這門課的主要目的讓學生熟悉過去在二十世紀裡，在歷史學家們著作中採用的一些研究與論述方法。依我個人（與某些人）之見，書單中大部份的書籍是以社會、經濟與文化歷史中的近代古典或潛在古典為主。我們將研究這些歷史學家如何建構他們的研究對象、如何將原始的史料整理成他們的研究基本素材、他們怎麼樣在議題中建構研究的敘事方式以及論述的分析方法、以及這些不同的研究與論述方法的優缺點。
The purpose of this course is to acquaint you with a variety of approaches to the past used by historians writing in the twentieth century. Most of the books on the list constitute, in my view (and others), modern classics, or potential classics, in social, economic and cultural history. We will examine how historians conceive of their object of study, how they use primary sources as a basis for their accounts, how they structure the narrative and analytic discussion of their topic, and what are the advantages and drawbacks of their various approaches.
