Studying History.

This is how I've been finding out I study history effectively -

1) Know how to identify what's descriptive language, and what's evaluative, and then how to describe accurately and how to think about what sources to look at to question the story being presented...

2) Identify key narrative arcs and the events/people/dates that tie them together, e.g. Muslims entered the Spanish peninsula in 711/712 and Charles Martel is important since he represents turning them back in 732, and he also represents the ascension of the Carolingian line, which culminates with Charlemagne being crowned emperor in 800.

3a) Go into in-depth historical studies only you have the basic outlines firmed up, and always think about how they question/modify/confirm/retool the big narrative arcs.

3b) When you read primary texts from a period, always ask, "What is the greater historical context and how do I see it surface in this text?". So many times, texts can be 'a peg to hang a fact on', e.g. the Benedictine Rule can show you what kind of stuff monks would read and why they read it in their mention of worthwhile books; and, anyhow, when you go on to teach a primary text in class, that's the one thing you have to always bring up, context context context, as you try to help students figure out the thoughtworld of the text.