you were writing a paper about James Baldwin, a primary source would be anything written by James Baldwin , a secondary source would be articles and books analyzing James Baldwin's writings , and a tertiary source would be an encyclopedia entry about James Baldwin . An annotated bibliography is a type of tertiary source.

• University of Chicago Library Catalog This link opens in a new window Great for finding books and databases & more less... Find items in all campus libraries, including books, periodicals, sound recordings, videos, DVDs and more.
• JSTOR This link opens in a new window Great for finding articles and essays across multiple disciplines & more less... A database of back issues of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. All issues of each journal are included in full-text except for the most recent 2-to-5 years.
• Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window & more less... Contains citations and abstracts covering scholarly research in the field of philosophy. Covers all major articles from anthologies and books in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and French as well as 480 journals from 38 countries.
• Google Scholar Entries in Google Scholar include a "Cited by" list.
• Web of Science This link opens in a new window Search results in Web of Science can be arranged by "Most Cited" & more less... Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers over 10,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and over 110,000 conference proceedings. You'll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900. Includes the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Web of Science is especially useful for its citation linking.
• Google Scholar Citation Gadget A Google Scholar Universal Gadget which enables users to search for the total number of citations per author. It provides a total citation count, total number of cited publications and H-Index.

Citation management tools are programs that collect records or citations from research databases (indexes, catalogs, etc.) that you can then organize for your research projects. They also help you cite your research by creating bibliographies, citations, and footnotes automatically.

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Zotero is extremely easy to learn. Watch this brief archived webinar to get started with the Zotero software.

For further help with the software, Zotero's website provides extensive tutorials and guides to help you get started.

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Annotated Bibliographies

Note:   The guidelines below are general suggestions to help you write an annotated bibliography for a history class.  Your professor might give specific guidelines that provide more detail than the information here.  Always follow your professor’s instructions.

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a description of a set of related sources that address a common topic.  It is a very useful tool in helping you analyze sources and organize your research.  Professors will often assign annotated bibliographies when they want to help you figure out which sources will be most important to your project and in what ways you will make use of the sources.  At other times, professors assign them as an exercise in and of themselves, to help you take the first steps toward mastering a body of historical literature.  Depending on the guidelines from your professor, a source entry in an annotated bibliography will be anywhere from a short paragraph to a page long.

What are the components of an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography usually contains three parts:

Source Citation : Like a regular bibliography, an annotated bibliography provides proper citation information for each source.  Remember that historians usually use Chicago style.  Visit our citation section for information about formatting your citations.  Your professor may allow other styles, such as MLA;  check which style your professor recommends.

Source Summary : The first part of your entry will summarize the source concisely.  Aim not to dazzle your professor with extensive detail, but to state briefly the topic and main argument of your source.  If you are annotating a secondary source, in addition to summarizing the main idea, you will want to give information about how the source is organized, the main types of evidence the author relies on, and how the author makes his or her argument.  If you are annotating a primary source, in addition to the main idea, explain the type of source (e.g. a letter, newspaper, census report, etc.), identify the author (include the author’s position and other information to help the reader understand the writer’s perspective and why s/he was in a position to create the source), and state the author’s intended audience.

Source Evaluation : Your source evaluation explains how the source contributes to a particular topic.  If you are producing an annotated bibliography in anticipation of writing a research paper, your professor might ask you to consider exactly how you will use the source in your paper.  What does the source do for your argument?  Is it one of the key pieces of evidence supporting your case?  Does it offer crucial background information?  Does it present a counterpoint to your argument that you need to address?  Other professors might want you to focus more on an evaluation of the source itself.  In this case, be sure to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the source.  Did you find the argument persuasive?  If so, explain what made the argument work well.  Were you unconvinced by some of the author’s claims?  If so, explain why.  You will also want to put the source into the context of the field as a whole.  What does this source teach us that we did not know before?  Is it filling a particular gap in the field?  Is it refuting a long-held assumption?  Authors will often explain how they understand the contribution of their work, so begin by looking in the introduction for such information.

