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Write a Historiography

What is historiography, what is the purpose of a historiography paper, what are the different branches of history, what are the parts of a historiography paper.

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Historiography means “the writing of history.” In a research paper, the writer asks questions about the past, analyzes primary sources, and presents an argument about historical events, people, or societies. In a historiography paper, the author critiques, evaluates, and summarizes how historians have approached, discussed, and debated certain topics over time. 

Scholars who work with the same historical records and archival materials can often come away from their research with vastly different opinions about why things happened the way they did. In some cases, historians who study the same sources are not even interested in the same topics or people! This variety of approaches is precisely why we write historiographies.  

Historians arrive at such different conclusions for many reasons. One is that historians are individuals with unique experiences, and our experiences and identities often affect how we approach our work. Historians are also influenced by social, cultural, political, and technological events in their lifetimes. For example, the introduction of computers allowed historians to use more quantitative data in their research, while social and political developments (e.g., civil, gay, and women’s rights movements) continue to influence the kinds of questions historians ask about historical subjects. 

In a historiographical paper, the author (that’s you!) examines the sources, theories, and assumptions that historians have used to conduct their research. Your job is then to explain why and how the history of a particular subject has been written the way it has.  

Writing historiography is a lot like writing a literature review . For this reason, many of the links and resources in this LibGuide will direct you towards existing Library resources for writing literature reviews.

Historiography assignments typically have two goals:  

• They encourage you to explore secondary studies and familiarize yourself with scholarly debates within the history of a given topic.  
• how historians have treated a topic in the past,  
• how they have used novel approaches and methodologies to ask new questions, and 
• how other disciplines like anthropology, sociology, literary critique, and psychology have influenced the work of historians.  

Your instructor might leave the approach up to you or they might encourage you to write a specific kind of historiography. For example, your paper might:  

• analyze how contemporary or near-contemporary historians interpreted or explained past events as or just after they occurred,  
• review how historians have approached a specific topic over time and explain why their methods and assumptions have produced different or similar arguments, or 
• compare how historians from different “schools” of thought have treated the same topic.  

Depending on the nature of your paper and argument, you might end up combining some of these approaches, for example, by dividing your paper chronologically and discussing the branches of history that were popular during each period.  

There are many fields and subfields within history, each with its own theoretical assumptions and methodological trends, but this list of the most common ones will help you get started: 

• Art history  
• Cultural history  
• Diplomatic history  
• Economic history  
• Environmental history  
• History of science  
• Intellectual history  
• Political history  
• Social history 
• Women’s and gender history 

Like most history papers, the historiography follows a traditional essay structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The major difference is that the analysis focuses on the secondary sources, as opposed to the primary sources.  

What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?

Primary sources are the sources created by or about our historical subjects, during or slightly after the period we study. They can be firsthand accounts of historical events (newspapers, chronicles, diaries, letters, memoirs, or court documents) or sources that were produced during or just after the period we study (books, songs, films, art, or artifacts). The most important distinction is that most of these sources do not contain any big-picture analysis of the past: they are sources or materials that get us as close to our subjects as possible, to help us understand how they thought, believed, and lived.  

Secondary sources are the texts that contain research produced by historians who have analyzed primary sources to learn more about the past. To help the reader understand their arguments, the authors of historical studies interpret, analyze, and synthesize information from primary sources and the research of other historians. Peer-reviewed articles, books, and conference papers are all considered secondary sources.  

Introduction

• To explain the focus and show the importance of the subject.  
• provide the framework, selection criteria, or parameters of your historiography.  
• provide brief background context for the topic being discussed.   
• outline what kind of work has been done on the topic.  
• briefly point out any controversies within the field or any recent research that has raised questions about earlier assumptions, if they are relevant to your paper.  
• In a stand-alone historiography paper, the thesis statement will sum up and evaluate the current state of research on this topic.  
• In a historiography paper that introduces or is preparatory to an argumentative history paper or graduate thesis, the thesis statement will situate your original research within the existing historiographical debates and help to justify your work by proving what is new or interesting about your chosen approach.  
• To summarize and evaluate the current state of historical knowledge about this subject.  
• To note major themes or topics, the most important trends, and any findings on which researchers agree or disagree.  
• Can be divided by subheadings, but this is usually not necessary in papers shorter than 2,000 words.  
• For example, a historiography section in a dissertation on memories of the Second World War might discuss how commemoration has been studied in the context of the First World War and the American Civil War, as well as broader cultures of commemoration in Britain, Canada, Australia, and the US.  
• To summarize the evidence presented and show its significance.  
• Rather than restating your thesis or purpose statement, explain what your historiographical overview tells you about the current state of the field.  
• If the historiography is an introduction to your own research, the conclusion highlights gaps and shows how earlier research has led to your own research project and chosen methodology.   
• If the historiography is a stand-alone assignment for a course, the conclusion should summarize your findings and discuss implications and possibilities for future research.  

In most history courses at the University of Guelph, you will use Chicago Manual of Style’s notes and bibliography reference style (footnotes). Follow the guidelines to format citations (footnotes) and create a reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper.  

To get started with basic Chicago style, see the library’s quick guide on how to  Cite Your Sources: Chicago Notes & Bibliography . 

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Historical Methods & Theory

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What is a Historiographical Essay?

Historiographical essays, evaluating secondary sources, acknowledgement.

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A historiographical essay:

• Is based on a broad, less focused topic or theme, e.g., Reconstruction in the United States)
• 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

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.

Selected Titles About Historiography

• 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. 

All materials from: Historiography: Ramapo College,   https://libguides.ramapo.edu/HIST201rice

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Example Essays

The examples and websites on this page can get you started in conceptualizing your final product and getting started. Continue to the next tabs on the left side for step by step processes and strategies. 

• Historiographical essay examples This historian's blog links to a few JSTOR examples of historiography essays.
• Writing on History: Example Essays This CUNY webpage includes a definition of historiographic writing as well as examples.
• University of Toronto LibGuide: Examples of historiographic essays This LibGuide has curated some additional examples of essays on historiographic topics.

Websites for Guidance

• University of Toronto: Historiography LibGuide Librarians at the University of Toronto have designed a LibGuide to explain researching a historiography. NOTE: You will not have access to the databases on their site. Use the Pace links on this LibGuide.
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Types of Writing Assignments

• Narrative History
• Response Papers
• Creative Approaches
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Book Reviews

Historiographic Essays

• Research Papers

Basic Considerations When Writing on History

• Cause and Effect
• Establishing a Broader Context
• Common Fallacies

Types of Sources

• Secondary Sources
• Primary Sources
• Fiction/Art/Poetry
• The Internet

Critical Reading

• Historiography
• Bias/Prejudice
• Evaluating Contradictory Data and Claims

Preparation and Writing

• Time Management
• Note-Taking Tips
• Developing a Thesis
• Organization
• Formulating a Conclusion

Basic Quoting Skills

• Quotation/Annotation
• Bibliographies
• Advanced Quoting Skills
• The Ethics of Quoting

Style and Editing

• Drafts and Revisions
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What is historiography?

