History Skills: A Student’s Handbook

Degree-level history is characterized not only by knowledge and understanding of the human past, but by a battery of skills and qualities which are as directly applicable to employment as to professional postgraduate training or academic research. History Skills gives frank and practical help to students throughout their university course with advice on:

• research methods
• taking notes
• participating in class
• coursework
• examinations
• the dissertation.

Designed as a guide to success, the book helps to develop the critical skills that students need to get the most out of their course.

This second edition has been thoroughly updated to take into account digital resources and the benefits and risks associated with online research. New chapters on the first-year experience and employability help students to adjust to the way history is taught at university and explore the opportunities available to them after graduating.

Offering an unrivalled ’insider’s view’ of what it takes to succeed, History Skills provides the comprehensive toolkit for all history students.

Mary Abbott is Principal Lecturer in History at Anglia Ruskin University. Her previous publications include Family Ties (1993), Life Cycles in England 1560-1720 (1996) and Family Affairs: A history of the family in 20th century England (2003). She is a member of the Higher Education Academy’s History Advisory Panel.