While the  source citation ,  summary , and  evaluation  are the key components of an annotated bibliography entry, your professor might also ask you to include other information, such as:

A list of related sources:  The purpose of listing related sources is to position the source you have annotated in its appropriate historiographical field.  Note the work’s place in dialogue with other sources.  Is your source responding to a specific article or book?  Is your source considered the foundational work in a field?  Where does the author of your source position him or herself in relation to other scholarship on the subject?  A good way to figure out what related sources to list is to look at the author’s footnotes.  What studies does the author rely on the most?  Note that you do not need to annotate these related sources.  Your job is to describe in a sentence or two what the source is about and how it relates to the main source you have just annotated.

What are the steps for writing an annotated bibliography?

• The first step  is to decide which sources will be most critical for your topic.  Often, your professor will assign an annotated bibliography relatively early on in the writing process, so perhaps you do not yet know exactly which sources will be the most important or how exactly you will use them.  To help you figure that out, think about the research questions that led you to your topic in the first place and then think about which sources would best help you answer those questions.  A major benefit of writing an annotated bibliography is that, by the end of it, you will have a far better idea of what your project looks like, what you are arguing, and what evidence you have to support your argument.
• Once you have identified your key sources,  the second step  is to put into writing the main argument of each source.  To help you glean the author’s argument, take a step back and look at the big picture.  What problem is this author trying to address?  What holes in our knowledge does the writer intend to fill?  If you are having trouble capturing the main idea, reread the author’s introduction and conclusion.  In those sections, the author is likely to lay out in detail the larger argument.
• Now that you know the main argument of the source,  the third step  is to figure out how successfully the author supported the argument.  Look back through the source and see exactly what evidence the author used to make his or her case.  Is there enough evidence?  Do you agree with how the author interpreted the evidence?  In this step, you will also want to put this source into conversation with other sources.  Ask how this source fits in with the other ones you have read.  Does it agree with them?  Disagree?  Did you find some sources more convincing than others?  If so, why?
• The fourth step  is figuring out how this source will be most helpful to you when writing your paper.  Once again, return to your original research questions.  If you have a working thesis statement, revisit that as well.  Ask yourself:  What did I learn from this source?  What gaps in my knowledge did this source help me fill?  Now that I have read this source, has my thinking about my topic changed?  Think about the actual structure or outline of your paper.  At what point in your paper do you think you will draw on this source?  Why will it be particularly useful to you at that point?
• The fifth step  is to put it all together.  At the top of each entry, write down the citation information.  Then delve into your summary.  In an annotated bibliography, every sentence counts, so make sure your writing is direct and that you articulate the main points you want to make efficiently.  Once you have summarized the source, move on to your evaluation, discussing whether or not you found the source convincing and/or how you will use it in your project.  Be sure to provide any other information your professor has asked you to include.

Sample Entries From an Annotated Bibliography

Blanchard, Paula.   Sarah Orne Jewett: Her World and Her Work .  New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994.

Part of the Radcliffe Biography Series, which publishes the life stories of prominent American women, Blanchard’s book is the definitive biography on Jewett.  As her subtitle implies, she not only seeks to illuminate the events of Jewett’s life, but also to contextualize her writings and provide a critical reading of her most famous works.  Many of the chapters in Blanchard’s biography are devoted specifically to major texts, such as  Deephaven, The Country of the Pointed Firs , and  The Tory Lover .  Blanchard provides background on Jewett’s writing process (such as where she wrote and the degree of revisions she made) as well as brief literary analyses.  Most of Blanchard’s chapters are centered on key relationships and themes in Jewett’s own life.  Blanchard argues that it is only by thoroughly situating Jewett in her historical moment that we can understand her literary work, thereby issuing a critique of scholars who claim we can study Jewett’s canon in isolation.