Parts of a historiographic essay, a sample historiographic essay, works cited.

In a nutshell, historiography is the history of history. Rather than subjecting actual events - say, the Rape of Nanking - to historical analysis, the subject of historiography is the history of the history of the event: the way it has been written, the sometimes conflicting objectives pursued by those writing on it over time, and the way in which such factors shape our understanding of the actual event at stake, and of the nature of history itself.

A historiographic essay thus asks you to explore several sometimes contradictory sources on one event. An annotated bibliography might come in handy as you attempt to locate such sources; you should also consult the footnotes and bibliographies of any text you read on a certain event, as they will lead you to other texts on the same event; if your research is web-based, follow links - always bearing in mind the pitfalls of the Internet - and if you are researching in the library, check out the books on nearby shelves: you'll be surprised by how often this yields sources you may otherwise never have found.

For an example of an essay on multiple perspectives on the same event (for our purposes, the Rape of Nanking, an event also examined in the context of Book Reviews ), click here .

The purpose of an historiographic essay is threefold: 1.) to allow you to view an historical event or issue from multiple perspectives by engaging multiple sources; 2.) to display your mastery over those sources and over the event or issue itself; and 3.) 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.

Specific skills honed by such an exercise include your ability to discern bias or prejudice and to evaluate contradictory data and claims . As you will have to quote from your sources in order to make your point, you will also have to display basic quoting skills . The very nature of an essay on multiple sources also requires a Works Cited page, of course, on which, see Bibliography .

You will begin a historiographic essay with a thesis that presents the issue or event at stake, then introduces your sources and articulates, in brief, their authors' perspectives and their main points of (dis)agreement. In the main body of your paper you will elaborate upon and develop this latter point, pulling out specific points of (dis)agreement, juxtaposing quotes (and/or paraphrasing arguments) and subjecting them to analysis as you go along. As you do so, ask (and answer) why you think the authors of your various sources disagree. Is their disagreement a product of personal or professional rivalry, ideological incompatibility, national affiliation? These questions go to the heart of historiography. In your conclusion , finally, you will briefly summarize your findings and, more importantly, assess the credibility of your various sources, and specify which one(s) you find to be most compelling, and why. In final conclusion you might articulate in brief the insights you have gained into the event or issue at stake, the sources you have used, and the nature of history itself.

Let us assume that the subject of your historiographic essay is the Rape of Nanking, an event discussed in some detail in the Book Reviews section. There, we examine the event as it is described and analyzed by Iris Chang in her bestselling book The Rape of Nanking . To this we now add several other sources, all of which are listed in the Works Cited section at the end of this page , and cited in the text immediately following, which exemplifies, in brief, some of the basic strategies of a historiographic essay.

• THESIS: The so-called Rape of Nanking of 1937, a six-week massacre of Chinese civilians in the city of Nanking perpetrated by the invading Japanese army, was presented to a largely uninitiated American mass audience by Iris Chang in her best-selling book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997). Chang's vivid book spawned international interest and a number of responses from fellow historians worldwide. Western historians generally agreed with Chang's insistence that the event - long a mere footnote in the popular historiography of World War II - deserved larger notice, but some criticized her for displaying personal bias as well as historical inaccuracies and methodological weaknesses of various sorts. The response from a number of Japanese scholars was overwhelmingly negative. They denied her account of a post-war Japanese "cover up," yet at the same time also, to varying degrees, denied that the event had even occurred.
• EXAMPLE (1): Tanaka Masaaki, for example, author of the website "What Really Happened at Nanking: The Refutation of a Common Myth," refers to Chang's work as one of "lies, hyperbole, propaganda." Chang's "mountains of dead bodies," according to Matsaaki, were mountains "that no one saw." Her "Reports of mass murders of prisoners of War [were] fabricated," he claims, offering as evidence that there was "no mention of the 'Nanking Massacre'" - a term he pointedly places in quotation marks - "in Chinese Communist Party Records"; and that "No protests against the 'Nanking Massacre' [was] submitted to the League of Nations [or] ... by the United States, Great Britian, or France." The event, he concludes - if there even was one - was "a massacre with no witnesses" (Masaaki).

ANALYSIS: Much of Masaaki's criticism smacks of precisely the kind of revisionism Chang critiques in her book, and is easily exposed as such. The fact that Chinese communist party records make no mention of the event, for example, is hardly surprising, as the Chinese communists were at this time in disarray, operating largely underground in the Nanking area. Not until 1949 did the communists begin their rule over China and begin keeping official records: why then should we expect there to exist records dating back to 1937? Nor should the silence of the League of Nations, the United States, Great Britain and France come as any surprise. In the same year that France and Britain stood by as Nazi Germany re-militarized the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles; and that the United States and the League of Nation stood by as Franco and Mussolini continued in their campaigns against the rightful governments of Spain and Ethiopia, why would we expect the United States or the League of Nations to have registered any protest over events halfway around the world?

• EXAMPLE (2): Other arguments by Masaaki are more compelling. For example, he notes of one of the many disturbing photographs in Chang's book - a famous one, apparently showing a Chinese prisoner of war about to be beheaded by a Japanese officer brandishing a sword - that its "fakery is easy to detect if you look at the shadow cast by the man at the center [the officer] and that cast by [a lower-ranking] soldier to his right. [The shadows] are facing in different directions" (Masaaki). The photograph does indeed seem to be a composite, and while stopping short of supporting Masaaki's claim that "not a single one of [Chang's photographs] bears witness to a 'Nanking Massacre'," even American historian Robert Entenmann concedes that several of the photos in Chang's book are indeed "fakes, forgeries and composites," including one (also singled out by Masaaki) "of a row of severed heads," which, according to Entenmann, in fact depicts "bandits executed by Chinese police in 1930 rather than victims of the Nanking Massacre" (Masaaki, Entenmann).

COUNTER-ARGUMENT: Faked though some of Chang's twelve pages of photos might be - perhaps even all of them, as Masaaki suggests - the fact that there exist literally hundreds of photographs of the Nanking Massacre, many of them "souvenir photos" taken by Japanese soldiers themselves, strains the credibility of his larger point and even more so the point made by his stridently anti-Chang colleagues Takemoto Tadao and Ohara Yasuo. In their The Alleged 'Nanking Massacre': Japan's Rebuttal to China's Forged Claims , these writers state that "none of these photos are dated, and the names of places and photographers are not stated. In other words, there exist [no] photos that are rigidly authentic, and definitely, these photos can not be used as evidence of [the] 'Nanking Massacre'" (Tadao and Yasuo 101). In fact, several hundred photographs have been published in one volume - The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs , by Shi Young and James Yin, many of them showing female rape victims with legs spread and genitalia exposed - graphic photographs it is hard to conceive of as staged. Such pictures, while not settling the matter beyond dispute, offer powerful testimony that speaks for itself.

