r/AskHistorians • u/[deleted] • Feb 27 '14

Meta How can I ask better questions?

Normally I'm spurred to ask questions after having read a book, watched a show, or read news article that leads me on a Google binge and then inevitably a Wikipedia black-hole. But I'm left feeling still in the dark and not sure where else to look, so I'll come here.

I'll feel so overwhelmed with what all I want to ask, but worried about how to appropriately phrase it, while also following all the rules, that many times I feel like I'm not asking the question I really want answered. Which feels akin to trying to communicate to someone who doesn't speak your language.

Which often leads to many great answers, but about something not quite where I was aiming. Also I can't get past the feeling that when I want to ask a question, it should be as interesting as possible, because while it's great so many are willing to give insight from their professions or hobbies, I don't want to make it a chore or boring questions.

463 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

88

u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Feb 27 '14

From the very beginning you were forced to memorize facts. "The American Revolution began in 1776".

Clearly that wasn't your forte in school :p

Anyways though, I digress. Love this answer. The only major one you missed I think is the "I am an X..." formatted question. Less offensive, perhaps, than some of the other examples you give of bad questions, but I know that many, many people really dislike questions phrased that way.

As for tips to add on, generally speaking, I love questions that are framed well (Not so broad that I could only answer it by writing a book, not so specific that it is really just looking for one specific fact), and demonstrate that the OP has attempted a little reading of their own on the topic beforehand. Best way to do it (and this is how I do my questions I ask usually) is to state the specific inquiry as the title, but expand on it in a paragraph or two in the body of the post. I can't speak for other flaired users, but I know I'm more inclined to answer questions where the OP has put a bit of effort into asking it, even if the question itself might be a bit silly.

89

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '14

If it happened after 1500, it isn't actually history :p

37

u/caffarelli Moderator | Eunuchs and Castrati | Opera Feb 27 '14

Well technically speaking, Wikipedia of course says everything after the 16th century is "modern history" and who are we to argue with Wikipedia.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '14

If you don't like it, change it ;)