Writing History: A Guide for Students

by William Kelleher Storey

Bringing together practical methods from both history and composition, Writing History provides students with a wealth of tips and advice on the ways professional historians write. A simple, concise manual, it covers all aspects of writing about history, including finding topics and
researching them, interpreting source materials, drawing inferences from sources, and constructing arguments. Using numerous examples from the work of cultural, political, and social historians, it deals with the history of every continent and serves as an ideal supplement to all history courses
where writing is required. The volume is further enhanced by three closing chapters that discuss writing effective sentences, using precise wording, and revising. It also features a glossary of usage focusing on the special needs of history writers.
Addressing the problems that all historians face when writing, Writing History is a perfect guide for graduate and undergraduate history students in need of writing advice.

Genres: History, Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Academic, School, Theory

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 1998

Reviews

[Rachel Sawyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a great book because it tells you how to be a better writer but for someone who needs more than just paragraphs when I am learning, it was a hard read. Little to no graphics or charts or something to break up the text. So actually reading it was painful but using it as a reference guide is an easier use of it’s knowledge.

[Haley LeFaivre · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a handy, how-to guide in writing a history research paper, or an evaluation into a history resource, William Storey’s, Writing History: A Guide for Students is the perfect reference. The book is separated into nine chapters and offers specific examples reference websites and challenges faced with writing history. Published by Oxford University Press and is the fifth edition. The original, first edition of the book became published in 1999 after the author included more updated information about the use of the internet. The author originated this book in the Harvard Writing Project, while teaching classes at Harvard University seeing as there was a wide demand for a guide to writing history. The addition of the second, third, fourth, and fifth edition served as a deeper expansion into the internet and also included the first chapter, “Getting Started”. In review of this book, there are two strengths and two weaknesses after deep evaluation. The two strengths include the first chapter, “Getting Started” and the flow diagrams at the end of each chapter, but the weaknesses include the author’s references to online databases and the lack of information on tips or clues into the use of Chicago Manual of Style.

The overall book is a short guide in approximately 146 pages that describes writing analytical history and places to get credible sources for this writing. The breakdown of the book is in nine chapters with each chapter having sections further broken down in alphabetical order. At the end of each chapter, the author offers a review of the ideas discussed and sometimes a flow diagram of the main concepts or ideas. The concepts of the book range from deciding the topic of a paper, sources, using these sources, comparing sources to each other, writing the paper itself, and many tips about the writing process. The book also covers some internet usage and tips for writing history papers and using electronic sources.

The strengths of this book includes the first chapter and the flow diagrams at the end of some of the chapters. The first chapter delves into introducing the reader to the reason history papers are written and the several types of essays history instructors assign. The most influential part of this chapter is the short analytical essay in which the author gives a step by step tutorial on analyzing a history research essay. This should be recommended to any freshman level history course as many students struggle with the concepts that the author clearly outlines. The other strength of this book are the flow diagrams that allow the reader to recap on the main concepts at the end of each chapter. The condensed points of the flow diagrams help the reader sum up the main ideas and allows for the reader to come back to the book as a quick reference.

The weaknesses of this book would include the author’s references to online databases and lack of topic on the use of Chicago Manual of Style. Some of the references in chapter one discussing which databases to use is a weak point, due to some of those databases being weak in information that may be pertinent to a particular project. In this section, it would better serve the author to give a list of helpful databases and describe the use of one database as an example instead of focusing on two or three databases and navigating those. The lack of information on Chicago’s Manual of Style citation is a weakness because many students writing a first-time history research paper are new to Chicago’s Manual of Style. Since this book is a how-to guide in writing history, a section or chapter on the use of the main citation used for history research papers would better serve the writing history guide because student’s new to history research can become more familiar with the citation process and confident with their citations.