Particularly useful for my project are the chapters that discuss Jewett’s coterie of literary friends in New England and her close relationship with Annie Fields.  In a chapter entitled “Neither Marrying Nor Giving in Marriage,” Blanchard seeks to uncover Jewett’s own motivations for remaining single, as well as place Jewett’s single status within the scholarly conversation about nineteenth-century unmarried women.  She aligns herself with both Carroll Smith-Rosenberg and Lillian Faderman in saying that Jewett’s personal friendships and relationships with women (as well as male family members) were sufficiently fulfilling for her and therefore precluded a desire to marry.  I will use Blanchard’s text in my paper to support my argument that unmarried women were deeply enmeshed in their communities, rather than being social pariahs stigmatized as “old maids.”  I will also use some aspects of Blanchard’s argument as a point of departure, however, as I disagree with her claim that women’s close female friendships precluded marriage.  Rather, I see Jewett’s friendships as helping her craft a meaningful life as a single woman instead of inhibiting her desire or ability to marry.

Glickman, Lawrence B.   A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society.   Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.

Glickman traces the history of the idea of a living wage from the end of the Civil War to the 1930s.  He argues that American workers moved from seeing themselves as producers to seeing themselves as consumers, which in turn altered American attitudes toward wage labor and the role of government in the workplace.  Relying mainly on discourse analysis, Glickman divides his book into four parts that track the changing rhetoric of wage labor in different sectors of American society.  Situated in two different historiographies, Glickman’s book brings together scholarship on labor history and consumer history.  His contributions mainly center on identifying the agency of workers in labor reform and New Deal policies, as well as in showing that consumerism engaged workers more fully in the civic sphere rather than depoliticizing them.  He also demonstrates that wage labor was heavily racialized and gendered.  The book’s main weakness is Glickman’s heavy reliance on discourse analysis as a methodology.  By placing so much emphasis on rhetoric, Glickman does not give the reader a sense of the details of labor reform, nor does he connect idealized rhetoric with the actual lived experience of American workers.

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U.S. History

Bibliographies for books, bibliographies for serials, online bibliographies.

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This is a listing of bibliographies that will help you find materials in the field. You can also search Bobcat for books in a bibliography series. Use the subject "Bibliographies and Indexes in American History"

• American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature by Mary Beth Norton Call Number: Reference Z6201 .A55 1995 Non-circulating ISBN: 0195057279 Publication Date: 1995 The place to start to see what scholarship has been done on a topic and published up to 1995. Arranged by region and chronologically, and then further sub-divided. Every chapter has an introductory essay by a leading scholar. Each entry contains the relevant publication information and a signed annotation.
• American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography by Jack Salzman Call Number: Reference Z1361 .C6A436 1986 / Z1361.C6 S35 1990 ISBN: 0521325552 Publication Date: 1986 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986; with 2 volume Supplement. Offers annotated listings of books on American culture published between 1900 and 1983 in 11 subject fields, including literature, music, history, popular culture, art and architecture. Supplement covers period from 1984-1988
• Bibliography of American Demographic History: The Literature from 1984 to 1994 by David R. Gerhan Call Number: Reference HB3505 .G438 1995 Non-circulating ISBN: 0313266778 Westport: Greenwood Press
• Bibliography of Songsters Printed in America Before 1821 by Irving Lowens Call Number: Music Reference ML128.S69 L917 Non-circulating ISBN: 0912296054 Publication Date: 1976 Worcester: American Antiquarian Society.
• Books on Early American History and Culture, 1996-2000 by Raymond D. Irwin Call Number: Z1237 .I795 2011 ISBN: 0313314284 Publication Date: 2011
• Reference Sources in History: An Introductory Guide by Ronald H. Fritze and Brian E Coutts and Louis Andrew Vyhnanek Call Number: Reference Z6201 .F72 2004 Non-circulating ISBN: 0874368839 Publication Date: 2004 Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. This volume describes all types of reference materials useful to historians, including bibliographies, periodical guides and indexes, newspaper indexes, statistical sources, and government publications.
• Retrospective Bibliography of American Demographic History from Colonial Times to 1983 by David R. Gerhan and Robert V. Wells Call Number: Z7165.U5 G43 1989 ISBN: 0313231303 Publication Date: 1989 New York: Greenwood Press
• Women's Diaries, Journals and Letters: An Annotated Bibliography by Cheryl Cline Call Number: Reference Z7963 .B6 C55 1989 ISBN: 0824066375 Publication Date: 1989 New York: Garland

