Historical writing is quite different from many other kinds of writing you will encounter in your college career. Therefore, the history faculty at Columbia College has provided an introduction to the kinds of writing assignments you may encounter in your history courses. The following topics are addressed:

What is the purpose of historical writing?

How do historians know things?

For whom is history written?

What constitutes evidence in historical writing?

How do historians cite their evidence?

What kinds of papers will I be assigned in my history courses at Columbia College?

How do I do well on my history papers?

What will impress my professors?

What if the above guidelines don’t fit my specific paper assignment?