What is a Historiographical Essay?
A historiographical essay:
- Critically examines secondary sources written by historians
- Puts emphasis on the historian, the historian's bias and how the writing of a particular topic has changed over the years
- Examines and compares other historians' arguments in opposition to each other
Historiographical Essays
The purpose of an historiographic essay is threefold:
- To allow you to view an historical event or issue from multiple perspectives by engaging multiple sources;
- To display your mastery over those sources and over the event or issue itself; and
- To develop your critical reading skills as you seek to answer why your sources disagree, and what their disagreement tells you about the event or issue and the very nature of history itself.
Resources
Selected Titles About Historiography
Companion to Historiography
This volume presents an analysis of the moods and trends in historical writing throughout its phases of development, and explores the assumptions and procedures that have formed the creation of historical perspectives. Contributed by a panel of academics, each essay aims to convey an international, wide-angled view of the ideas, traditions and institutions that lie behind the contemporary urgency of world history. The thematic structure of the text enables each topic to be read selectively or sequentially.
Call Number: D13 .C626 1997ISBN: 0415030846
New Perspectives on Historical Writing
Since its first publication in 1992, New Perspectives on Historical Writing has become a key reference work used by students and researchers interested in the most important developments in the methodology and practice of history. For this new edition, the book has been thoroughly revised and updated and includes an entirely new chapter on environmental history. Peter Burke is joined here by a distinguished group of internationally renowned historians, including Robert Darnton, Ivan Gaskell, Richard Grove, Giovanni Levi, Roy Porter, Gwyn Prins, Joan Scott, Jim Sharpe, Richard Tuck, and Henk Wesseling. The contributions examine a wide range of interdisciplinary areas of historical research, including women’s history, history "from below," the history of reading, oral history, the history of the body, microhistory, the history of events, the history of images, and political history.
Call Number: D13.N45 1992ISBN: 0271008342
Modern Historiography by
An introduction to the history of historical writing. The text explains the broad philosophical background to the different historians and historical schools of the modern era. In an overview of modern historiography, the book includes surveys on: the Enlightenment and counter Enlightenment; romanticism; the voice of science and the process of secularization within Western intellectual thought; the influence of, and broadening contact with, the New World; the Annales school in France; and the effects of the repression and exile of the inter-war years and the Post-War moods.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780415202671
Evaluating Secondary Sources
- What information is given about the author? Is the author an historian?
- Can you identify the historian's school of thought?
- Read the table of contents, preface and other introductry material. Does the author set up his/her thesis (or point of view) in these sections? Who is the intended audience? Is it written for historians or for a general audience?
- What is the date of publication? If the book or article is old, it will not highlight recent scholarship. Is this important? Is it a reflection of the histories of the time or does it deviate from the norm?
- What primary source material does the author use? What primary source material may have been available to the author at the time?
- Consider the bibliography. Do the sources listed indicate serious works that are relevant to your topic? You may want to consult works used by the author.
Acknowledgement
All materials from: Historiography: Ramapo College, https://libguides.ramapo.edu/HIST201rice