Sources provide information, from which we identify evidence for analysis. A conclusion drawn from sound analysis may then stand as proof. In these two sentences, Elizabeth Shown Mills defines the proper use of sources to come to valid conclusions in historical research. Your Stripped Bare Guide, Mrs. Mills’ latest work on citing and using history sources, is an abbreviated distillation of the evidence analysis she outlines in minute detail in her classic work, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Fourth Edition (2024).
Do you love research but hate source citations?
Do you cringe at the word evidence, because the dreaded citation police, somewhere, sometime, said your sources were not good enough?
Do you doubt yourself when you think you have proof—especially when you have to build a case because there’s no one document that cleanly answers your research questions?
If so, this guide is your guide—stripped down to the bare essentials you need to know to do reliable history research. Thirteen guidelines for evidence analysis will help you select reliable sources and evaluate your findings. Thirteen guidelines for documentation will teach you the basic principles for identifying those sources. Then fourteen easy-to-follow templates provide you with patterns for citing any kind of history source, online, from any corner of the globe. Your angst is over!
Elizabeth Shown Mills is a historical writer with decades of research experience in public and private records of many Western nations. Across a half-century, her books, book chapters, and essays on historical topics have been published by six university presses; and her dozens of peer-reviewed articles have appeared in journals within the fields of history, genealogy, sociology, and literature. Her text books and reference works have become classic guides for history researchers. Amid those writings, Mrs. Mills edited a national-level scholarly journal for sixteen years, taught for thirteen years at a National Archives-based institute on archival records and, for twenty-eight years, headed a university-based program in advanced research methodology. Mrs. Mills knows records, loves records, and regularly shares her expertise in using them with live and media audiences around the globe. This latest work, she hopes, will ease your own labors as you explore the past and share your findings with others curious about the people and events that created our present world.