This is a listing of published bibliographies that are useful for identifying newspapers and sometimes their content.

• African-American newspapers and periodicals : a national bibliography by James P. Danky and Maureen E. Hady Call Number: Reference Z6944.N39 A37 1998 Non-circulating ISBN: 0674007883 Publication Date: 1998 Cambridge: Harvard University Press
• American Humor Magazines and Comic Periodicals by David E.E. Sloane Call Number: Reference PN4880 .A46 1987 ISBN: 0313239568 Publication Date: 1987 New York : Greenwood Press, 1987.
• American Mass-Market Magazines by Alan Nourie and Barbara Nourie Call Number: ReferencePN4877 .A48 1990 ISBN: 0313252548 Publication Date: 1990 New York: Greenwood Press
• Antislavery Newspapers and Periodicals by John W. Blassingame and Mae Henderson Call Number: Reference AI3 .A73 Non-circulating Publication Date: 1980-1984 Boston : G. K. Hall
• German Language Press of the Americas: History and Bibliography = Die Deutschsprachige Presse der Amerikas : Geschichte und Bibliographie by Karl J. Arndt and May E. Olson Call Number: Z6953.5.G3 A7 1980 Publication Date: 1980 München : Verlag Dokumentation 1980
• History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820. Additions and Corrections by Clarence S. Brigham Call Number: Reference Z6951 .B8 Suppl. Publication Date: 1961 Worcester: American Antiquarian Society
• History of American Magazines by Frank Luther Mott Call Number: PN4877 .M63 1930 Publication Date: 1930-1968 New York : D. Appleton, 1930-1968.Contents: [v. 1.] 1741-1850; v. 2. 1850-1865; v. 3. 1865-1885; v. 4. 1885-1905; v. 5. Sketches of 21 magazines, 1905-1930, with a cumulative index to the 5 vols.
• People's Voice: An Annotated Bibliography of American Presidential Campaign Newspapers, 1828-1984 by William Miles Call Number: Z7164.R4 M64 1987 ISBN: 0313239762 Publication Date: 1987 New York: Greenwood Press
• BHC Collective Bibliography (2/2022) The BHC´s Collective Bibliography is a bibliographical tool to search within over one thousand references contributed by renowned business historians on the following themes: Business History and Race, Business History and Gender, Business and Power, Chinese Business History, and Business History in Latin America. Users can also do keyword-driven searches. This project has been possible thanks to the contributions of renowned business and economic historians around the world and to the support of the Business History Conference´s digital team. The bibliography will continue to grow. We are working on adding two more collections: Teaching Business History and Chinese Business History.
• Oxford Bibliographies: Atlantic History (2020/07) Oxford Bibliography Online is a tool designed to help busy researchers find reliable sources of information by directing them to an in-depth bibliography. It therefore allows the scholar to be led to exactly the right chapter, book, website, archive, data set they need for their research. This resource focuses on Atlantic History bibliography.
• Oxford Bibliographies: Native American Histories in North America (2020/07) An Oxford bibliography that lists foundational texts and articles in the field of Native American histories related to North America.
• Oxford Bibliographies: Native American Oral Literature (2020/07) An Oxford bibliography that will give users an overview of Native American Oral Literature.
• SHAFR Guide Online This link opens in a new window The SHAFR Guide Online: An Annotated Bibliography of U.S. Foreign Relations since 1600, is an online annotated bibliography of historical work covering the entire span of U.S. foreign relations.
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How to Write a History Essay with Outline, Tips, Examples and More

