How To Research History: A Guide to Doing It Properly

A 101 guide on good historical research practices that anyone interested in history could use!
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#History #Historiography #Guide
00:00 Introduction
01:40 Primary vs Secondary sources
06:53 Analyzing sources
16:08 Finding & identifying sources
21:32 Additional considerations
29:20 Using search engines & initial considerations in action
34:41 A challenge for YOU, the viewer!

[@ohoehrli3719]

The secret is to blame the CIA for everything. This has been very helpful to me in my research on Ancient Greece.

[@Diego-zz1df]

"Mainstream historians **AND THE CIA** want you to believe the Peloponnesian wars were a series of prolonged, protracted conflicts between Athens, Sparta and their client city-states in which the two predominant Greek powers that emerged from the greco-persian war competed for hegemony across Greece. The truth, however, is much, much darker."

[@ewee2568]

Ah comrade! I see you're also a follower of the immortal science of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era! Awesome!

[@NuclearPenguin4]

Whoever thinks Ancient history (especially ancient Greek history) is something we can all "objectively" agree upon, should come and attend a Greek or generally south Balkan, or even turkish history school class...

[@meandwhosearmy5680]

“The CIA is Capitalism’s invisible army” - General Smedley Butler

[@ohoehrli3719]

@@The80sWolf_ yeah I was reading that Allen Dulles had Socrates killed

[@cloudia985]

I got my degree in history and was trained using the same techniques, so I'm glad ppl interested in certain topics, who aren't getting a history degree, can get some tips on how to do research on topics they want to know more about. Good work.

[@ewee2568]

I likely won't ever get to be able to attend university because of my financial situation (I'm very poor, and American), so being able to learn the basics of how to do historical research correctly to educate myself is great.

[@Ottmar555]

@@ewee2568 I'll tell you a secret. Here in Mexico City the 3 big public universities UNAM, IPN & UAM charge minimum rates (like at most 10 USD per year). If you know spanish and can afford rent, I've met foreign friends who studied their uni or masters here in Mexico.

[@Kikasitsu]

*Stay the HOLY FUCKING HELL AWAY from Soviet “History.”* If you value your credibility, your sanity, and your principles, you best stay away from the equivalent to Holocaust-Denial-in-Reverse. The day that credible historians *cite Nazi sources* (without ever telling you that they are, or they are blissfully ignorant to the original, or maliciously omit such details…) that is the day when you risk placing yourself into logic pretzels as soon as you’re challenged with evidence. Sadly, there are many examples of this occurring. And don’t think that it’s as easy as buying the source material and checking for yourself either. 1) You’ll be dealing with rare books and difficult-to-find books. 2) You’ll be doing A LOT of double takes, cause you’ll be asking yourself: “Wait, where DID I see X before, I swear, I saw that X somewhere before…” 3) “Archives [cited in] propaganda pieces” is going to be alarmingly common. 4) You’ll identify a Murder’s Row of frauds and hacks that will haunt you in your sleep. 5) A lot of ALIASES will be used. 6) If you ever question the narrative, be prepared to be compared to Holocaust deniers. 7) If you have ACTUAL evidence, be prepared to be excised as though you were possessed by demons. 8) Oh… be very wary of how they “fix” a narrative too. (Katyn being a ripe example.) Yeesh, it’s not a pretty sight. The day you get to see Timothy Snyder cite a Nazi-sycophant in Bloodlands, or Anne Applebaum dismiss Nazis in literature (post WWII), only to cite “Black Deeds of the Kremlin” (10 times, I counted…) That’s the day when you should question your life’s decision to studying history.

[@dana_____]

@@ewee2568 it’s great to hear people taking an interest in history, and you know you could try working in public history (It’s surprise the number of journalists who work in the field). I’m currently reading Falsehoods and Fallacies by Bethany Kilcrease and it essentially written for that purpose, though the book also brings up fallacies which no professor ever mentioned to me in undergrad. Maybe your library has the ebook.

[@ThePoliticrat]

Same here. However, upon discovering the likes of Spengler and Toynbee, my entire Eurocentric conception of history shattered. Linear history is just a western myth, superimposed upon the rest of the world.

