This is a question which is best answered by negative as well as positive examples, and there are several types of poor question in this sub. An incomplete list (ie. my pet peeves) would certainly include:

• Anything involving Hitler.

• Homework questions. If the question title is shockingly specific and sounds like something from an AP exam - "How did Lincoln's assassination change Reconstruction?" - it's probably going to be ignored, particularly if it comes with no further discussion by the OP.

• /r/atheism bait. "Did Jesus actually exist?" "Has anything good ever come from religion?" etc. This can be generally expanded to any sort of leading question. The idea that one of my responses will probably be used out of context to defend some point I won't agree with in another sub gives me a squicky feeling.

• Questions that ask why something didn't happen. An example of this, and my own reply, can be found here. These are almost universally unanswerable.

• Questions which seek facts.

This last one requires a bit of explanation, and provides a great segue out of negativity land.

Your primary and secondary education probably taught you that history is about facts, and from the very beginning you were forced to memorize facts. "The American Revolution began in 1776," things like that. Dates, information. Everything you learned provided a simple, neat answer in factual form, with little ambiguity.

This is not history. Facts are the building blocks of history, its skeleton, but they do not give it life or purpose, because the practice of history is the practice of understanding someone who is not you. It is is an act of sympathy, of apology in the most fundamental and original meaning of both words. Correctly done, it is the full and unbiased understanding of the people of the past as they were and as they saw themselves. We are, to borrow the brilliant phrase of a terrible bigot, speakers for the dead, and our essential purpose is to cultivate a mental approach to those who are not ourselves which seeks to understand, rather than to categorize and judge.

This is not the natural state of the human mind. To quote the late, great David Foster Wallace:

Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute centre of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real.

The promotion and indoctrination in a historical mode of thought is thus the indoctrination in a way of approaching the world that attempts to separate us from that basic impulse to understand the world based on our own preconceptions. Teaching this is what historians do. All that stuff with dates is just a side hobby.

So, coming back to an answer: a good question is one which seeks understanding. They are ones which provoke complex answers which increase the understanding of what it means to be human. They seek answers, not facts.

That seems like a tall order, and it is. The ability to ask good historical questions is one which requires substantial training, and that is training most schools do not provide. All is not lost, however. We're quite good here at shaping and responding to questions asked by people who are not experts. If you give us some material, we can work with it. Some tips for this include:

• Ask about things which seem to be contradictory, ideas that people held simultaneously that seemed to be opposed to each other.

• Ask about processes, not events.

• Don't ask a question to which you want a specific answer which reaffirms your worldview (see: atheism bait, above).

• Frame your questions positively.

• Always be open to feedback, refine your questions based on the answers you receive. Don't be discouraged by upvotes - that's not what we're here for.

Good luck!

/u/telkanuru gave a very comprehensive answer that I can't add much to. On a minor note, though, it helps me when people asking questions give context for why they're asking a particular question. Mentioning the book, movie, or news article that inspired you to ask a question allows us to tailor our responses more specifically for you. We can better understand where you want to go with a question if we know where you're coming from.

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.

Just want to say, if you ever need help forming your question, or if you're not sure if it's within the rules, please message the mods we can help tweak questions to make them better!

Which often leads to many great answers, but about something not quite where I was aiming.

You can always ask follow-up questions to clarify what it is you want to know.

This isn't related to asking questions here but can help you with your google binge: try using google scholar. You can find a wealth of free information that way. Also, if you are in any type of school (whether it be high school or university) your school most likely subscribes to a series on journals and periodicals and may have a way for you to access the periodicals and journals from your home computer. Doing research through peer reviewed journals is going to be one of the best ways to find information.

Also, knowing how to use google (and the search functions for the journals and periodicals) is very important. Use key word searches and be willing to try related words/topics instead of just sticking to a specific phrase or word. Here are some sources to help refine your search skills.

http://google.about.com/od/searchingtheweb/ss/useefectivesbs.htm

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en

I am not a historian in any meaningful sense, but I love this sub. However, I always skip posts that are written in the first person, like "I'm a X in the Y era. How do I wipe my Z?"

I have a colleague who is fantastic at getting to solid questions.

It would seem that one of the most useful things is to discuss things around, but not specifically about what you want to ask first. If you have anyone whose opinions you generally respect, they will be an excellent sounding board to distill your thoughts.

Once you have discussed a few aspects of the broader topic that your show or book went into, you will almost certainly have a clearer idea of something fairly specific you want to look further into.

Of course, this does require some face-to-face before coming here, but it almost never fails to get you somewhere useful.

Use the text field and expand on your question or ask more questions. I know it says "text (optional)", but if you want to receive a good answer you will need to provide more than just a question in the title.

You're lucky. Whenever I've asked sincere questions almost anywhere on Reddit, I'm either downvoted or just ignored.

But personal agenda aside, which is admittedly hard to do... I really enjoy the "I am a..." questions. I click those- and read the answers- a lot more than others. I've never answered anything but do a decent amount of reading, and I'm much more likely to read those even if it's not a subject I'm familiar with or particularly care about, as compared to one framed as a regular old question.