Like Driving a Car: Teaching Historiography

A response to the Like Driving a Car Activity
created January 23, 2024 by Rebecca MacAlpine (@rebecca.macalpine)

Number of views: 44

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A threshold concept in history would be historiography. Historiography is a combination of a literature review and history of the history – how have historians written about topics in the past.

To support students in understanding historiography, we encourage them to frame their reading to identify the following areas: identify the thesis, identify the evidence used, the methodology employed, the most important question asked by the text, and their interpretation of the work in relation to other knowledge they have of other arguments. These areas and how they fit together over time and space will help them develop a historiographical analysis of a given subject area. Usually, I will provide them with a structured worksheet that identifies the areas they need to pay particular attention too. Then I encourage them to organize their work by year and theme. This will then provide them with a strong overview of how the discipline has changed in relation to a specific subject. 

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