[@the8thgemmer467]

The best source is always an article by a conservative think tank

[@Diego-zz1df]

If Infowars has taught me anything, it's that the best source is the CIA.

[@the8thgemmer467]

@@1homelander179 conservopedia be like “Barry Goldwater was against the civil rights act because he was a **conservative**”

[@the8thgemmer467]

@@1homelander179 oh we both completely forgot the beet, the part where they literally rewrite the bible to fit their agenda.

[@masta182]

All this talk of sources is a bit much, I'll stick to breitbart, thank you very much!

[@Bojoschannel]

No biases 100% of the time

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

this is excellent signed off by a phd and now assistant professor (not in history but generally well versed on looking at good research)

[@constraintautomaton9547]

@@marauder8257 I think someone else need to take pills

[@constraintautomaton9547]

​@@marauder8257 it was clearly not serious due to all the caps ... I don't think showing this as secondary material would be bad for students. At my university professor’s assistant sometimes gives us KZbin video to help us understand the more formal material.

[@zidorovichburblyatya2862]

@@marauder8257 Vaush good yeah.

[@HeyIntegrity]

STEM seems to be different. They emphasize primary sources first way too much.

[@liamtahaney713]

This is one of the best research guides I have ever some across. Perhaps you are a...good empanada.

[@liamtahaney713]

​@@marauder8257 Any good research guides you prefer on youtube?

[@pinkmatter8488]

@@abhishek_singh9 Lmaoooo

[@dety6351]

@@liamtahaney713 dude, ask bad empanada to marry you

[@milesexplains]

Agreed. I’ve got a degree in history and I feel like he’s just covered several months of tuition more clearly than I ever got it

[@enmei__________]

Which is the best one?

[@Nathan-gs5tw]

Man, this video really just emphasizes how hard it is to sort actual historical fact from created narratives. Really appreciate it

[@LOLquendoTV]

Getting a lot of flashbacks to secondary school history of "evaluate the usefulness of this random political cartoon in telling us about the mood of Britain in 1938 or whatever"

[@ewee2568]

Ngl I kinda love seeing really old, reactionary politial cartoons because they can have some of the most idiotic takes out there.

[@LOLquendoTV]

@@ewee2568 oh god, Ben garrison is going to be on curriculums one day

[@Ottmar555]

@@LOLquendoTV Give us the cum

[@sunflowersamurai10]

lmao

[@user-ru5er5nf3t]

If you are a university student or someone with a library card, sometimes your university or library will pay for access to peer reviewed journals

[@ewee2568]

This is a great guide, and I'm sure it'll help many people improve their understanding of history. KZbin needs less history channels like Armchair Historian and more of them like you.

[@Ottmar555]

Out of the big history channels, which one do you like the most?

[@justamaninthisworld2742]

Whats wrong with armchair historian?

[@ewee2568]

@@justamaninthisworld2742 he's incredibly biased towards America and he can be wrong pretty often

[@gezusmofo]

Always good to remember that even a biased source will usually cite something true if it fits their narrative/agenda, as there are situations where you're sifting for bits and pieces from multiple biased sources with nothing fully reliable available.

[@ladyduckworthduck8434]

Additional advice on books. Instead of buying it go to your local library. Even if they don't have it, which will be mostly the case with niche and specific historical topics, they can order it from other libraries for just a small fee.

[@Diego-zz1df]

I have a pathological need to own the books I read so libraries, as important an institution as they are, make me extremely anxious. Last time I went to one to find books for a college research project I spent more time browsing books I'd like to own and feeling sad and distraught at the bad condition of some volumes I found than I did searching for the ones I needed for my project. I support public libraries, I just can't use them.

[@Ajente02]

This goes for the fortunate and privileged situation where your city/country still have actual public libraries. Not all of us can afford such privilege.

[@ladyduckworthduck8434]

@@Ajente02 I'd argue that even fewer people have the privilege to afford many books themselves

[@Ajente02]

@@ladyduckworthduck8434 At least you can still buy books from abroad if your city/coutnry lacks public libraries.

[@bigbrother787]

I feel you did a lot of unnecessary work for this video. I answered all three questions immediately by shouting "Stalinism" at my screen.

[@Yr_218]

But isn't Stalinism based?