• EXAMPLE (3): Notwithstanding the many graphic photographs that exist, it is precisely the accusation of widespread rape - most likely because of its abhorrent nature - that Chang's Japanese critics wish to deny. "The number of 'cases of rape' [the Chinese] claim is from 20,000 to 80,000 cases," Tadao and Yasuo note. "Suppose we took this number, there should have been from 500 to 2,000 cases of rapes...daily [during the six week period of the Massacre]. This number is absolutely not trustworthy," they conclude, citing instead the number of only 361 official complaints of rape actually registered during this period (130). Of course, they are parsing numbers here. The fact is, whether there were three hundred rapes, thirty thousand, more, or less, rape perpetrated by an occupying force against a civilian population (and that such was the case is amply documented in Chang and virtually all extant sources on Nanking, including the Japanese sources, although they, of course, acknowledge only 361) is a crime of war. But that it is an individual crime of war, rather than a collective, government-sponsored crime against humanity (such as the Holocaust) is precisely the point for the Japanese historians: "[Holocaust] killings were indeed ... 'crimes against humanity', [but] those crimes are fundamentally different from the 'war crimes' which the Japanese troops are said to have committed. ... Those acts of crimes [were] the responsibility of each individual soldier" (136, 130). Following this line of reasoning, the Japanese government is absolved of any blame for the rapes that did occur in Nanking, the exact number of which remains unknown. (On this issue, see Evaluating Contradictory Data and Claims ).
• EXAMPLE (4): More trenchant criticism of Chang than that offered by Japanese historians comes from the American academy. Robert Entenmann, for example, a China expert and senior faculty member in the History department at St. Olaf College, faults Chang on the very premise of her book. He denies that there is a conspiracy of silence surrounding Nanking in Japan; maintains (in contradiction to Chang's claims) that Japanese textbooks do address the event (it is rather quaintly referred to as an "incident" in Japanese historiography, if at all, rather than a massacre, far less a rape); states that those textbooks that do mention it offer fatality rates listed between 150,000 to 300,000 (the Western consensus is around 250,000; Chang claims 300,000); and that 80% of respondents to a 1994 opinion poll in Japan found "that their government had not adequately compensated victimized peoples in countries Japan had colonized or invaded" (Entenmann). On this last count, it is worth noting that the specific wording of the question does not appear to address Nanking explicitly, and that the opinion poll's finding thus bears little relevance to the question at hand. We might also be skeptical of Entenmann's generous appraisal of Japanese textbooks: on its role in World War II, Japan's high school textbooks in particular are subject to constant revision, much of it aimed at mitigating the government's role in wartime atrocities, as a 2007 New York Times article reminds us (Onishi 12).
• EXAMPLE (5): Entenmann's more fundamental criticism of Chang's work and perspective, however, goes deeper. As the granddaughter of former Nanking residents who barely escaped the city, she is guilty, he writes, of having fallen victim to "her own ethnic prejudice. ... Her explanations are, to a large extent, based on unexamined [anti-Japanese] ethnic stereotypes." Furthermore, she engages in "implausible speculations," according to Entenmann, for example, her claim that Emperor Hirohito himself exulted in the news of the Rape of Nanking (see Chang 179). In fact, Entenmann points out, Hirohito's response is unknown, and Chang may be guilty here of "confus[ing] Japanese leaders' delight in the fall of the Chinese capital with exulting in the massacre that occurred afterward" (Entenmann).

ANALYSIS: Such sleights of hand (which Entenmann himself indulges in, as his opinion poll example above shows) are perhaps conscious on Chang's part, or perhaps a function of her not being a professional historian and therefore applying a less-than-rigorous methodology in her efforts to tell a good story. She is after all, a popular (rather than an academic) historian, whom another bestselling historian, Stephen Ambrose, whose scholarship has also been faulted on several counts, once called "the best young historian we've got because she understands that to communicate history, you've got to tell the story in an interesting way" (Ambrose qtd. in Sullivan B6).

• CONCLUSION: It is this zeal to tell a good story and back it up with sensational evidence (even if - like some of her photographs - it is faked), as well as her occasionally emotional prose, sometimes bordering on hyperbole, that remains Chang's greatest liability. In an effort to place the Rape of Nanking into historical context, for example, she states that "[u]sing numbers killed alone" it "surpasses much of the worst barbarism of the ages." Its casualties exceeded those of the Carthaginians at the hands of the Romans, the victims of the Spanish Inquisition, and those of the Mongolian leader Timur Lenk, she writes in a series of specious comparisons that culminate with the observation that "the deaths at Nanking far exceeded the deaths from the American raids on Tokyo ... and even the combined death toll of the two atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki" (Chang 6). In The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography , an anthology generally sympathetic to Chang's project (if not to her methodology), George Washington University history and international affairs professor Daqing Yang, himself a native of Nanking, notes that "such a comparison [as Chang's] is methodologically sterile" and "morally misguided" (Yang 161). Indeed, it is precisely the sort of parsing of numbers for which Chang herself would most likely challenge the above-mentioned Japanese historians in their effort to deny the extent to which rape occurred at Nanking. Despite these failings, Chang's book ultimately emerges as a more persuasive argument of what did in fact happen at Nanking than those offered by her Japanese detractors. The enduring controversy surrounding the event, however, and the specific criticism against Chang from even those who support her premise, point both to the endlessly debatable nature of history, and to the need for a more rigorous, analytical approach in its telling. As Joshua Fogel notes in his introduction to The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography , "The Massacre and related events must be lifted beyond the popular level ... to be studied with greater nuance and with a wider range of sources" (Fogel 1). In such a project, the contradictory data and claims of Chang and her critics need not necessarily be mutually exclusive but, instead, might help establish a broader context within which the event can be understood more fully, from all sides.
• Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (New York: BasicBooks, 1997).
• Entenmann, Robert. "Review of Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II." October 29, 1998. H-Net List for Asian History and Culture , 1998. Accessed July 1, 2007. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55/481.html .
• Yang, Daqin. "The Challenges of the Nanjing Massacre: Refections on Historical Inquiry." The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography. Ed. Joshua Fogel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 133 - 180.
• Masaaki, Tanaka. "What Really Happened in Nanking: The Refutation of a Common Myth." N.d. Accessed July 1, 2007. http://www.ne.jp/asahi/unko/tamezou/nankin/whatreally/index.html .
• Onishi, Norimitsu. "Japan's Textbooks Reflect Revised History." The New York Times , April 1, 2007, A12.
• Sullivan, Patricia. "'Rape of Nanking' Author Irish Chang Dies." November 12, 2004, B6. Washington Post , November 12, 2004, B6. Accessed July 1, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44139-2004Nov11.html .
• Takemoto, Tadao and Ohara Yasuo. The Alleged 'Nanking Massacre': Japan's Rebuttal to China's Forged Claims. Tokyo: Meisei-sha, Inc., 2000.
• Young, Shi and James Ying. The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs, expanded 2nd edition. Chicago, Innovative Publishing Group, Inc., 1997.

The interested reader will find another brief exercise in historiographical inquiry - this one on the disputed relationship between the Catholic Church and fascism during the 1930s - in the Research Paper section of this site, under "Conducting Research for 'The Austrian Catholic Church and the Anschluss': Catholicism and fascism."

