How to Read a History Text.....as a History Student

In 2020, I decided to go back to school to change careers.  Going from the world of theater to the world of education.  A different type of theater to be honest, very similar in some concepts, but that’s another blog post.  I wanted to be a history teacher, and in order to do that, I needed three more years of schooling.  

Flash forward to 2024, I have a theater degree, a history degree and an education degree under my belt.  Studying history was drastically different from studying theater, yet similar.  The papers were the hardest bit, but breaking down the text to understand the hidden message, that was the same.  

About close to the end of my career at the history department I took a class on the Ottoman Empire, second half, and in this class we read a book every two weeks.  Something he was hoping to help prepare us for if we decided to go on for a graduate degree in history as then we would be reading a book a week.  

So this is the process we followed, and I found it helps for every history book I read outside of the education world.  It’s really easy, only four simple steps. 

First: copy the content page.  Like literally, down to the page numbers and appendix, if it has it, write it. 

Second: Skim through the book and add in any headings or subheadings you see under the chapter. [Tip- best to do this on a computer for the first time, so you get the format down.] 

Third: Read the introduction then read the conclusion to find three main points that lead to the thesis of the book.  

Fourth: Find reviews of the books from other scholars in the field.  

Once you have that, then you can go through and read it, take notes as you go and so forth.  

The reason my professor had us do this is because when you write historical books You write the introduction last, so the main points of the entire book that they will be talking about will stick out.  He also had us write any questions that we think will be answered in the book or popped up while we have been reading.  

That’s my trick on how to read a history book like a history student.  I find it also works for historical articles and so on.  I find this really helps center your mind and helps you be able to take notes as well.  

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Here is kind of a template 

Book Title Here

Name of Author 

Acknowledgments………………… xx 

Introduction…………………………ix 

Chapter One: Something really important ……………. 1 

1.a you find how 

1.b he really was the problem 

1.c nero may or may not have had a fiddle 

Chapter Two: Reba was right! ……………….. 16 

2.a van is adorably stupid 

2.b Brock lost the arguments before they began 

2.c somehow Barbar Jean is likable 

—and so on…

Conclusion……………………… 240 

index …………………….. 243