Top Ten Tips from History Graduates

1. Sense of Perspective Make sure your project is manageable: you’ve only got a few years! Play to your strengths: what do you know, and what makes you excited? Organising your ideas: sources and concepts

2. Getting Around When and where will your research be conducted? Plan ahead (think about applying for research and travel grants!) Use the Long Vacation: there’s more time, and also more money for travel grants and expenses

3. Archival Awareness Make sure when planning a visit that you know their rules (pencils/laptops only, please!) Phone ahead, (archivists have lives too). Use the archivists’ knowledge! Stalls 12, 13,14, 15 & 17

4. Online resources Archives come in many forms: online databases can save your life Use the British Library and the US Library of Congress catalogues; they’re great for locating primary and secondary sources Use COPAC to check holdings in other UK libraries; use Oxford e-resources; keep on top of the journals

5. Bibliography Start this a.s.a.p Use software or SOLO but use Word too Psychologically, a long list of books read can be of immense value when you’re staring at a blank page Stall 23 Information Skills

6. Note-taking It really pays to be anal about this Don’t kill the trees Work out your system and abbreviations at the start If in doubt, attribute everything and keep the quotation marks; synthesise when you’re writing up Stall 23 Information Skills

7. Computing Find out what OUCS can do for you. They offer computer support, a wide range of courses and great facilities. Single-Sign-On (SSO) makes things far easier. But the internet can be temperamental, so keep your VPN. BACK UP YOUR WORK!!!!!!!!!

8. When to write Writing can help the thinking process Whatever works for you, but remember: a thesis should demonstrate a clear and consistent argument Write up at the end? Or write as you go along? Your supervisor or tutor can be your Yoda.

9. Making contact with other humans Seminars and conferences Don’t be afraid to go outside the Faculty and outside Oxford; most people will talk to you. Schama’s a bit scary, mind.

10. Seminars Find out what seminars are going on both in Oxford (check faculty websites) and elsewhere (such as the IHR). Seminars can be a great way of making contact with other graduates and researchers. Listening to other people’s work can help you think about your own research in different ways.

Good luck!