HIST 300 - Introduction to Historical Studies: Historiographic Essay (Literature Review)

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• Primary Sources for China scholarship
• Important Journals on Modern China
• U.K. Parliamentary Papers
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• Objectivity and Bias - Newspapers
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What is a Historiographic Essay / Historiographic Review?

A Historiographic Essay (also known as a Historiographic Review or, outside of the history discipline, a Literature Review ) is a systematic and comprehensive analysis of books, scholarly articles, and other sources relevant to a specific topic that provides a base of knowledge. Literature reviews are designed to identify and critique the existing literature on a topic, justifying your research by exposing gaps in current research. 

This investigation should provide a description, summary, and critical evaluation of works related to the research problem or question, and should also add to the overall knowledge of the topic as well as demonstrating how your research will fit within a larger field of study.  A literature review should offer critical analysis of the current research on a topic and that analysis should direct your research objective. This should not be confused with a book review or an annotated bibliography; both are research tools but very different in purpose and scope.  A Literature Review can be a stand alone element or part of a larger end product, so be sure you know your assignment.  Finally, don't forget to document your process, and keep track of your citations!

Process of a Literature Review

The process of writing a literature review is not necessarily a linear process, you will often have to loop back and refine your topic, try new searches and altar your plans. The info graphic above illustrates this process.  It also reminds you to continually keep track of your research by citing sources and creating a bibliography.

• Know what the review is for; each assignment will offer the purpose for the review.  For example, is it for “background”, or a “pro and con discussion”, "integration", “summarizing”, etc.
• Create a “search plan”, decide where you will search for information, what type of information you will need.
• Research   - Preform Searches; choose sources and collect information to use in your paper.  Make sure you cite the sources used.
• Think  - Analyze information in a systematic manner and begin your literature review (e.g., summarize, synthesize, etc.). Make sure you cite the sources used.
• Complete  - Write your paper, proof & revise and create your finished bibliography.

Elements in a Literature Review

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Department of History

Historiography essay titles, note: the exam format for 2018 will change. there will be no longer a,b,c sections..

Also, remember that it is a 'seen' exame which means you will receive the exam questions a week in advance.

But you are still welcome to use the questions below for any formative/assessed essay.

Questions on Specific Text/Historian for Essays

• What was the impact of the Enlightenment on History-writing in Europe?
• Would James Mill have written a better history of India if he had known Indian languages?
• Describe historical thinking in colonial era India.
• Assess the significance of style in Ranke’s historical writing.
• If Ranke ‘rejected Sir Walter Scott’, what was he rejecting?
• Was Leopold von Ranke a Romantic?
• Describe von Ranke’s ‘Ideal of Universal History’. Discuss its relationship to the local and the universal in the historical thinking of EITHER Karl Marx OR Max Weber.
• Describe Iggers’ and Wang’s ‘history of Leopold von Ranke in the world’. Account for any deficiencies in their argument.
• What did Karl Marx mean when he asserted that ‘the social revolution of the nineteenth century can only create its poetry from the future, not from the past’? (Eighteenth Brumaire , Section 1).
• How was The Eighteenth Brumaire revisited on its 150th birthday?
• ‘Where Hegel started with philosophy, Marx started with people’s experiences’. Discuss.
• ‘Simplicity supplies the key to the secret of the unchangeableness of Asiatic societies’ (Marx, Capital , Vol.1, xiv, s. 4). How typical was Marx’s historiography of India?
• Discuss the ‘Marxism’ of any twentieth-century historian or theorist of history [state the person clearly in the title].
• Why is Walter Benjamin’s ‘On the Concept of History’ still regarded as an important text?
• Can Walter Benjamin’s understanding of History be described as Marxist?
• What is a 'historical fact'?
• What is class consciousness for Marx?
• Was Weber anti-Marx?
• How did Weber approach the problem of causation in history?
• What does Weber understand by rational capitalism and how does it differ from Marx's ideas?
• What does Gramsci mean by hegemony? How does it work?
• ‘The science of men in time’ is how Marc Bloch described the practice of history. What did he mean?
• ‘With their examination of mentalité the Annalist historians furnished the historical profession with a new mode of reconstructing the past’. Discuss.
• ‘It is undeniable that a science [like the historical science] will always seem to us somehow incomplete if it cannot, sooner or later, in one way or another, aid us to live better’. (Bloch, Historian’s Craft ) Discuss Bloch’s view of the historical enterprise within society.
• There are many English-language educational and media websites devoted to the work of Annales historians. Make a selection of them, and give an account of the ways in which a twentieth-century ‘historical school’ is presented to twenty-first century reading publics.
• The Making of the English Working Class ‘has come to be seen as the single most influential work of English history of the post-war period’ (John Rule, DNB entry for E. P. Thompson). Why?
• Drawing on the resources of advanced options and special subjects, discuss whether or not there is still ‘a Thompsonian legacy’ in historical studies.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of micro-history.
• Discuss any historical case-study you have read. Is the case-study approach the same as the micro-historical approach?
• What was cultural about ‘the New Cultural History’?
• Is Foucault's still disturbing for readers today as it was for readers in the 1970s and 1980s?
• What does Foucault mean by biopower?
• Is Foucault still valuable today?
• ‘A challenge to the conventional Western interpretation of the non-Western world’. Is this an adequate description of the impact of Said’s work on historical scholarship?
• Describe ‘the reception of Edward Said’ by historians and others.
• What – if anything – was original about Subaltern Studies?
• To what extent is it possible to hear the voice of the subalter.
• ‘It is now men (and masculinity) that are truly hidden from history’. Discuss.
• Discuss the view that Judy Walkowitz’s City of Dreadful Delight is ‘about stories, not about history’.

Part B-style general questions

(note: you should answer such questions comparatively, not focusing on just one historian or thinker.)

• Why study historiography?
• What is a ‘historian’?
• Is history a ‘science’?
• History is closer to literature than to science.‟ Discuss.
• Is History primarily about the past or the present?
• What are the implications of E. H. Carr's claim that ‘only the future can provide the key to the interpretation of the past’?
• Is total or holistic history possible or desirable?
• Describe and discuss the historical enterprise of any one society, past or present, that you have studied during your degree course.
• What counts as a historical source?
• Is there any difference between a historical ‘fact’ and historical ‘evidence’?
• ‘The idea of what is considered “valid historical evidence” has changed considerably over the past two centuries.’ Discuss.
• ‘The science of men in time’ is how Marc Bloch characterised history. What did he mean? Introduce other historians’ conceptions of time in answering this question.
• ‘The writing of history tells us more about the historian than about the past.’ Do you agree?‘
• “Time” has no agreed meaning for historians.’ Discuss.
• ‘History from below invariably romanticises popular culture.’ Discuss.
• Is history, as it is written, inevitably relativistic?
• Is it true, as George Orwell claimed, that those with power in the present control the past?
• Has history ended, as Francis Fukuyma claimed?
• Can the writing of history be politically neutral?
• Does political history have a future?
• How and why has cultural history become so important?
• ‘Modern history can only be conceived in relationship to the nation state’.’ Discuss.
• ‘Since the early nineteenth century, historians have been engaged in a continuing debate with the heritage of the Enlightenment.’ Discuss.
• How should history be taught in schools?
• Why should governments fund historical research?
• What is the value of popular history? (You may answer this in terms of television history, film or drama.)
• Why has family history become so popular in modern Britain?
• Why was Marxist theory central to twentieth-century historical scholarship?
• Has the historical writing influenced by Marx been good history?
• To what extent has gender as a category of analysis changed the way historians conceptualise identity and experience?
• ‘History as a discipline has been and is highly Eurocentric.’ Is this true?
• ‘Postcolonialism forces us to re-evaluate the whole history of Britain in modern times.’ Discuss.
• How important has the history of the non-Western world been to the shaping of Western historiography?
• Are postmodernist views of history plausible?
• Was postmodernism a serious ‘challenge to history’ in the late twentieth century?
• Has the linguistic turn produced good history writing
• Visucal and material culture is important to history writing. Discuss.

