Tables of Contents as Full-Sentence Outlines

Writers of legal or policy briefs often need to summarize their arguments in a single page in order to reach busy, powerful readers. Tables of contents composed of claims are particularly effective ways to achieve this, since readers intrigued by any claim can turn to the section which develops it more fully.

Even if historians do not format their final writings in this way, they may benefit from writing their outlines as a series of claims, reminding themselves of what they need to achieve in each section. (For more on outlining, see The Princeton Guide to Historical Research, chapter 13.)

Here are two examples of such tables of contents—one from law, the other from public policy.

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History audiobooks, 2021 edition

In 2021, I listened to forty-one audiobooks that covered history, broadly defined. Some of these I had skimmed earlier, but this was my first time reading them straight through. While trade presses still dominate the audio realm, it’s great to see an increasing number of university presses releasing titles.

Publication details come from Google Books. Please let me know if you spot any errors, such as the date of the paperback in place of the original publication date.

Edit, January 5, 2022. Here are links to previous lists:

A History Professor’s Guide to Audible.com, 2013.

A History Professor’s Guide to Audible.com, 2019 edition

History Audiobooks, 2019-2020

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5 Paragraphs in Defense of 5 Paragraphs

Inside Higher Ed has published my essay, “5 Paragraphs in Defense of 5 Paragraphs.” Among the other claims, I write that “five-paragraph essays also serve as building blocks for longer works. Three body paragraphs are enough to get students thinking about how one idea relates to the next, as well as to signal those relationships with appropriate transition words and phrases. Once students have mastered that skill, they are ready to assemble those blocks into larger structures.”

Readers may note that The Princeton Guide to Historical Research has five parts.

It Takes Two: Combining English and History to Team Teach Narrative Writing

My Mason colleague Scott W. Berg and I have an essay in this month’s Journal of American History about our experience planning and co-teaching a course on narrative history writing. “By teaching skills and approaches neglected in other courses, we wanted to empower students to tell those important stories in rewarding new ways.”

Oxford University Press graciously allows me to post a free-access link to a personal website. Just click on the title below.

Scott W. Berg and Zachary M. Schrag, “It Takes Two: Combining English and History to Team Teach Narrative Writing,” Journal of American History 107, no. 4 (March 2021): 968–73.

History Audiobooks, 2019-2020

Inspired by a Twitter exchange, I realized that I have not updated my list of history audiobooks since July 2019. Here are 43 I’ve listened to since then, mostly on Audible.com, some from Scribd or Chirp. It’s especially nice to see more university presses joining the club. Special thanks to Rebecca Tushnet for entering most of these in our LibraryThing account.

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