Tag: methodology

  • Five Do’s and Don’ts for Using Digital Newspapers

    Five Do’s and Don’ts for Using Digital Newspapers

    By Nathaniel Zelinsky Nathaniel Zelinsky is an MPhil student in Historical Studies at the University of Cambridge. Digitized newspaper databases are an increasingly popular resource for young students of history. It is easy to understand their appeal to the “Google” generation: from the comfort of your own bedroom, you can access countless primary sources without…

  • And the rest as they say… (a manifesto for Techno-enviro-cultural-socioeconomic-politics)

    And the rest as they say… (a manifesto for Techno-enviro-cultural-socioeconomic-politics)

    By Kayt Button When we think about historical research, it is easy to picture someone trapped behind piles of dusty literature and papers, getting lost in the minutiae of their chosen subject. After all, years of study of history have preceded their final, chosen, specialised subject of “The Pig War of 1859”!

  • How do historians write?

    How do historians write?

    By Tom Goodwin, @tgooders Thomas is an MPhil student in Early Modern History. He is currently researching sixteenth-century Italian heretics and their use of the printing press. I spent the morning putting in a comma; I spent the afternoon taking it out – Oscar Wilde Writing history remains something of a dark art. From the…

  • How people saw: looking at photographs in history

    How people saw: looking at photographs in history

    By Jess Hope “To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, ‘There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.” – Ansel Adams How do historians approach photographs as sources? Those of us who study the mid-19th century to the present can access a wealth of moments ‘captured’ on film,…

  • To ask or not to ask: that is the question

    To ask or not to ask: that is the question

    By Emily Ward, @1066unicorn Palms sweating, mouth dry, heart pounding in my chest, my thoughts racing. I realise that I’m going to do it. Tentatively I gather my courage, swallow down the fear and start to raise my hand. Hand up, there’s no going back; I’m spotted and heads turn my way. Eyes on me,…