Neuroscience can help us to write better history. Discuss.

• Did you think the material and visual turn enrich history writing?
• 'Historians should stick to literary sources. They are the only way to access the past objectively'. Discuss.

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How to Write a Historiographical Essay

December 15, 2023

Understanding the purpose of a historiographical essay is crucial to writing a successful and informative essay. Essentially, the purpose of a historiographical essay is to provide an overview of the scholarly literature on a particular topic. Historiographical essays allow writers to identify, analyze and evaluate the existing scholarship on a topic and to present their findings in a cogent and persuasive manner. The key to writing a successful historiographical essay is to demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic and to provide a balanced and insightful analysis of the existing scholarship. To achieve this, writers must be able to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature and identify areas where new research is needed. By doing so, writers can make important contributions to the historiography of their respective fields and advance our collective understanding of important historical topics.

Selecting a Topic

Selecting a topic is a crucial step in writing a historiographical essay. The topic must be appropriate in terms of its relevance, scope, and availability of sources. It is important to choose a topic that is important to the field and has a rich historiography, as this will allow the writer to engage with a range of different debates and interpretations. Once a suitable topic has been identified, it is important to begin the process of gathering sources and identifying key debates within the existing historiography. This process can be time-consuming and challenging, but it is crucial in developing a nuanced and insightful understanding of the topic. Ultimately, a strong historiographical essay will demonstrate a deep knowledge of the topic, a mastery of the relevant literature, and the ability to provide critical analysis and synthesis of existing scholarship.

Example Historiographical Essay Topics:

• The Historiography of the American Civil War
• The Historiography of World War II
• The Historiography of the French Revolution
• The Historiography of Ancient Greece
• The Historiography of Women’s Suffrage Movements
• The Historiography of Colonialism in Africa
• The Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement
• The Historiography of the Renaissance
• The Historiography of the Holocaust
• The Historiography of the Cold War

Gathering and Analyzing Sources

Gathering and analyzing sources is a fundamental step in writing a historiographical essay. To effectively engage with the existing scholarship on a topic, writers must collect a wide range of sources and critically evaluate them. Here are some key steps to consider:

• Identify primary and secondary sources: Begin by identifying primary sources that are directly related to your topic. These may include archival documents, diaries, or personal letters. Also, gather relevant secondary sources such as scholarly articles, books, and monographs that provide analysis and interpretation of the topic.
• Evaluate the credibility and reliability of sources: Assess the credibility and expertise of the authors and publishers. Consider the date of publication to gauge how current the information is. Ensure that the sources come from reputable journals or publishing houses.
• Analyze the perspectives and arguments: Read the sources carefully and analyze the differing perspectives and arguments presented. Take note of recurring themes, debates, and gaps in the literature.
• Create an annotated bibliography: Compile an annotated bibliography that provides a summary and evaluation of each source. Include key arguments, methodologies used, and any biases or limitations.
• Identify trends and debates: Explore how different historians have approached the topic and identify key trends or shifts in interpretations over time. Look for areas of consensus and disagreement among scholars.

By effectively gathering and analyzing sources, writers can develop a comprehensive understanding of the existing historiography, identify gaps, and construct a well-rounded and persuasive argument in their historiographical essay.

Developing an Outline

Developing an outline is an essential step in organizing the structure and flow of a historiographical essay. It helps writers to establish a clear and logical framework for their arguments. Here are some key considerations when developing an outline for a historiographical essay:

Introduction:

• Provide an overview of the topic and its historical context.
• Clearly state the purpose of the essay and the thesis statement.

Background and Historiographical Context:

• Provide a brief overview of the existing scholarship and historiography on the topic.
• Highlight key debates, theories, and influential historians.

Themes and Trends in the Historiography:

• Identify major themes and trends that have emerged in the literature.
• Discuss the different approaches and interpretations.

Critique and Evaluation of Sources and Arguments:

• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the existing scholarship.
• Evaluate the credibility, biases, and limitations of sources and arguments.

Identifying Gaps and Future Directions:

• Discuss areas where further research is needed and potential avenues for future scholarship.

Conclusion:

• Recap the main arguments and findings from the historiographical analysis.
• Reflect on the significance of the topic and its contribution to the field.

By structuring the essay with a well-developed outline, writers can ensure that their arguments are coherent, logical, and supported by the existing historiography.

Experience the convenience of generating historiography essays effortlessly with our new tool .

Writing the Introduction

The introduction of a historiographical essay plays a vital role in setting the stage for the reader and presenting the main objectives and arguments of the essay. Here are some key elements to consider when writing the introduction:

Contextualize the topic:

• Provide a brief overview of the historical era, event, or theme being examined.
• Establish the historical significance of the topic and its relevance to the field of study.

Introduce the historiographical approach:

• Explain the purpose of a historiographical essay, which is to analyze the existing scholarship and interpretations on the topic.
• Highlight the importance of understanding how historians have studied and written about the topic over time.

Present the main thesis or argument:

• Clearly state the main argument or thesis that the essay will be exploring.
• Provide a preview of the main points or themes that will be discussed to support the argument.

Outline the structure of the essay:

• Give a brief overview of how the essay will be structured, including the main sections or themes that will be covered.
• This helps provide a roadmap for the reader and allows them to understand the progression of the essay.

Engage the reader:

• Begin with an attention-grabbing opening sentence or a thought-provoking question related to the topic.
• Establish a connection with the reader by explaining why the topic is important and how it relates to broader historical debates or current events.

By crafting a well-written and informative introduction, the writer can effectively capture the reader’s attention and provide a solid foundation for the rest of the historiographical essay.

Background and Historiographical Context

Before delving into the analysis and evaluation of the existing scholarship, it is essential to provide a solid background and historiographical context in a historiographical essay. This section sets the stage for the reader and helps them understand the broader historical landscape surrounding the topic. Here are some key points to consider in this section:

Historical background:

• Provide a brief overview of the historical period, event, or theme being studied.
• Highlight any key historical developments or events that are relevant to the topic.

Importance of the topic:

• Explain why the topic is significant within the context of the broader field of study.
• Highlight its relevance to wider historical debates or its impact on society.

Historiographical overview:

• Summarize the development of the historiography on the topic over time.
• Identify influential works, key historians, and pivotal moments in the evolution of the scholarship.

