Research Methods check-in

After reading the work of other scholars, I have learned more about ways of structuring a thesis. Although it may seem superficial at first, I never realized there were so many different approaches used to begin a paper. For example, in the article "What We Talk About When We Talk About Food: Using Food to Teach History at the Tenement Museum," Adam Steinberg opens with an abstract, then jumps right into the narrative.(1) There are no subheadings to segment the piece, or otherwise interrupt the narrative work he presents. I believe this was done to preserve the format he wanted to present, but there were also requirements and expectations set by the publication, The Public Historian. Fortunately, we have some flexibility and can tailor the structure to our topic, research methods, and writing style.

For the same publication, Richard Rabinowitz uses an abstract and a preface before presenting the first part of his paper.(2) The abstract is a broad scope of the content, while the preface serves to tell the reader specifically what his goals are. In stating the goals so clearly, one would think the paper would be easier to follow, however, his use of subheadings, sub-subheadings, and sub-sub-subheadings does not have the kind of flow Steinberg's article had. While I have not yet determined the structure for my own paper, I hope to use the best methods from each; I will state my goals clearly and use subheadings judiciously. I can see how it might be easy to use subheadings as a crutch, or a poor substitute for proper transitions. In Rabinowitz case, however, his use of subheadings appears to reflect a step-by-step process (vs. a narrative structure).

In addition to examining the structure of various articles, it also became apparent how important it is to document processes, especially if a paper is project-based like Rabinowitz's article. This will go a long way toward establishing credibility and answering questions a skeptical reader may have before they even ask them.


1. Adam Steinberg, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Food: Using Food to Teach at the Tenement Museum,” The Public Historian (2012): 79.

2. Richard Rabinowitz, "Eavesdropping at the Well: Interpretive Media in the Slavery in New York Exhibition," The Public Historian (2013): 8-9.