In conclusion, the review of William Storey’s, Writing History: A Guide for Students left two strengths: the first chapter and flow diagrams, and two weaknesses: limited references to online databases and lack of Chicago Manual of Style citation information. The strengths of the “Getting Started” chapter and the flow diagrams allowed for the book to read smoothly and fluently to the reader. These strengths left the reader with summarized points and tips to take with them in all of their writing. The weaknesses were only slight in the book with only focusing on a few databases with questionable usability and lack of information of Chicago Manual of Style citation. Basically, the book would benefit with more information than it would less. Thus this book will receive 5.0 stars as it is beneficial not only in writing history, but in any research paper at the collegiate level.

[Melia Dayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing is an art that takes practice and repetition even for the best of writers. Historical writing is a certain kind of art that involves more than normal writing because history is created through interpretation and analysis. Historian William Storey discusses the skill of historical writing in his 2016 book, "Writing History: A Guide for Students" published by Oxford Press. Storey's guidebook is overall an amazing help for historical writing because of its focus on writing through interpretation and analysis but at times there is too much of a focus on specific grammatical advice that takes away from the bigger picture and message of the writing.
The book covers the writing process both chronologically and qualitatively through nine chapters. The two beginning chapters discuss how to begin writing and finding research. The next two chapters talk about how to interpret the research found and the pre-writing process. Chapters five through eight are about the actual writing including the narrative, word choices, and sentence structure. The final chapter focuses on revising and editing, one of the most important part of any writing.
Storey does an excellent job at explaining both writing in general, but more notably, writing historically which takes a certain patience and style. Chapters three, four, and six talk specifically about the challenges that come with writing history but nevertheless the great significance of them, such as how to interpret primary sources through a modern theoretical lens. Storey explains that this is the great difference between writing a Wikipedia fact sheet and writing a solid, evidence based piece of writing that can add a new perspective to the field. A line from Storey in chapter four explains this. It reads, "New evidence, or a new approach to old evidence, call[s] into question the received wisdom of the day." History can have an enormous impact on how the world is perceived all depends on how a historian writes their words.
It's hard to find a solid weakness in Storey's guidebook, but if there was one it would be the inclusion of specific grammar lessons that can distract from the more historical writing lessons around them. Grammar is a vital part of good writing but the biggest problem with the grammar lessons in the book si that they are interwoven amongst the chapters next to sections that are discussing how to write historically and big picture ideas. The grammar distracts from the bigger message and can make for an awkward transition when reading.
William Storey's "Writing History: A Guide for Students," is a short and sweet book that helps people understand historical writing is a focus on interpretation and analysis with little tips and tricks, but at times these tips can be overshadowed by basic grammar lessons. Regardless of the grammar, the book overall is an excellent read and I would recommend it to anyone writing history for their first time or for their hundredth time. There is a lot to be learned from Storey's words.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Storey's guide is a helpfully organized, easy-to-access reference for college students looking to improve their history writing. I'm a bit confused about Storey's audience - some of his advice seems very introductory (e.g. don't use first person, avoid technical jargon and colloquial language), yet his examples seem pitched to a more experienced audience, as, for example, when discussing writing reviews of relevant literature. I could definitely see using this as a reference guide for students in an early college course, or for some high school students.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very helpful and excellent writing guide for history students at the undergraduate and the graduate level. It helps with plotting out the entire process of writing an historical research essay. I use it in my teaching.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good instruction on historical writing.

[Weckea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah!!!!!!

[ANNA ZINONOS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite little book from my Open University years. Still have it and go back to it when I need to.

[Amanda Dicicco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me out on some pointers. So I will continue to research on writing history.