Key debates and interpretations:

• Introduce major debates among historians regarding different aspects of the topic.
• Highlight the key interpretations and schools of thought that have emerged in the historiography.

By providing a comprehensive background and historiographical context, this section prepares the reader for the subsequent analysis and evaluation of the existing scholarship in the historiographical essay.

Themes and Trends in the Historiography

Analyzing the themes and trends in the historiography is a crucial aspect of writing a historiographical essay. This section explores the ideas, theories, and overarching patterns that have emerged in the scholarship on the topic. Here are key points to consider:

Identify major themes:

• Discuss the recurring topics or concepts that historians have focused on when studying the topic.
• Highlight the different aspects of the topic that have received significant attention within the historiography.

Examine evolving perspectives:

• Discuss how interpretations and perspectives on the topic have evolved over time.
• Identify significant shifts in historiographical approaches and theories.

Analyze methodologies:

• Explore the methodologies and approaches employed by historians in studying the topic.
• Consider the methods used in collecting and analyzing primary sources, as well as the theoretical frameworks applied.

Evaluate prevailing interpretations:

• Identify dominant interpretations or schools of thought within the historiography.
• Examine the strengths and weaknesses of these interpretations and their impact on the field.

By analyzing the themes and trends in the historiography, writers can demonstrate their understanding of the scholarly discourse and provide a comprehensive overview of the different perspectives on the topic.

Critique and Evaluation of Sources and Arguments

Critiquing and evaluating the sources and arguments is a crucial component of a historiographical essay. This section assesses the reliability, biases, and scholarly contributions of both primary and secondary sources. Here are some key points to consider:

Critique of primary sources:

• Evaluate the quality, authenticity, and biases of the primary sources used by historians.
• Consider the context in which the sources were created and any limitations they may have.

Evaluation of secondary sources:

• Assess the arguments, methodologies, and evidence presented in the secondary sources.
• Consider the credibility and expertise of the authors and their contributions to the field of study.

Comparison of perspectives:

• Compare and contrast the different interpretations and arguments presented by historians.
• Analyze the similarities, differences, and points of contention among the various perspectives.

Identification of gaps and limitations:

• Identify any gaps or limitations in the existing scholarship on the topic.
• Consider areas where further research or analysis is needed.

Synthesis of sources and arguments:

• Synthesize the various sources and arguments to identify overarching trends and common themes.
• Evaluate the overall strengths and weaknesses of the historiographical discourse on the topic.

By critically evaluating the sources and arguments, writers can demonstrate their ability to engage with the existing scholarship and contribute to the ongoing discourse on the topic in a historiographical essay.

Writing the Conclusion

The conclusion of a historiographical essay serves as the final opportunity to summarize and synthesize the key findings, arguments, and perspectives presented throughout the essay. Here are some important points to consider when writing the conclusion:

Summarize the main arguments:

• Recapitulate the main arguments and interpretations presented in the essay.
• Highlight the different perspectives and approaches that have been examined.

Evaluate the historiography:

• Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the existing scholarship on the topic.
• Discuss any overarching trends or significant shifts in historiographical interpretations.

Address remaining questions and gaps:

• Consider any lingering questions or unresolved issues in the historiography.
• Discuss areas where further research is needed to fill gaps in knowledge.

Discuss personal insights and contributions:

• Offer your own insights and reflections on the topic based on the analysis conducted.
• Highlight any unique contributions or perspectives you have brought to the historiography.

Emphasize the significance:

• Reinforce the importance and relevance of studying the topic within the field of history.
• Discuss how the historiographical essay contributes to the broader understanding of the topic.

By writing a concise and comprehensive conclusion, you can effectively summarize the key points and contributions made in the historiographical essay, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the topic’s historiography and its significance.

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Historiographical Essays

Historiographical essays   provide the context within which contemporary historians continue a "conversation" begun by earlier scholars. Tracking down a good historiographical essay is perhaps the most efficient way to identify  important works  and  critical debates  on your topic.

Cambridge  Histories and Oxford  Reference are useful reference works.

Try the Cambridge Companions and  Oxford Handbooks series as well.

Keep in mind that many important historiographical essays are published in the secondary journal literature, so don't forget to search the two most important databases in history and the journal History Compass :

• America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
• Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
• History Compass Articles are not traditional reports on historical research but rather surveys of recent historiography, ongoing interpretive debates, of suggestions for fresh directions of inquiry. They are aimed at a mixed audience of undergraduates, graduates, and faculties.

Find Book-Length Historiographies

To find books that review the historiography of a topic, use Library Search , and include the word historiography with your keywords.

If you find a historiographical work of interest, check the subject headings for that title, and follow the links to further works with the same title. For example  World War, 1914-1918 -- Historiography , is the most relevant subject heading for the historiography of World War I. You can expand your resource pool by searching other libraries' contents via  WorldCat .

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Historiography: Specific Topics

Below is just a small sampling of the historiographical topics you can find in the SHSU Library; just click a link to see books on that topic.

To explore additional topics: To explore additional topics (broader, narrower, or entirely different than those below), follow these steps: Open the library catalog ; click "Exact Search" in the blue toolbar; type Historiography ; and click "subject." A list of topics will be displayed; use the Backward and Forward buttons in the blue toolbar to browse, then click on a subject to view a list of books.

• Historiography. African Americans
• Historiography, America, Discovery and exploration
• Historiography, China
• Historiography, Crusades
• Historiography, France, History, Revolution 1789-1799
• Historiography, Great Britain
• Historiography, Holocaust, Jewish, 1939-1945
• Historiography, Indians of North America
• Historiography, Islamic Empire
• Historiography, Mexico
• Historiography, Rome
• Historiography, Slavery, United States
• Historiography, Slaves, United States
• Historiography, Texas
• Historiography, United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865
• Historiography, Vietnam War, 1961-1975
• Historiography, World War, 1914-1918
• Historiography, World War, 1939-1945

"Interpreting American History" Series from Kent State University Press

Each work in this series presents historiographic essays centered around the book's theme or area of focus, addressing all major schools of historical writing and thought on the topic.  

Oxford Bibliographies

If you can find a bibliography on your broad topic area, it will often include a summary of historiographical coverage and a list of sources to explore.

Search the Library Catalog

Search for books and other items in the library catalog.

Search Catalog Search fields Keyword Author Title Subject Series Title ISBN Periodical Title Search Options All   Ebooks Only

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• Always make note of a book's call number and location if you want to retrieve it.
• Use the "Keep" checkbox beside books of interest to bookmark them. Then click "Print or email kept records" in the blue toolbar to print a handy list of all the books you want to check out.
• When viewing one book, click on any of its Subject Terms to see a list of more books on that subject.
• When viewing a book, click the "Nearby items on shelf" link beside the title to virtually browse the bookshelf.

