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Rising college junior who& #39;s just declared as a history major? Congratulations! Interested in getting a jump on next year + beyond? Following several conversations I& #39;ve had on this IRL, here are a couple pieces of advice. #twitterstorians 1/
These are largely things I would cover in a junior methods seminar. Hopefully your dept. has one; maybe it comes as a senior capstone. Whatever the case, it& #39;s never too early or late to start thinking about working more efficiently or improving your writing 2/
Tip #1: Sign up for @zotero. If that& #39;s as far as you get, you& #39;re already ahead. To unlock next level, check out a quick tutorial ( https://libguides.princeton.edu/zotero ),">https://libguides.princeton.edu/zotero&qu... see how you might add sources. Formatting notes/bibliography can wait until the fall 3/
If you really want to make the most of @zotero, add Zotfile. I demo it here: https://twitter.com/RAKarl/status/1083061043356672001">https://twitter.com/RAKarl/st... 4/
Tip #2: Start thinking about how you might design or improve a workflow that& #39;s right for you. Take a look at my video on organizing secondary sources, general best practices for research/writing: https://youtu.be/sZP6X7EIN6g ">https://youtu.be/sZP6X7EIN... 5/
If you& #39;ll be working with primary sources to write a research paper/senior thesis, I also have a video on digitizing + organizing archival sources: https://youtu.be/zZhBcnVNhgM ">https://youtu.be/zZhBcnVNh... 6/
Tip #3: @RoyPeterClark& #39;s book Writing Tools is a wonderful manual on how to craft more engaging sentences/paragraphs. Has really helped me! Bonus: it& #39;s meant to be read in chunks, so perfect for summer perusing. https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-Writer/dp/0316014990/">https://www.amazon.com/Writing-T... 7/
Tip #4: If you& #39;re intimidated by thought of starting research paper/thesis, check out Anne Lamott& #39;s classic Bird by Bird. The whole thing is worth reading, but if you want to prioritize, I assign my junior methods seminar pp. 6-10, 16-20, 21-27, 110-115, 116-121 8/
Tip #5: No book captures the wonder of working with archival/primary sources better than Arlette Farge& #39;s The Allure of the Archives. Take a look to get inspired; come back to it once you& #39;ve started research in order to put words to what you& #39;re doing 9/
Bonus: you can download Allure of the Archives on @JSTOR. Take it as an opportunity to test out @zotero/Zotfile! But be sure to accept terms of agreement on one PDF before batch importing: https://twitter.com/RAKarl/status/1108902323840004096">https://twitter.com/RAKarl/st... 10/
Hopefully these tips work for you! #twitterstorians, please share what else new history majors might consider thinking about or doing this summer. 11/*