[@constraintautomaton9547]

It made me laugh a lot.

[@antoineprude1194]

Thank you, BadEmpanada for this! Extremely helpful!

[@Ebrahim_17]

Awesome vid! As a person continuing my education in history I needed a good refresh!

[@timbarbeau2886]

Thanks for linking this video in your update, I absolutely did not get notified of this video in my subscription feed! This is my favorite kind of analysis, I really love videos covering topics like this. Muchas gracias amigo~

[@Megaghost_]

Very well done, so detailed and informative. Thanks man!

[@kahaniwala121]

Only 13 minutes in and you’ve cleared up a ton of misconceptions I, and I think a lot of other people who don’t study history at a tertiary level, have. Especially on primary vs secondary sources, and how primary =/= better just because it’s straight from the subject matter, and how secondary sources are just as relevant to giving a full historical explanation as primary sources are. And I’m fairly certain that I, and a lot of others, have assumed that primary = better for that reason, and from there it becomes easy to see how someone like Knowing Better can deceive people. Very helpful video.

[@HeyIntegrity]

is it different in Science fields than social science fields? Going to primary first than secondary in STEM?

[@lynnixvarjo9150]

Thank you so much for making this!

[@silversixxx]

Thank you so much! This really helps with my specific research topics.

[@managingbusiness141]

Thank you for making this video!

[@moselaw2]

I definitely recommend the ask historians subreddit as well. They have a bunch of historians who answer questions. They also have a podcast where the usually interview someone who discusses their particular field.

[@kongspeaks4778]

They think that historiography after the 1700s is "objective" and "apolitical".

[@MB2.0]

​@@kongspeaks4778 and like most of reddit, they're heavily liberal biased

[@LOLquendoTV]

Great vid, I appreciate putting a lot of effort into a very necessary video even if it likely won't get as many views as your usual stuff.

[@suckmyartauds]

This is insanely helpful! Thank you

[@orlandoblanco6969]

30 years ago I was involved in translating ancient pre-Columbian accounts of the conquest and then comparing them to the works of the spaniard priest account of the events Needles to say the version where so different than you would be hard press to believe you where talking about the same historical events

[@kamito834]

Wow that sounds really interesting, is there somewhere I can read about this?

[@orlandoblanco6969]

@@kamito834 not my particular efforts those are non public data but try "in xochitl in quicatl" has side by side nahuatl and spanish translation of poems that amongst many other things depict the conquest trough the view on the victims of the genocide also, Bernal dia del Castillo tried to be as impartial as posible and "la vision de los vencidos" for a lot of first person accounts from both sides of the ordeal 500 years ago

[@Ajente02]

By "pre-Columbian accounts", you mean "contemporary Indigenous"? I don't see how someone could be "pre-Columbian" and have a vision on the Conquest at the same time, unless they weren't "pre-"Columbian.

[@orlandoblanco6969]

@@Ajente02 they are pre columbian as in the conquest was not yet a reality and they where chronicling the war, the siege of tenochtitlan, the pelage and finally their defeat The colonies and therefore colonial times come after the fall of the ancient empire They where written as they where dying by those who did not live to see the fall in most cases as 90% where wipeout by the epidemic the spaniards used as bio warfare

[@Ethan-uq5qd]

@@orlandoblanco6969 Did the Spaniards use the old world diseases as bio-warfare or did they spread without their intentionally spreading them or even understanding the process?

[@thepoiklez61]

Thank you! I was always confused on who to trust because both arguments always seems compelling (Example: Knowing better’s Columbus video and your debunking of that) now I know how to check these videos and how to accurately find knowledge. Thanks :)

[@crapplerbakii88]

Thanks!

[@famousbowl9926]

Yay long new video!

[@nmociahfgow]

Your videos are amazing!

[@analoghabits9217]

watch out for special interest organizations that masquerade as actual research

[@anopinionatedlaymanappears9052]

Are you going to do a video about Harari's Sapiens like you did with Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel?

[@hugo.20]

awesome video !

[@petersmith1343]

An excellent overview. A useful intro for students wanting to get a basic idea about Historiography.