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Finding historiographic essays -- first steps

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For topics that are of wide interest, you may be able to find an essay that reviews the literature on that topic, and that sets it in context by discussing how other historians have approached that topic. This kind of essay is invaluable when you are starting a research project. There are two easy ways to find them:

History Compass is an online journal that publishes historiographic essays. If there is an essay on your topic, it can be an excellent place to start. Caution: if you do not find what you need with your first search, don't choose Edit Search, because you will then be searching all the publisher's online journals. Return to the starting point for History Compass to continue searching just within this journal.

If your topic is covered, check Oxford Bibliographies Online (currently, covers African Studies, Atlantic History, Medieval Studies, Military History, Classics, Criminology, Islamic Studies, Philosophy, and Renaissance and the Reformation, and many other fields)

America: History & Life and Historical Abstracts In both of these bibliographic databases, "historiography" is a Subject. For example, in AHL, to find historiography on the American Civil war, do a Subject search for: civil war historiography

Annual bulletin of historical literature History Reference (SH). Firestone Z6205 .H65 and online

The "Blackwell Companions" are a series published both in print and online in Blackwell Reference Online . If there is one on your topic, it can be an exceptionally useful place to start reading. Note: to find print copies of the Blackwell Companions, do a keyword search in the Main Catalog for " Blackwell companions to history," "Blackwell companions to American history," " Blackwell companions to British history," " Blackwell companions to world history," or " Blackwell companions to European history " to see if there is a volume in this series that covers your topic. Some copies circulate, and others are in the History Reference room on A floor.

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110 Original History Essay Questions: Examples and Topics

When looking for history essay topics, people often think about the world-famous military and political events. However, there is so much more to history than battles and international affairs. Plenty of small but engaging incidents are hiding in plain sight, and yet, people usually miss them.

What are those intriguing aspects?

In this article, our team has prepared a list of interesting history essay questions with examples. They are all about unusual events and historical viewpoints. To help with your academic writing, we divided the article into subheadings. Here, you’ll find topics according to your essay type.

• Top History Topics
• 🔍 Extended Essay
• ✒️ Historiographical Essay
• 📌 Persuasive Essay
• ⚙️ Technology Topics
• 🎶 Music Topics
• 🌄 American History
• 🏰 European History
• 🔥 5 In-Class Essay Tips

🤩 Top 15 History Essay Topics

• Julius Caesar.
• Middle Ages.
• World Wars.
• Holy Inquisition.
• US Independence.
• 20 th Century.
• Bronze Age.
• Thomas Edison.
• Slave Trade.
• Russian Revolution.

💁 Topics for Various Essay Types

There are many types of essays for an academic assignment. It may be a simple short essay or a long structured essay. Each one has its format and rules. Here, we are going to talk about essays that you might have questions about.

🔎 History Extended Essay Topics

An extended essay (EE) is an obligatory part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP). For an IB diploma, a student should do extensive research. It should be finished with a 4000-word paper.

The extended essay provides practice for undergraduate research. Besides, it gives a chance to explore a topic of personal interest. You may check out some examples in a free essays database to get a reference of how they actually look like. Here, we dive into history EE topics.

• Oldest human settlements according to archeological sources.
• The suffrage movement in the United States of the early XXth century.
• How Dior’s bar suit revolutionized women’s fashion.
• History of Chemistry in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment.
• Psychology essay: evolution of treatment for various mental disorders. Psychological methods and medicine.
• Development of black rights following the US Civil War.

• History of physics: from Antiquity to modern times.
• Principles of medieval economics: a historical analysis. Analyze the financial structure in medieval Europe and the Middle East.
• How did industrialization affect global climate change?
• Expansion of traffic jams in China. The root of a problem and China’s solution.
• The effects of capitalism on Caribbean republics. Study the history of capitalism in the Caribbean. What were the effects of plantation produce on their economy?
• The use of sun reflection in the military. A historical analysis of the utilization.
• Analysis of Victorian literature and culture by Carolyn Williams.
• Biology in warfare. The use of biological weapons from Antiquity to modern times.
• A study of malnourishment in African societies. Explore the historical roots of malnutrition in Africa. How did it affect their societies?
• Research question: why Western countries have dominated the world in modern history?
• Otto Skorzeny. How did Nazi Germany’s most effective agent become Mossad’s advisor? Dive in the biography of Otto Skorzeny. Analyze his character and post-war activity.
• The history of visual arts in Christianity. How did religion shape the art of Western civilization?
• Six-Day War of 1967. Examine the strategies of Israel and The United Arab States.
• Imperial Japan in the late period of WWII. Its non-standard means of warfare.

📝 Historiographical Essay Topics

Now, let’s look into another type of essay—a historiographical essay. It analyzes and evaluates how scholars interpret a historical topic. Usually, the essay is problem-centered. So, compare the viewpoints of two or more historians on the same event.

Here you will find good topics for historiographical essays:

• The Soviet internment camps of the Stalin Era.
• What is the classification of a “historical fact?”
• The fate of Japanese Americans during WWII.
• Mongolian aid to the Soviet Union during World War II.
• An analysis of the main areas of historical research.
• What defined a nation’s sovereignty in the XIXth century?
• The activity of Pamela Parsons in the 70s.
• “The Life of the Prophet” by Ibn Hisham.
• The history of Earth: from its formation to modern times. Make detailed research on the history of Earth. Talk about major geophysical and chemical processes. What did impact the Earth’s formation and evolution?
• An argumentative essay. How substantial was the Allies’ aid of “Land Lease” to the USSR in WWII?
• Things to know when studying cultural heritage.
• Processes of detecting historical excavation sites.

📌 History Persuasive Essay Topics

A persuasive essay is a piece of academic writing where you list two or more points of view on a subject. In such a paper, you use facts and logic to support your perspective.

• An argumentative essay on American involvement in WWI. How crucial was it in defeating the German Empire and its allies? Analyze the impact of America’s contribution to WWI.

• Slavery played one of the key roles in Ancient Rome’s rise to power. Discuss the structure of slavery in Ancient Rome. Provide evidence for/against this argument.
• Festivals in India are an essential part of the nation’s identity. Analyze the role of local and national Indian festivals. Did they form identities of different cultural groups?
• Why did the Soviet Union lose the Cold War? Could it be because of its involvement in Afghanistan? Explore the impact of the Soviet-Afghan War on countries of the Warsaw Pact.
• Psychedelic substances allow people to think more creatively. Discuss the effects of different drugs on the human mind. Examine notable cases and experiments with drug testing.
• The presentation of the American Revolution in movies. Research a few pieces of cinematography about the American Revolution. Analyze their historical accuracy.
• Bipolar disorder essay and Vincent Van Gogh. Analyze activity and medical records of Vincent Van Gogh. Give arguments for/against the aforementioned idea.

• Florentine art history. How did the noble patronage of artists contribute to Florentine art? To prove your perspective, examine several famous art patrons of Florence.

⚙ History of Technology Essay Topics

Technology has been the cornerstone of powerful civilizations that moved the world forward. Advancement of technology is a curious phenomenon. It moved at a faster pace with every century of the last millennium.

Here, we will take a look at thought-provoking topics on the history of technology. Besides, you’ll see a few history essay questions on technology.