[Elizabeth Vilchis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Required reading. Informational.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple but still helpful. (pamphlet sized)

[Savannah McCauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Kelleher Storey is currently a professor of history at Millsaps College, although he previously taught expository writing at Harvard University. He first wrote Writing History in 1996 as a way to help undergraduate students improve their writing. Twenty years later, after he had done extensive revisions, the Oxford University Press published the 5th edition. Writing History does an exceptional job of highlighting small facets of good writing, and explaining hard to grasp concepts, although sometimes it is too vague about concepts of history and too in depth about simple grammar.
Writing History is a student’s guide to writing history skillfully and correctly, and it explains the writing process chronologically throughout the nine chapters. It starts by explaining the array of different types of historical essays and the correct instances to use them. Then it goes on to explain the best places and methods to find evidence, as well as the best techniques to cite that evidence. After that, it discusses ways to utilize and highlight the strengths of each individual source in an essay. Finally, it concludes by thoroughly explaining strategies for writing with grammatical correctness and avoiding common errors.
This book has many good qualities, the first is its incredible attention to detail, the second its ability to successfully explain hard to grasp concepts, and the third its powerful examples. Writing History seems to forget nothing related to small details to include, as it discusses everything from the most reliable websites to the best ways to outline a paragraph. Furthermore, it is also very adept at explaining hard concepts because it uses simple and intellectual examples, as well as clear wording. Additionally, the way some of these examples are inset in the text is a great thing by itself, as it shows students a closer and more understandable way to apply the discussed concepts. Overall, this book is a great guide to writing history because it explains everything from the hard concepts to the small details, and does so with tactful examples to perk the readers’ interest.
Unfortunately, this book fails to be inclusive in some of its definitions, and it is also too broad in its explanation of grammatical concepts. Writing History defines two different versions of essay, narrative and analytical, but it is wrong in confining all historical essays to these very limited categories, as presentations of historical research can encompass anything, and need to merge the formatting to best fit their individual topic. Additionally, Writing History spends three chapters explaining correct grammar, but would be more effective if it explained the differences between historical writing and standard English writing, and then discussed only the methods unique to history. Overall, this book says too much about grammar, but too little about actual historical essays.
In the end, however, this book is an incredible resource that any new student of history should read. It achieves Storey’s goal of teaching undergraduates better writing skills, because it explains the basics well, even though it is a little too constricting with the more abstract concepts. I would give Writing History an overall ranking of four out of five stars because it did a very good job of explaining techniques of writing history through cool examples, important topics, and clear explanations, even though it did not focus enough on actual historical topics.

[Kaitlynn Snell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing History by William Kelleher Storey was an exceptional book that leaves future generations of Historians with the ability to write, debate, and observe history through time. This book was published by Oxford University Press in 2016 in New York. This is the fifth edition of this particular series of books. William Kelleher Storey is a History Professor at Millsaps College. He began writing these books in order to make a brief guide for undergraduate college students to enhance their writing abilities (page x). This book did an excellent job of reaching out to students, however, the book could have helped me more as a student by explaining more about inductive and deductive reasoning and its role in historical research and writing.

This book starts with talking about the first steps of writing. He explains about how to gather accurate information, finding your topic, and citing sources. He then discusses the importance of interpreting sources correctly and accurately. After discussing this, he moves on to making inferences through your sources and drafting your paper. Next, he discusses using narratives in writings as well as the dos and don’ts of writing sentences for historical purposes. Lastly, he describes how to properly pick words to use and the last steps of the paper, editing (pages 1-130).

This book displayed many strengths, which is obvious as it is the fifth edition. The strengths I would like to focus on is his ability to appeal to his designated audience. Throughout the entire book he makes joke, uses sarcasm, or displays examples that a college student can relate to. For example, when talking about avoiding colloquial language on page 117, he uses the phrase “most historians consider colloquial language to be, like, uncool.” Through his writing students feel a sense of relief because it is not written in a textbook style way and encourages further reading without complete dread.
While this book was exceptional, everything could always use improvement, for this college student, it includes a better description of deductive and inductive writing in history. On page 73 and 74, he discusses the definitions, uses examples, and states briefly on which one is more often used in history. I felt like I needed more to understand. I have been told by my professor, that history is an interpretation of facts and knowledge which is why it is always changing. With this concept in mind, it confused me because I felt that deductive reasoning had a huge role in history, however he states on page 73 that deductive reasoning can really only be used for common sense. I not only feel like I disagree, but I also wish he would elaborate more on deductive and inductive reasoning and its place in historical writing while putting history’s interpretations into context.

