There is a general perception that methods courses are not as interesting as upper-division content courses. The author admits that they were among those who believed this. In this essay, the author explains how they used backwards design to structure the "History Research Methods" course and how they scaffolded assignments throughout the semester to prepare students for their mini-capstone paper. The result was a successful, rewarding, and engaged historical research methods course--one that prepared students for their department's capstone course and for their history-oriented careers.