Most students believe that history is dull and boring. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. You can enjoy learning and studying history by changing your attitude towards the subject.
After all, there’s more we can learn from the past that can inform our present decisions. A Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, once said that if we don’t learn from history, we’re bound to repeat the same mistakes.
History is a crucial subject, and students should give much thought to it. Apart from providing life lessons from the past, it forms the basis through which students can prepare for their career life in the long run.
Even so, to get the most out of your history studies, effective study habits should apply. Read along to learn about some strategies and techniques that should advise your history studying habits.
As earlier stated, history is not among the subject that most students enjoy studying. It is even worse when you have a wrong teacher and don’t know some practical study tips to apply. To that end, here are some effective techniques and resources you should consider when studying history:
If you didn’t know, the chronology of events is critical when studying history. You should keep this mind when taking your notes.
Since history involves a lot of events and details, it is not possible to memorize all that information. You can study and learn history quickly by establishing a connection between facts. Try and have a broader picture of the events. Whether you’re in class, when reading a textbook, or watching a movie, try to see how these events and details relate with the big picture.
This way, you can see how important they’re to what is happening and how they relate to the sequence of events.
you can also rely on online tools and resources to increase your history knowledge. To start with, you can engage in an online multiple-choice test. Online multiple tests offer an excellent way to go through your facts to ensure you don’t forget events, people, dates, as well as other vital details.
You can also use online tools and resources to get answers to your history questions. For instance, you can get history homework help at Homework Market by connecting with online tutors and tutorials. Just like any other subject, homework plays a vital role in your history success.
However, ensure to do in-depth research to ensure you choose legitimate online tools and resources.
Apart from using online tools and developing ideas, you’ll also need to read history textbooks extensively. After all, a lot of historical information is in written texts.
However, to get the most out of your reading, you need to learn how to extract the available knowledge in the most efficient way. Since not all words in a history textbook are essential, the key is to know how to obtain a lot of information by reading a small part of the text.
Consider giving much thought on the title of the book as well as the titles and the subheadings. Also, go through the introduction and the conclusion of each chapter before delving into the details.
This way, you can get a clear overview of what the textbook is all about to decide whether it is worth your time.
As surprising as it may seem, movies are an excellent resource for studying history. Many movies provide crucial information about historical events. The best part is that these movies are not just educational but entertaining as well.
However, before you settle for a movie to watch, ensure it contains facts about the historical events or topics you’re studying. This way, you won’t waste your valuable time with something of no value to you or the subject at hand.
While your main goal should be to grab the critical information within a context, memorization tools such as flashcards come in handy to help memorize crucial details. Apart from using flashcards to remember essential information, you can use them to test your retention abilities as well.
Attending classes and listening to your professor is an excellent way to hone your history skills. To get the most out your classes, ensure to jot down the critical points during the lesson, including:
The event’s name
Date
Location
Key characters
Turning points
Etc.
These are some of the techniques you can use when studying history. Among other things, they will make your studying more enjoyable and enable you to retain more information.