On the other hand, as trained historians, scholars are adept as assessing historical thinking skills and they are more than willing to comment on your interpretations and whether they think your arguments make sense and are well-supported from the evidence. Preparation Do some background work first to narrow your interest and come up with specific questions. Explore both the secondary and primary sources on your topic that you can find in local libraries or on the Internet. Although the World Wide Web increasingly has some excellent resources, it is incomplete and fragmentary, and has no where near the breadth and depth of materials available in print in libraries. Secondary sources are useful for understanding the overall context, types of primary sources available, and the main issues and questions.
Primary sources are the raw material, the evidence used to support interpretations.
Even with difficulties of translation and availability, students should try to engage as directly as possible with primary sources to understand how the process of building historical arguments works. Students and others working on historical research projects are encouraged to ask problem-based questions. The best topics are often those where there is some controversy, unresolved issue, or different points of view. Comparing interpretations, weighing the evidence, and thinking about the past from new perspectives are at the heart of the historical enterprise. Focus your queries Generic questions will get generic answers, while specific questions that show some thought will get specific and thoughtful answers.