English for History Education
Writing
Text type 1: Historiographical essay
Historiographical essay is an exclusive text type found in History major. You will need to analyse how other historians researched on a same subject. Comparisons are made among different authors based on questions such as:
- What are the general arguments that are repeated in historical literature on the subject?
- What are points of agreement or disagreement?
- If many of the same sources are used by multiple authors, how does the way in which the sources are used differ?
Because of the comparative nature for historiographical essay, a structure from comparative essays will be particularly useful for writing this type of essay:
- Introduction of the texts and issues
- Method
- Author 1
- Author 2
- Assumptions
- Author 1
- Author 2
- Evidence
- Author 1
- Author 2
- Conclusion
When you are writing the essay, transition words that contrast or compare authors' ideas such as "whereas," (as in "Whereas Author A hypothesizes this, Author B argues...") "likewise," "similarly,' "in contrast," "however," "yet," and "although” will be useful. However, don’t overuse these expressions. A good presentation of differences or similarities in authors' arguments will not heavily rely on the use of these expressions. When you are citing resources, Chicago style should be adopted.
Text type 2: Analytical review
Analytical review is a common text type in History major. You are often asked to evaluate one or more works based on several analytical points, such as accuracy, validity and relationships with similar works. The assumption of the review is that your readers should have some basic knowledge about the works being analysed, therefore a summary of the works should not be necessary.
Similar to most of the term paper, an analytical review also contains Introduction, Body and Conclusion as its components. In the Introduction, you should briefly state some background information about the works, such as author’s main point, facts presented or omitted and conclusion made by the author(s). The Body paragraph delves into the argument of the works and their purpose. Then, the audience of the works is identified as well as the ways that the author(s) does or does not fit their works to their audience. The review then evaluates what kinds of sources the author(s) used and how they were used to further the argument. Finally, in the Conclusion you should provide an evaluation of the works which includes both points of critique and points of acclamation.
Chicago style should be used for all in-text citations and the bibliography after your main text.