In many respects, good historical writing is different from writing in other academic disciplines such as English, for example.  Research and use the following sites as a guide to the process, structure, and style of the historian's craft.

The Top 3 Sites for Writing Guidance

• Writing the History Paper  (Dartmouth University)  The home page of this site quickly lays out the basics of good historical writing.  This link is best if you want to get a good understanding of the overall process of writing a research paper: topic generation, thesis development, paragraph structure, and mechanics (grammar and style).  Check out 'Writing Tips."

• History Writing Center (University of North Carolina)  This is a great site for detailed and easy-to-read information on every aspect of the writing process.  The right hand margin of links is one of the best parts of this site because it offers concise explanations of all aspects of writing , including fighting procrastination!  Simply click on the topic link you need some guidance on and a thorough explanation is provided.  Have the patience to read each document; though it may seem wordy to you, it's actual very straight-forward.  Read the history handout page introduction.  Then check out "Writing the Paper" margin links for specific topics.

• Reading, Writing, and Researching for History (Bowdoin College)  The best aspect of this site is its straight-forward guides on the process of writing which are located in the left hand column.  Click on any of the links and you'll find a very student-friendly breakdown of any aspect of historical research and writing.  What's great about this site is that you can download/save a PDF of any of the handouts for reference on the go.  Check any of the Content Links in the left hand margin.

Other Websites of Interest

• "Bight Sized" Guide to Good Writing/Format  Though this should not be relied upon as the definitive source, it's good on the basics.
• Another "Bight Sized" Guide  This site does similar things as the above but in a slightly different format.
• Basic Steps in the Research Process
• Research 101
• Developing a Research Question

• The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
• The National Archives (Home Page)
• The National Archives: Archival Research Catalog (ARC)
• Library of Congress (Home Page)
• Library of Congress: American Memory
• History Matters
• Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Eye Witness to History
• In the First Person
• AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
• History Buff
• Make History
• Internet Modern History Source Book
• eHistory
• Words and Deeds in American History (American Memory, Library of Congress)
• AcademicInfo (U.S. History gateway site)
• The Presidents (from the White House webpage with good biographical information)
• Foreign Relations of the United States (University of Wisconsin Digital Collection)

Early America

• Archiving Early America
• The Making of America (Cornell Univresity)
• The Making of America (University of Michigan)
• Early America Digital Archive
• The Plymouth Colony Archive Project
• The Internet Modern History Sourcebook
• The Slave Narratives (University of Virginia)

Post-Civil War America to 1900

Populism

• Documents on the Populist Movement
• The 1896 Presidential Campaign
• Documenting the American South: Populist Party Links
• List of Gilded Age Documents

The Progressive Era

• The Progressive Era (web portal of sources)
• Organization of American Historians: Progressive Era Resouces
• Theodore Roosevelt Primary Sources (American Experience: The Presidents)
• The Theodore Roosevelt Web Book
• How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
• Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Aadams

Women's Sufferage and Reform

• "Women's Right To Vote" (1872), Susan B. Anthony
• The Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbook, 1897 - 1911 (Library of Congress)
• Votes for Women (American Memory, Library of Congress)
• Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment (National Archives)
• Women and Social Movements in the United States
• "Not For Ourselves Alone" (PBS)
• Urban Experience in Chicago: Hull House and Its Neighbors, 1889 - 1963
• Temperance and Prohibition
• Women and the Progressive Era (Columbia American History Online)

The Great Depression and New Deal

• The New Deal Network
• Federal Programs/New Deal (ARC, National Archives)
• FDR Presidential Library
• New Deal Document Library
  
• A New Deal for the Arts (National Archives)
• American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project (American Memory, Library of Congress)
• The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
  
• Fireside Chats of FDR
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Primary Sources (American Experience: The Presidents)
• Social Welfare and Visual Politics: The Story of Survey Graphic
  
• Portrait of America: Survey Graphic in the Thirties
  
• The 1930s in Print
• Documenting the American South (Search for "New Deal")
• New Deal Liberalism and Postwar Growth (Columbia American History Online)
• Social Security Online: History
  

The War on Poverty and Great Society

• Lyndon Baines Johnson Historical Documents/Photos (ARC, National Archives)
• Lyndon Baines Johnson Primary Sources (American Experience: The Presidents)
• LBJ White House Tapes on C-SPAN Radio
• Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum

The Rise of the Right

•  Ronald Reagan Historical Documents/Photos (ARC, National Archives)
•  Archives of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
• The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library
• American Experience: Reagan (PBS)

• America Votes: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia (Duke University)
• American National Elections Studies
• American Political History Online
  
• American Presidency Project Document Archive (UC Santa Barbara)
• ARC: Government and Social Studies (National Archives; search for government-related topics)
• C-SPAN American Political Archive
• Election Invormation (Office of the Clerk. U.S. House of Representatives)
• Federal Register (National Archives)
• From Revolution to Reconstruction...and Afterward (U.S. History documents with a political emphasis)
• GPO Access (U.S. Government Printing Office; search by branch of government)
• GPO Access: Core Documents of U.S. Democracy
• Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
• Smithsonian Encyclopedia of Political History
• University of Michigan: Public Papers of the Presidents

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