Books and Articles

Books and articles are unique and valuable in their own way to the historian. One should not be prized over the other as they both a central to the historian’s craft and the discipline as a whole. As a historian-in-training I have come to appreciate what each source has to offer and how to obtain the most from each.

Books are a result of lengthy studies conducted over years of research. Therefore, by their very nature they offer a deep argument on a topic that has been carefully constructed and presented in the book. With fewer restraints on length books can offer the historian far more detail than articles. Having said that, this freedom of books can be both beneficial and disadvantageous to the historian. Books can provide historians with excellent detail that enriches their understanding of a topic but at the same time can overwhelm the historian with a over abundance of detail that as result drowns the book’s main argument.

Articles on other hand, are typically restricted in length and therefore are valuable for their brevity. Articles generally are based off of a historians greater work or research interest and as a result provide their reader’s with a condense, well-informed argument on a topic. However, this too can be overwhelming as explanations may be cut short due to length restrictions and so the reader may not be as informed on a topic. Nonetheless, articles are an excellent starting point for historians because they ascertain the historian’s main argument and decide if they wish to examine the argument on a larger scale in which case they can look to the historians other works.

As a historian-in-training I start my research with journal articles so that I can get a sense of the arguments that exist on a topic and who the main historians of the field are. From the articles and their bibliographies I pursue other journal articles and books that appeal to my interest and research. I never value one form of monograph over another but reap the benefits each has to offer in my personal research.