By Elizabeth Burke '17
Siena History Professor Wendy Pojmann, Ph.D., Department Chair Karen Ward Mahar, Ph.D., and former Associate Professor Barbara Reeves-Ellington, Ph.D., published their textbook Doing History: An Introduction to the Historian’s Craft, through Oxford University Press. The textbook is aimed at preparing students for a Capstone course, and includes workbook activities that allow students to properly locate primary sources in the library, properly citing sources, and more.
The three professors dedicated the book to their students; it is currently being read by students taking the Capstone seminar and completing the history Capstone here at Siena.
“I was thinking about how I teach, I always felt that there was something missing that I can fill in,” said Pojmann, lead author of the text.
Although Pojmann is no stranger to publishing, she felt that a textbook required more information than what she could provide. For three years, Pojmann, Mahar, and Reeves-Ellington collaborated their experiences into a single textbook.
The Siena professors worked closely with the publisher, Oxford University Press to develop their book to fit all colleges and universities. While book proposals typically have two to three reviewers, Oxford had a dozen reviewers, and approximately twenty readers throughout the publishing process.
The authors believe that through the completion of the Capstone, students are adequately prepared for life outside of college classroom. They have had students use their Capstone coursework to get into graduate school, apply for jobs and they note that it has specifically helped students in the education program. The textbook even contains student samples, including former Siena graduate Francis Butler ’15.
“It was a fun and a great experience. We are excited to use the book in the classroom and we hope that other colleges will find it useful,” said Pojmann.
With the newly published textbook, Pojmann has already thought about creating a sequel. If she were to publish another textbook, she would like it to include more student samples.
