Clark said Paxson gave students "a sense of participating in his exploration of the past" and of "contact with living men and problems of narrative".
[2] Pomeroy said that Paxson was not given to philosophical speculation, but rather spoke of "techniques and of specific problems and their meaning more than of validity in the abstract".
However, Paxson also insisted on the importance of economic and social history and had himself published on such subjects as the rise of sport and the highway movement.
His major advisor was the historian John Bach McMaster, who encouraged him to read widely and use new sources such as newspapers, in addition to the archival resources in London and Washington needed for diplomatic studies.
Paxson emphasized the impact on people of the process of moving to the west, downplaying the static aspects of specific localities.