{"id":9555,"date":"2019-12-09T17:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T01:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/?p=9555"},"modified":"2019-10-25T09:12:40","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T16:12:40","slug":"how-to-write-a-historiographical-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/how-to-write-a-historiographical-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Historiographical Essay … When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a bright, sunny summer day, and you and your friend decide to walk to the beach. You cut through a park and encounter a woman walking a German Shepherd dog.<\/p>\n

When you meet up with your group at the beach, your friend tells a story of how you were almost attacked by a vicious dog, how the woman could barely hold the German Shepherd back, and how you were thankful that you escaped with your lives.<\/p>\n

You stare at him, puzzled. That\u2019s not at all <\/i>how you saw it. You\u2019re sure that his version of the story is colored by his deathly fear of dogs, but an attack<\/i>? Really?<\/p>\n

You call out your friend and tell the others that a woman was, in fact, walking a German Shepherd in the park. The dog did, in fact, bark at you, but she pulled him back. Then, after two barks, the dog stopped, and all of you continued on your way. This was nothing even close<\/i> to an attack, and there was no reason to be in fear of anything<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This type of scenario, in which people view the same event differently, is at the heart of a historiographical essay as it examines how a subject or event is viewed differently by historians.<\/p>\n

Looking for a little more clarification or feel like you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing when it comes to this type of essay? Keep reading to learn how to write a historiographical essay.<\/p>\n

What Is a Historiographical Essay?<\/h2>\n

This type of essay is all about employing historiography, or the the study of how history has been written about. In the essay, you analyze a topic or subject in history to examine how it is discussed or argued by various authors.<\/p>\n

The historiographical essay is not <\/i>like the elementary school report in which you review a few sources and write everything you know about a topic like the Civil War or Christopher Columbus.<\/p>\n

The historiographical essay is also not <\/i>a comparison and contrast essay<\/a> in which you only <\/i>compare differing opinions.<\/p>\n

Instead, the goal <\/b>of the essay is to analyze<\/i><\/a> the differences in how a historical topic or subject is treated and to discuss possible reasons for such differences (including the impact of such opinions).<\/p>\n

An example to help define a historiographical essay<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s look at Christopher Columbus as an example.<\/p>\n

Anyone writing about Christopher Columbus today obviously wasn\u2019t alive during the 1400s when Columbus landed in the Americas. This means that historians must examine available information to draw conclusions about what occurred during this time period.<\/p>\n

What happens, though, when historians reach different conclusions based on their respective research?<\/p>\n

Historian A, for instance, might see Columbus as a heroic explorer, arguing that his journey to the Americas was difficult and harrowing and that he changed life forever by connecting the world.<\/p>\n

Historians B and C, on the other hand, see Columbus as a brutal savage who enslaved indigenous people.<\/p>\n

These differing conclusions between historians would become the core of your historiographical essay about Christopher Columbus.<\/p>\n

In looking at the impact of the opinions about Columbus, you could consider what students have been taught about him.<\/p>\n

Because Christopher Columbus was, for the most part, praised for \u201cdiscovering\u201d America, he was honored as a great explorer. His accomplishments were taught to almost every child in public schools, and he was even honored with a national holiday.<\/p>\n

In recent years, however, historians\u2019 views of Columbus have changed. Those changes have altered not only how his legacy is taught to children but, in some cases, have even resulted in renaming Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.<\/p>\n

In this case, it\u2019s clear that historians\u2019 views can impact entire generations as those views change what is taught to children and what society knows and believes about Columbus.<\/p>\n

Okay, now that you have a better understanding of what a historiographical essay is<\/i>, let\u2019s get to the \u201chow to\u201d of writing this essay.<\/p>\n

How to Write a Historiographical Essay<\/h2>\n

Follow these five steps to turn your ideas into a finished historiographical essay.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Find (and narrow) a historical topic<\/h3>\n

If you haven\u2019t already been assigned<\/a> a topic, you\u2019ll need to choose something to write about.<\/p>\n

Remember, don\u2019t choose something extremely broad like The Great Depression as your essay topic. While this works well as the general focus for your paper, you\u2019ll want to narrow your discussion<\/a>. You might, for example, focus on one or more causes or effects<\/a> of the Depression and, of course, historians\u2019 varying views on the events.<\/p>\n

Need help with generating topic ideas? We\u2019ve got you covered. Check out these posts for inspiration:<\/p>\n