Before we get into how to write a history essay, let's first understand what makes one good. Different people might have different ideas, but there are some basic rules that can help you do well in your studies. In this guide, we won't get into any fancy theories. Instead, we'll give you straightforward tips to help you with historical writing. So, if you're ready to sharpen your writing skills, let our history essay writing service explore how to craft an exceptional paper.

What is a History Essay?

A history essay is an academic assignment where we explore and analyze historical events from the past. We dig into historical stories, figures, and ideas to understand their importance and how they've shaped our world today. History essay writing involves researching, thinking critically, and presenting arguments based on evidence.

Moreover, history papers foster the development of writing proficiency and the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. They also encourage students to engage with primary and secondary sources, enhancing their research skills and deepening their understanding of historical methodology.

History Essay Outline

The outline is there to guide you in organizing your thoughts and arguments in your essay about history. With a clear outline, you can explore and explain historical events better. Here's how to make one:

Introduction

• Hook: Start with an attention-grabbing opening sentence or anecdote related to your topic.
• Background Information: Provide context on the historical period, event, or theme you'll be discussing.
• Thesis Statement: Present your main argument or viewpoint, outlining the scope and purpose of your history essay.

Body paragraph 1: Introduction to the Historical Context

• Provide background information on the historical context of your topic.
• Highlight key events, figures, or developments leading up to the main focus of your history essay.

Body paragraphs 2-4 (or more): Main Arguments and Supporting Evidence

• Each paragraph should focus on a specific argument or aspect of your thesis.
• Present evidence from primary and secondary sources to support each argument.
• Analyze the significance of the evidence and its relevance to your history paper thesis.

Counterarguments (optional)

• Address potential counterarguments or alternative perspectives on your topic.
• Refute opposing viewpoints with evidence and logical reasoning.
• Summary of Main Points: Recap the main arguments presented in the body paragraphs.
• Restate Thesis: Reinforce your thesis statement, emphasizing its significance in light of the evidence presented.
• Reflection: Reflect on the broader implications of your arguments for understanding history.
• Closing Thought: End your history paper with a thought-provoking statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

References/bibliography

• List all sources used in your research, formatted according to the citation style required by your instructor (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago).
• Include both primary and secondary sources, arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.

Notes (if applicable)

• Include footnotes or endnotes to provide additional explanations, citations, or commentary on specific points within your history essay.

History Essay Format

Adhering to a specific format is crucial for clarity, coherence, and academic integrity. Here are the key components of a typical history essay format:

Font and Size

• Use a legible font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri.
• The recommended font size is usually 12 points. However, check your instructor's guidelines, as they may specify a different size.
• Set 1-inch margins on all sides of the page.
• Double-space the entire essay, including the title, headings, body paragraphs, and references.
• Avoid extra spacing between paragraphs unless specified otherwise.
• Align text to the left margin; avoid justifying the text or using a centered alignment.

Title Page (if required):

• If your instructor requires a title page, include the essay title, your name, the course title, the instructor's name, and the date.
• Center-align this information vertically and horizontally on the page.
• Include a header on each page (excluding the title page if applicable) with your last name and the page number, flush right.
• Some instructors may require a shortened title in the header, usually in all capital letters.
• Center-align the essay title at the top of the first page (if a title page is not required).
• Use standard capitalization (capitalize the first letter of each major word).
• Avoid underlining, italicizing, or bolding the title unless necessary for emphasis.

Paragraph Indentation:

• Indent the first line of each paragraph by 0.5 inches or use the tab key.
• Do not insert extra spaces between paragraphs unless instructed otherwise.