• Advancement of farming technology in the Bronze Age.
• Technological advancements of Ancient Rome. Discuss Roman technological inventions. How did they impact the world for many centuries?
• Structure of a Roman road. Explain the structure of a Roman road. Discuss how the road system connected the Empire. Did it help to spread Christianity?
• The history of genetically modified food: corporation profits and risks.
• The history of sanitation in Paris. A tale of revolutionary engineering solutions.
• Evolution of heart surgeries.
• The scientific contribution of Dr. Ivan Pavlov to physiology.
• Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and the history of medieval medicine. Talk about Avicenna’s contribution to medicine. How accurate were his thoughts on it?

• The trebuchet: the deadliest siege weapon of Medieval Europe.
• The history of limb surgery: from pirates to modern medicine.
• Japanese experiments on humans during WWII. Did they provide humanity with valuable data on the human organism?
• Naval technology throughout human history. Research military and civic solutions of naval engineering during various periods. Consider Antiquity, Middle Ages, Age of Discovery, Age of Enlightenment, etc.
• Rapid European scientific advancement of the Age of Enlightenment. Why did the advancement of science and technology in Europe increase in the 18-19th centuries?
• History of blimps: strengths and weaknesses.
• First computers of WWII. Study the first computer systems of WWII. Explain their technical capabilities and flaws.
• How did the new technology make WWI so high with casualties?
• The science of an atomic bomb: a case study.
• How online social media impacted global society in the 2010s?
• How China introduced new types of censorship with the creation of the Internet.
• Compare college education of the XIXth century and modern times.
• The city of Tenochtitlan. The technological marvel of the Aztecs.

🎶 Music History Essay Topics

Music is one of the most effective examples of human genius. People have made music to express their emotions to each other. Thus, the history of music is extensive and rich in detail. Exploring it can be just as fascinating as listening to music.

Below, you’ll find the best ideas on the history of music to talk about:

• Jazz, New Orleans, and the Roaring Twenties: a musical phenomenon. Discuss the genre’s origins and technical aspects.
• The music of the Antiquity of the Mediterranean region. From Egypt and Greece to Rome.
• The use of music in Ancient Rome.

• Techniques a style of Mozart and Beethoven. A critical analysis.
• Studio 54 – a story of disco, glamour, and exclusivity.
• The history of organum and organ music.
• Advancement of music technology in the early XXth century.
• Baroque music and its famous composers. Analyze the technical details behind baroque music. Give examples of its notable composers.
• Music theater as the main source of musical innovation of the late classical era.
• Detailed analysis of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Examine the composer’s final symphony. Explore Beethoven’s health complications during the last years of his life.
• Religion and music: how Christianity employed the vocal skills of monks. Research the history and characteristics of the Gregorian chant.
• The golden era of classical music of the XVIIth-XIXth centuries in Germany and Austria.
• The musical experiments by Andy Warhol.
• The musical instruments of the Renaissance and modern times. What are the similarities and differences?
• Musical instruments and chants of Bronze Age Mesopotamia.
• Bohemian Rhapsody: a musical analysis. Discuss the story behind the creation of Queen’s famous song.
• Lively music and deadly drugs. How did narcotics become a part of the music industry in the 60s and 70s?
• The history of the club culture of New York. Discuss the history of clubs in New York. How did the advocates for gay rights start the new idea of clubbing?
• The emergence of hip-hop and rap in Uptown Brooklyn and the Bronx. Analyze how the new genre started commenting on the reality of streets and black rights.
• The history of Woodstock – America’s most iconic music festival.

👍 Good History Essay Questions

Writing an essay about countries should be divided into European and American theaters. Each region has a history rich in events and personalities.

Below, there are great European and US history essay questions for your paper:

🌄 American History Essay Questions

• How did medics deal with casualties during the US Civil War? Talk about the organization of medical staff on both sides of the war. Analyze the treatment methods applied to wounded soldiers.
• What factors contributed to the victory in the American Revolution?
• US economy and culture of the 1920s. How did it develop?
• How did civil rights develop during the Reconstruction era?

• Why was slavery so popular in the southern states? Analyze the economy of the southern states in America. Explain why slavery has such deep roots there.
• Why did the United States emerge as a superpower after WWII?
• Who were the main benefactors of the US economy in the early 20th century?

🏘 European History Essay Questions

• The Renaissance essay. Why and how did naturalistic beauty become the main element of art?
• What are the key ideas in Robin Briggs’s historical research on witchcraft?
• The Modern European history question. How did the Mafia operate in Italy? Analyze the roots of Italian Mafia, its organizational structure. What were its spheres of influence?
• Which scientific innovations were discovered in the late XIXth and early XXth century Europe?
• Tudor history: what caused the English Reformation?
• How did colonization transform the economies of European empires?
• Which economic and political benefits were introduced at the creation of the European Union? Elaborate on the history of the EU. Analyze its economic and political aspects.

🔥 5 Tips for Writing an Essay in Class

For whatever reason, you need to write an in-class essay. It could be an exam or an ordinary assignment. It doesn’t matter as the goal remains the same. You have to compose a coherent paper in a short amount of time under supervision.

What is the best way to handle working under such pressure? By following our tips:

1. Practice beforehand

Any sort of training makes a person comfortable with the upcoming task. Practice writing an essay so that you memorize the format. Keep in mind how to outline the paper and some useful words for transitions. Even when you’re unfamiliar with the topic, you’ll still know where to begin without thinking.

2. Forget to panic

Students can lose time by bracing themselves. By staring on the blank page with the essay question can help no one. The sooner you start the task, the better. Don’t let your brain panic!

3. Plan before you write

Starting the essay right away may be tempting and promising, but that’s how you make mistakes. Reread and analyze the given question, notice the keywords. Make sure you’re answering what’s asked, not more or less. Come up with a thesis statement and make an outline.

Properly organizing your paper saves your time and reduces stress. It ensures that you addressed every issue. Plus, it shows whether you connected every argument to the thesis statement. Besides, putting topic sentences and transitions in the outline makes them less repetitive in the essay.

4. Keep in mind your writing speed

Remember the first tip? This one comes naturally from practicing. The more you write, the better you understand your pace. Learn how much time you need to complete each part of the essay writing. Try not to exceed the estimated time for an outline, an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

5. Proofread

Writing in a rush, you may forget about your spelling and punctuation. Save some time for rereading your paper thoroughly. Pay attention to logical reasoning and grammar errors. Add sentences if necessary. Your paper may look messy as long as you do so to improve your writing and ensure the perfect flow.

Thank you for taking some time to read this article. We hope that it will help you in your academic studies. If this article proved to be informative to you, leave a comment below. Share it with others who might need some guidance in their studies.

🔗 References

• How To Write a Good History Essay: Robert Pearce for History Today
• Elements of an Effective History Exam Essay: Mark Brilliant, Department of History, Program in American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
• UChicago Supplemental Essay Questions: College Admissions, University of Chicago
• Tips for Writing Essay Exams: Writing Center, University of Washington
• Popular Application Essay Topics: The Princeton Review
• Historiographical Essays: Center for Writing and Speaking, Campbell Hall
• Persuasion Essays: Sheldon Smith for Eapfoundation.com
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