Faculty Advisor: Ph.D. candidate, Princeton University

Research Practicum Introduction

This program offers high school students a deep dive into the theory and practice of history research, with a specific focus on how individual people's lives are shaped by larger structural forces. First, we will read some classics and examine how earlier historians have answered these questions. We will meet a diverse cast of characters, from "virtuous" daughters in ancient China to con artist sons in modern France, and try to understand what shaped their lives. As we read, we will discuss how these authors analyze historical evidence, and students will be asked to apply these methods to their own primary sources.

Through this program, students will learn to understand the way that different cultural and material forces shape human action. They will further develop critical reading and analysis skills and see the connection between historical evidence and argument. They will also learn to extract general lessons from texts and apply them. In the real world, they will be equipped with the ability to analyze cultural and material systems in which people act and see how evidence is being used, as well as the question whether it is sufficient.  These will be useful for future programs in history and the humanities as well as understanding current affairs.

At the end of this program, each student will finish the writing of individual research of medium-length (approximately 10 pages) research papers to showcase their newly acquired skills. Anyone interested in the problem of understanding the past is encouraged to apply, regardless of their specific area of interest.

Standards of Assessment

Students must strive to understand the past with a very open mind, be able to read carefully and find questions and problems in their material, and extract general lessons about how to read from the examples that we read in the program.

Possible Topics For Final Project

With help from the instructors, students will choose their own limited set of accessible primary sources to use for their research papers. They are encouraged to choose something highly concrete, such as a diary, collection of letters, or a classic work of literature or philosophy that they want to better understand.

Possible options include:

• Assess the historical accuracy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

• Explain why Macchiavelli wrote The Prince and made the argument that he did.

• How would you describe Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with Lorena Hickok?

• What did Marco Polo really do, and how did he do it?

• What was it like to be a 17th century Manchu soldier at war, and why?

• How did female Christian missionaries understand the people they tried to convert?

• What were the themes of Bruegel the Elder’s paintings about 16th century Dutch life?

Required Materials

The faculty advisor will provide PDF copies of all required readings, core sources, and digital access to movies and other media. With assistance, students will need to find and access their primary sources.

Program Detail

• Cohort Size: 3-5 students

• Workload: Around 4-5 hours per week (including class time and homework time)

• Target Students: 9-12th grade students who are interested in history, or in studying the past in some other humanistic discipline.

• Prerequisites: Students should be able to carefully read about 30 pages of academic writing per week and have some potential area of interest for their research projects.