Citations and References:

• Follow the citation style specified by your instructor (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago).
• Include in-text citations whenever you use information or ideas from external sources.
• Provide a bibliography or list of references at the end of your history essay, formatted according to the citation style guidelines.
• Typically, history essays range from 1000 to 2500 words, but this can vary depending on the assignment.

How to Write a History Essay?

Historical writing can be an exciting journey through time, but it requires careful planning and organization. In this section, we'll break down the process into simple steps to help you craft a compelling and well-structured history paper.

Analyze the Question

Before diving headfirst into writing, take a moment to dissect the essay question. Read it carefully, and then read it again. You want to get to the core of what it's asking. Look out for keywords that indicate what aspects of the topic you need to focus on. If you're unsure about anything, don't hesitate to ask your instructor for clarification. Remember, understanding how to start a history essay is half the battle won!

Now, let's break this step down:

• Read the question carefully and identify keywords or phrases.
• Consider what the question is asking you to do – are you being asked to analyze, compare, contrast, or evaluate?
• Pay attention to any specific instructions or requirements provided in the question.
• Take note of the time period or historical events mentioned in the question – this will give you a clue about the scope of your history essay.

Develop a Strategy

With a clear understanding of the essay question, it's time to map out your approach. Here's how to develop your historical writing strategy:

• Brainstorm ideas : Take a moment to jot down any initial thoughts or ideas that come to mind in response to the history paper question. This can help you generate a list of potential arguments, themes, or points you want to explore in your history essay.
• Create an outline : Once you have a list of ideas, organize them into a logical structure. Start with a clear introduction that introduces your topic and presents your thesis statement – the main argument or point you'll be making in your history essay. Then, outline the key points or arguments you'll be discussing in each paragraph of the body, making sure they relate back to your thesis. Finally, plan a conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your history paper thesis.
• Research : Before diving into writing, gather evidence to support your arguments. Use reputable sources such as books, academic journals, and primary documents to gather historical evidence and examples. Take notes as you research, making sure to record the source of each piece of information for proper citation later on.
• Consider counterarguments : Anticipate potential counterarguments to your history paper thesis and think about how you'll address them in your essay. Acknowledging opposing viewpoints and refuting them strengthens your argument and demonstrates critical thinking.
• Set realistic goals : Be realistic about the scope of your history essay and the time you have available to complete it. Break down your writing process into manageable tasks, such as researching, drafting, and revising, and set deadlines for each stage to stay on track.

Start Your Research

Now that you've grasped the history essay topic and outlined your approach, it's time to dive into research. Here's how to start:

• Ask questions : What do you need to know? What are the key points to explore further? Write down your inquiries to guide your research.
• Explore diverse sources : Look beyond textbooks. Check academic journals, reliable websites, and primary sources like documents or artifacts.
• Consider perspectives : Think about different viewpoints on your topic. How have historians analyzed it? Are there controversies or differing interpretations?
• Take organized notes : Summarize key points, jot down quotes, and record your thoughts and questions. Stay organized using spreadsheets or note-taking apps.
• Evaluate sources : Consider the credibility and bias of each source. Are they peer-reviewed? Do they represent a particular viewpoint?

Establish a Viewpoint

By establishing a clear viewpoint and supporting arguments, you'll lay the foundation for your compelling historical writing:

• Review your research : Reflect on the information gathered. What patterns or themes emerge? Which perspectives resonate with you?
• Formulate a thesis statement : Based on your research, develop a clear and concise thesis that states your argument or interpretation of the topic.
• Consider counterarguments : Anticipate objections to your history paper thesis. Are there alternative viewpoints or evidence that you need to address?
• Craft supporting arguments : Outline the main points that support your thesis. Use evidence from your research to strengthen your arguments.
• Stay flexible : Be open to adjusting your viewpoint as you continue writing and researching. New information may challenge or refine your initial ideas.