[@jackofallfades2656]

I'm of the opinion the CLR James application of sources, both primary and secondary in Black Jacobins is both illustrative and paramount to learning how sources are found, and incorporated into writing. I wish every historian was as good a writer as James.

[@plateoshrimp9685]

Really appreciate this

[@Christopher.G.Historical]

Thank you so much for this video! It was very helpfull!

[@komradekile]

as a prospective history major in college, thank you much. History has long been a passion of mine, but doing my own research has never been a strong point for me.

[@spacebiggles]

Thanks for making this.

[@danielkjm]

Great Video!

[@kittywhiskers996]

Woooohooooo!!!!! I have been looking forward to this! ✨🌟✨

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

do you have a source for this revolutionary claim?

[@tehpeasant]

Thank you! I'm planning to do a research (maybe even write a book) about a certain person, but I'm not a historian so this is quite handy.

[@ruimvdd]

outstanding stuff here

[@simonrodriguez4685]

6:02 Turns out that it’s also true that Churchill was a colossal mugger.

[@orlandoblanco6969]

BTW the guy doing the Columbus video knew what he was doing and was just pushing his agenda/view, no way that anyone could ever missunderstand the meaning of the word subjugate in to making a subject any spanish, latin or italian speaker would know that the word is never used in that conotation

[@frechjo]

I don't know, he doesn't seem to be the kind of right winger that would push for a glorification of the conquest or Columbus. I think he fell into the trap of "enlightened centrist" thought. You know, "these people have painted him as a genius, a saint, almost a demi-god; these people have painted him as an evil person, a narcissist, almost a demon. I'm smarter than all of them, I only see a normal person", that kind of thing.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

@@frechjo I used to be really into his videos until I realised he was doing this. When he doubled down I unsubscribed.

[@wellsshady]

@@frechjo That was the point, though. He wasn't unilaterally bad. Centrism doesn't neccesarily mean he's of the belief that he should be celebrated, or not removed.

[@frechjo]

@@wellsshady KB's videos try to reinterpret the historical facts and evidence, and play moral relativism, in order to erase what was bad about Columbus. It's historical revisionism to rehabilitate him, and that is BS history.

[@wellsshady]

@@frechjo I mean, most historical analysis done casually doesn't carefully tackle what conditions are, and what is essential to a person, but wouldn't relativism also delete the possibility of a good Columbus, thus making it not as bad as the person replying to you made it out? I also see that he brought relevant information to back him up, it wasn't just "Well, we're all human, let's plausibily agree and leave".

[@gars129]

That quote about Columbus is from a professor from my university, Jalil Sued Badillo

[@neochatterbox516]

I was really interested by your question of "Does this source seem too certain about something where a lot of doubt still remains?" for secondary sources. Going to start using that from now on when I read works of history like books or articles to detect for biases

[@carolinekelly3415]

Interesting. Thank you.

[@Ajente02]

Sometimes I tend to think some of the things you said here are of common knowledge, but as a social science graduate I usually take for granted the level of academic formation required to know such "basic" notions like primary/secondary sources, critical analysis, peer reviews, etc. In high school we took Social Sciences / History classes where we learned all those basic stuff about historiography, and also on the first semester of university there was an entire course on "Analysis and Verbal Expressions" (where we were supposed to learn about citation standards, writing structures, academic formats, etc.). So for someone with previous experience on any social science (or any empirical science in general), not just historians, this should be like the most basic stuff. However, people who can go to college (or even to high school) are sadly still a minority, so it's still pretty important for people like you to take the time to explain these basic concepts in our "post-truth era". So kudos for your work!

[@pingpongo69420]

Thank you for the google scholar quotation tip, as well as the 'hubs of science' tip. Awesome video overall

[@CacTzu]

Really gonna need this! Thanks a lot, hopefully this is going to help me in my research on electrodynamics!

[@thenayancat8802]

libgen is the way to go for books. Equivalent of science hubs

[@gabrielrangel956]

I feel acknowledged and called out, however, it did inspire me to go seek actual papers and some books in the off chance you're making a video about Brazil and the military, look "Canudos" up. It's quite symbolic for the role the Army has played and the way they handle things, from the cruelty to the incompetence

[@unpredictableaxolotl3762]

Oh shit - I've been asking around on how to do this very thing. Hell yeah.

