Seminar in Historical Methods

Blood-stained diary of U.S. Civil War soldier.

Blood-stained diary of Alfred S. Rowe, Company C, 6th Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Shows passage of a bullet through the top. (Image courtesy of the National Park Service: Camp Life.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

21H.931

As Taught In

Spring 2002

Level

Undergraduate

Cite This Course

Course Description

Course Features

Course Description

This course is designed to introduce students to fundamental issues and debates in the writing of history. It will feature innovative historical accounts written in recent years. The class will consider such questions as the words historians use, their language, sources, methods, organization, framing, and style. How does the choice of each of these affect the historian's work? How does the author choose, analyze, and present evidence? How effective are different methodologies?

Other Versions

Other OCW Versions

This subject examines the distinctive ways in which historians in different parts of the world have approached the task of writing history. Details vary as it is taught by different faculty from year to year.

Related Content

Elizabeth Wood. 21H.931 Seminar in Historical Methods. Spring 2002. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


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