Structure Your Essay

Now that you've delved into the depths of researching historical events and established your viewpoint, it's time to craft the skeleton of your essay: its structure. Think of your history essay outline as constructing a sturdy bridge between your ideas and your reader's understanding. How will you lead them from point A to point Z? Will you follow a chronological path through history or perhaps dissect themes that span across time periods?

And don't forget about the importance of your introduction and conclusion—are they framing your narrative effectively, enticing your audience to read your paper, and leaving them with lingering thoughts long after they've turned the final page? So, as you lay the bricks of your history essay's architecture, ask yourself: How can I best lead my audience through the maze of time and thought, leaving them enlightened and enriched on the other side?

Create an Engaging Introduction

Creating an engaging introduction is crucial for capturing your reader's interest right from the start. But how do you do it? Think about what makes your topic fascinating. Is there a surprising fact or a compelling story you can share? Maybe you could ask a thought-provoking question that gets people thinking. Consider why your topic matters—what lessons can we learn from history?

Also, remember to explain what your history essay will be about and why it's worth reading. What will grab your reader's attention and make them want to learn more? How can you make your essay relevant and intriguing right from the beginning?

Develop Coherent Paragraphs

Once you've established your introduction, the next step is to develop coherent paragraphs that effectively communicate your ideas. Each paragraph should focus on one main point or argument, supported by evidence or examples from your research. Start by introducing the main idea in a topic sentence, then provide supporting details or evidence to reinforce your point.

Make sure to use transition words and phrases to guide your reader smoothly from one idea to the next, creating a logical flow throughout your history essay. Additionally, consider the organization of your paragraphs—is there a clear progression of ideas that builds upon each other? Are your paragraphs unified around a central theme or argument?

Conclude Effectively

Concluding your history essay effectively is just as important as starting it off strong. In your conclusion, you want to wrap up your main points while leaving a lasting impression on your reader. Begin by summarizing the key points you've made throughout your history essay, reminding your reader of the main arguments and insights you've presented.

Then, consider the broader significance of your topic—what implications does it have for our understanding of history or for the world today? You might also want to reflect on any unanswered questions or areas for further exploration. Finally, end with a thought-provoking statement or a call to action that encourages your reader to continue thinking about the topic long after they've finished reading.

Reference Your Sources

Referencing your sources is essential for maintaining the integrity of your history essay and giving credit to the scholars and researchers who have contributed to your understanding of the topic. Depending on the citation style required (such as MLA, APA, or Chicago), you'll need to format your references accordingly. Start by compiling a list of all the sources you've consulted, including books, articles, websites, and any other materials used in your research.

Then, as you write your history essay, make sure to properly cite each source whenever you use information or ideas that are not your own. This includes direct quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. Remember to include all necessary information for each source, such as author names, publication dates, and page numbers, as required by your chosen citation style.

Review and Ask for Advice

As you near the completion of your history essay writing, it's crucial to take a step back and review your work with a critical eye. Reflect on the clarity and coherence of your arguments—are they logically organized and effectively supported by evidence? Consider the strength of your introduction and conclusion—do they effectively capture the reader's attention and leave a lasting impression? Take the time to carefully proofread your history essay for any grammatical errors or typos that may detract from your overall message.

Furthermore, seeking advice from peers, mentors, or instructors can provide valuable insights and help identify areas for improvement. Consider sharing your essay with someone whose feedback you trust and respect, and be open to constructive criticism. Ask specific questions about areas you're unsure about or where you feel your history essay may be lacking.

History Essay Example

In this section, we offer an example of a history essay examining the impact of the Industrial Revolution on society. This essay demonstrates how historical analysis and critical thinking are applied in academic writing. By exploring this specific event, you can observe how historical evidence is used to build a cohesive argument and draw meaningful conclusions.

FAQs about History Essay Writing

How to write a history essay introduction, how to write a conclusion for a history essay, how to write a good history essay.

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