This book displayed wonder attributes in interacting with students, however, I feel that inductive and deductive could be further developed in this book to help students understand history itself. However, nothing is ever perfect and improvements can always be made. I found this book enlightening, skillfully written, and detailed in subjects most struggle with. William Storey is a skilled writer and I look forward to a sixth addition. Overall I would rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars!

[Savannah Mitchell]

William Storey wrote Writing History: A Guide for Students in 2016. This book is meant to explain how to select, research and write about history for both students and even teachers. Storey also addresses the many challenges that surround historical writing. One of the great strengths of this book, is the range of topics that is covered in the short 146 page book. Storey is able to include information from the structure of a paper to the construction of historical sentences. However, the topics that are in these sections could be further embellished and explained. With the wide breadth of topics included, Storey loses some of the needed depth that should be included in a brief historical writing guide.
Storey addresses many important topics in his writing guide, and the following demonstrate the diversity in his topics. He begins with how to get started and brings up a great point; history is not a regurgitation of facts, it is about interpretation and analysis. This is very important to understand, because many people think of history as dates and facts, and he explains right off the bat, that history is more than that. Later in chapter five, he discusses how to organize and prepare to write a paper. Without organization, papers often are confusing and loose readers periodically throughout the work. Storey offers an in depth outline for both a narrative and analytical essay, previously explaining the difference between the two. This section is strong, because of the specifics he includes. He begins with the creation and moves step by detailed step to making a strong conclusion. This attention to multiple categories of information helps provide answers and guidance to his audience.
Unfortunately, Storey does have sections in Writing History: A Guide for Students, which do not provide enough information for the students. For example, on page 124 he addresses the common confusions about the words “that” and “which.” However, he doesn’t go in depth enough for the reader to truly understand when it is appropriate to use “that” or “which.” Another section that is lacking emphasis is the section on editing. This section, while it makes great points about perspective, does not place enough importance on editing. The way Storey has set up this last section misleads the reader to believing that one set of edits is an acceptable amount. For students learning to write historically, one set of revisions will more than likely not be enough. In addition, students coming straight from high school typically do not place enough importance, or spend enough time on corrections, that their college professors expect. This is where Storey’s guide for students loses its guidance.
Despite the few sections in Storey’s book that do not provide students enough information, this book is a phenomenal book to learn the basics of writing history. In this brief guide Storey provides students with the general idea about how to write historically. This book is able to get beginners from the beginning of their paper, to their final draft addressing the many challenges they may face along the way. Even with a few topics that do not provide great direction for students, Writing History: A Guide for Students provides great direction for students learning to write historically.

[Jeff Brown]

The book Writing History A Guide For Students by William Kelleher Story is a great guide of how to successfully write historically. The book is separated into chapters which goes into details about many different topics from citing sources using Chicago Style, how to write history correctly and the best way to revise and edit historical papers. Writing History A Guide For Students was published at Oxford and University Press with the first edition of the book being published in 1999 and the fifth edition being published in 2016. The purpose of this book was to introduce the challenges that many people face when writing historically. The guide book offers advice of how to be successful in selectin topics, making arguments in your writing. This book as well as many other books have strengths and weaknesses. The strengths of this book are the flow diagrams and how to get started in your writing and to make sure you are organized in the writing; the weakness of the book is the briefness of Chicago Manual of Style.
The book is guide to help teach students to write with a historical lens. This can be difficult for many students since they have no experience in doing so. The book is separated into multiple chapters that assist with students writing process. There are many topics in the book that range from plagiarism, picking credible and academic sources, and how to be organized with the writing process. This is a great guide if you are new to writing historically.
The strengths of this book are the flow diagrams located at the end of every chapter and how to be organized in your writing. These are very helpful since most people are visual learners and being able to see the steps in a diagram make more sense than reading it in a chapter. These flow diagrams cover what was the main topic that was covered in the chapters. Being organized is one thing that either makes or breaks a paper and that is what many people struggle with. Chapter 5 talks about how to craft a thesis statement and the importance of it, how to draft an outline and then starting to write the first draft. This chapter is very beneficial if someone struggles with writing this shows them how to be organized and be successful in the writing process.
The weakness of the book is the limit of information that Storey gives into Chicago Manual of Style. This is a weakness because in chapter 3 the book only goes into little detail about how to cite using Chicago for a book, articles, journals, the internet, shows, lectures and archival sources. This is a weakness because citing is one of the major things to do with writing historically.
The review of the book Writing History A Guide for Students by William Storey has many strengths and weaknesses. The strengths being the flow diagrams and how to be organized in the writing process. The weakness was very slight and just being the limited information of how to cite sources using Chicago. For the overall rating of the book I would give it 5 stars since the book is very helpful not only to writing history but could also be used for any styles of writing.

[Steffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aristotle once said: “to understand anything, observe its beginning and its development”. When writing history it is at most importance to look at all aspects in order to be successful. Storey writes a great book that is helpful for the most part. As a research student there is a certain level of writing that has to happen, and with a novel like Writing History it makes it a little easier. Though the book has weaknesses such as inductive reasoning, the strengths outway them by far.

Throughout the book he starts of with the basis of Chicago style writing. Moving further into the chapters it provides great ways to cite, edit, and add narratives into writings. It also expands the idea of looking at who the target audience is, and thinking about them while writing a paper. Another is the use of passive voice and how it silences history if it is used, showing the importance of writing in an educated way. Finally it gives a detailed description on how to edit.

Some of the weaknesses of this book however was not mentioning deductive and inductive reasoning. As a research student learning to write historically, it definitely did not provide any insight on that, leaving them with not an easy descriptor. Another one that is helpful, however, awkwardly formatted is the area of editing. At first it is very informational, but, it was choppy and not flowing like the rest of the book.

The strengths on the other hand were more clear. Just to start off by looking at the way Storey wrote the book, it is simple and very easy to understand. Also, he includes many of the items that are necessary to learn about writing historically. He dives into the use of passive voice, and how it can be damaging to history in and of itself. This is unknown to many people, especially freshman undergraduate and high school students.

This book may be lacking information and awkward formatting at times but it’s benefits outway it by a long shot. It is an easy read-- short, sweet, and to the point. I recommend this book to anyone trying to learn how to write history, at least if they are starting. Overall 4.5 out of 5 because it has the basics but it could be better for higher levels!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty effective guide to writing history research papers; very practical and clear. I might assign or recommend it to students in intermediate-level college history courses. (It will be easier for students to understand than I.W. Mabbett's Writing History Essays, which I would employ only for pretty serious courses and students.) Unfortunately, the version I've read is the 1996 first edition, which is terribly dated in its discussion of electronic research. I would recommend only later editions.

[Kevin Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this work as an assignment for a graduate course in historical research methodology. The content was fairly basic in nature, but managed to provide minimal insight into research methods and style. Rather than this text, readers would be better served to pick up a copy of the Turabian guide.

[David Radspinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most important books i own. As a history major, i have used this book on literally every paper i have ever written since having it. If your a history major or just a student who has to write a lot of papers, this book has everything!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful little book to read before writing a major paper. Definitely reminded me of a lot of things to keep in mind or on the back burner and to go over again while doing research or proofreading the final copy.

[Ccahuana doris olinda]

buenaso

[Joe Saloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I never really read it all the way through but I have been through most of it. It helped me to write my 'A' papers in my college history classes.

[Aaron Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, concise guide to historical writing. Third edition includes updates about using Internet for research. Wish I could assign this to all of my HS students!

[Dan Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, quality guide to writing history.

[Matthias · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise, well-written guide to historical research. Useful for the casual historian, the first-year undergrad, or a grad student working on their dissertation.

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reminders/resource.

[Lacy Reynolds]

Very helpful to read while finding evidence for my senior thesis. Will use as a guide during the writing process!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really amused by the description of how to use google.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for students who are studying history.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good handbook for undergrads