[@MichaelTMason-mz5ts]

This is better research advice than most my history classes in college taught me.

[@dety6351]

you are in a very bad college mate

[@ThePoliticrat]

I wish we had more historians like Spengler, Toynbee, and Quigley living today. They were some of the only ones who actively challenged and outright deconstructed the Eurocentric myth of “linear history”.

[@maxenswlfr1877]

Spengler, like the Oswald Spengler who directly inspired national-socialism ? 💀 Tonybee is not what I would call the best historian around, no one really takes his theories seriously anymore

[@thehotyounggrandpas8207]

I liked the bit about sauces. I love sauce.

[@fede2]

Super helpful and didactic. Awsome, man. Thank you so much.

[@orlandoblanco6969]

thanks for the video I was having a conversation with my best friend about this subject a couple of hours ago LOL LOL

[@ronaldmcdonald3279]

Good fakin' video mate

[@silverceleste7260]

On the peer review section, im not sure if this applies to history but for the sciences reputable peer reviewed journals are catalogued by the Master Journals List.

[@individual746b3]

It's been a while since a KZbin video set me homework. I've already brought the book. You have set in motion a process that neither of us will be able to stop! I am become research, devourer of book

[@jimtroeltsch5998]

Fantastic video! Thanks

[@parkertrager4849]

I was doing a school project on this very subject then I got a notification about this upload. Shits amazing

[@Diego-zz1df]

Teacher: "You get an F." You: "Wha- But why?! All my sources were properly cited, my research was impeccable!" Teacher: "You're not the only one who follows Bad Empanada."

[@BT859]

Nice job man! I'm teaching an undergraduate class this semester on American history and culture and you explained these fundamentals as well as or better than I could. I think I'll use this as a suggested video for students preparing their research!

[@sammadden5540]

This is probably great for people who aren't/weren't able to do a uni degree

[@Michpo]

Everytime i do this it leads me back to "so some short man according to british propanganda made a war in europe and europe mad"

[@TheMoistestNugget]

19:50 i see you’ve been acquainted with the scale modeling community

[@thesmallcseeker4856]

good vid

[@dylanquinones-mattei2157]

There’s a lot of questions to ask about the author and the intended audience and its all the right. However if you are writing the research paper for the first time or it’s your first few times and you are doing it for an intended audience of being an entertaining, informative piece. I feel as though it’s always best to have someone who is experienced to peer review it. The only problem is having a convenient colleague to actually to that which leads to my question is there is such a community?

[@knightxl380]

Hey man, thanks for making this video. I'm a high school student looking to publish something on the racism against Mexicans and Hispanics during the Mexican-American war. That one site really helps instead of being locked behind the paywall of JSTOR. Wish me the best of luck!

[@TheScourge007]

I did know this all, but I listened to make sure I wouldn't have to leave an angry comment. Which I don't! This is a great introduction! As an added bonus, one way you can generally rapidly tell that someone is about to make a super conservative or racist argument is that they cite secondary sources that are decades old (especially pre-60s/70s). In those cases where a racist pretends to be intellectual and actually gives sources, it's pretty fun to count how many of those secondary sources are 60-100 years old. But also for anyone wanting ideas on the challenge, I can recommend looking into the historiography around the 1st World War. And not just stopping at The Guns of August (or at the Fischer Thesis of course). It's a great area to see lots of debate over methods and sources on an interesting subject!

[@twoboxtoofurious]

Great job! I'll accept your homework challenge and try to read The Origins of Peronism by Murmis-Portantiero.

[@nrein89]

"Horse worship in ancient Rome." ... I was just reading about Epona yesterday. ... *starts up anti-spyware program*

[@therat1117]

Syncretic horse worship no less! Very saucy. (I mean, Epona was a goddess of horse-riders and not a horse, but kinda similar)

[@yurgz90]

Hell yeah thank you for this

[@beangobernador]

Thank you so much! I’m now going to continue to not check my sources’ sources!

[@omegahaxors3306]

I watched, because you are epic win.

[@lilamjazeefa9466]

Also remember: 1) individual peer-reviewinf institutions can themselves have biases which should be checked with reference to other respected institutions, and 2) The LANGUAGE of the text matters, since text in one language may not reflect the scholarly views of authors who publish primarily in another language.

[@pixieskitty]

Esa patadita bajo la mesa sí que se puede ver, señor empanada

[@JohnPaulsonJohnisaStegosaurus]

Great.

[@victortan9086]

Commenting here to help with the KZbin algorithm.

[@eleftheriosepikuridis9110]

Thank you so much for making this! It's incredibly significant considering how dodgy much of the popular discourse on histoy is. I'm looking forward to more history content! :)

[@adm03]

I can't find author John Abituncomfortablyobsessedwithnaziweaponryinparticular. There's a problem with the sourcing.

[@JohnPaulsonJohnisaStegosaurus]

i'd rank this in the top five with my 2021 lefttube award. dense, but so valuable.

[@cedricsankara9809]

Brilliant. Thank you comrade

[@abdot604]

i guess i've found a hidden gem, glade for the comment in GDF that led me here.

[@RedneckCasanova]

In the course of working toward my degree in Political Science/Political Theory and History (in the US) I DID learn these research methods, but it was never explicitly TAUGHT to me as much as it was something I learned from feedback, both negative and positive, from my professors...It worked for me, but it's NOT an ideal basis for teaching something as foundational to scholarship. Research methods and source analysis should start in the EARLIEST years of education...IMHO.

[@simonrodriguez4685]

20:10 Oh John! 🤣🤣

[@eatings]

This video gives me special feelings on the inside. I came out the other side of a history degree and boy does it frustrate the shit out of me to see the poor state of pop-history.

[@firebrand9578]

So would a review of secondary sources be a tertiary source?

[@janithdassanayaka4599]

Oh you are a gem 💎 thank you for this ❤️ does anyone know what the hubs of science thing is 😅?

[@Ottmar555]

There is also library genesis for a lot of academic books.

[@joejoseph6555]

Just commenting to increase engagement

[@joejoseph6555]

And a reply

[@I_Am_Kosh]

@@joejoseph6555 And a reply to said reply.

[@dylanquinones-mattei2157]

Now I get what you were saying about primary sources not being good start with on researching. Skipping the secondary source can lead to misinterpretations because their is missing contexts. This is something not told in depth in my research writing class.

[@MeineAnny]

🇧🇷 the example to research ❤

[@sebastianstahlhofen8106]

Hey, just watched some of your videos on settler colonialism/self-determination and now I really would like to know your opinion on Taiwan as a state. Obviously the revolution was a time of turmoil put I would really be interested in an historical analysis of the founding of Taiwan and what impacts it had on the local population and also if they were in support of the Kuomintang.

[@ewee2568]

His comments on his second channel on the video about China being better than America sum up his feelings on Taiwan. He doesn't like it.

[@TheAsyouwysh]

as a neopagan this was really useful! i find myself often having to filter through academic sources to learn about how my gods were worshipped. i know that isn't your primary audience but holy moley do pagans need to do better research

[@enigma1865]

Most local history does not get peer-reviewed often. Public historians are often put in a hard position to correct previous publications and need to take the deep dive into primary sources not to publish anything but to just get familiar with the time and event.

[@juanmartinzelaya247]

Ok i like this video a lot, but i have a doubt. What if i want to know things about a conflict or an event more generally, do i just type out "Vietnam war" or "israel" and "palestine" and search from there?

[@juanmartinzelaya247]

Like if my curiosity is not so specific but about what happened in general

[@MrThomazSatiro]

A think for an outline of basic facts about a topic the Wikipedia entry is enough

[@Nai-qk4vp]

​@@juanmartinzelaya247A respected textbook could do well.

[@grmrbrts5123]

What do you think of "Bury My Heart and Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown?

[@melere777]

Thank you! I am studying Classics at an online university. I am enjoying it BUT I did find information on using sources to be lacking. I've been interested in doing some deeper dives on topics of interest but I wasn't sure where to get started. This video laid it all out for me and now I can dig in with a bit more confidence.

[@EtanRedKnight]

Google Académico, un clásico. Prácticamente hizo mi memoria de grado por mi xD

[@traposucio2944]

Did he make the follow up video?