You’re fascinating by the development of the Klan, and repelled by its ideas, so the first question you think about asking is “Why was the Klan so racist?’ This is not a good historical question, because it assumed what you ought to prove in your paper that the Klan was racist. Historians do not even go in for ballads, nor is one likely to see them trying their hands at history painting or writing librettos for operas. Historians classify history on the basis of time - as ancient, medieval and modern. The structure of a short answer is important. Before you can eliminate passive voice, you must first learn what it is and how to locate it in your writing. Exceptions include: short discussion assignments; five page analytical papers where you have been assigned the specific texts that you are analyzing. History can be a difficult subject for many students, but luckily we’re here to help. 2 0 obj As you compose or revise your history paper, consider these guidelines: sWrite in the past tense. Who is the author, and why did he or she create the document? Get help with your history homework! 4 0 obj Written language, ho… Does the document remind you of contemporaneous or present-day cultural forms that you have encountered? Nonetheless, professional historians have generally agreed on a number of conventions, or practices, that distinguish history writing from writing in other academic disciplines. How do you think the text was received by this audience? Perhaps there may have been several important events that day, including a fight over an interracial relationship. Using clues from the document itself, its form, and its content, who is the intended audience for the text? How does the text reflect or mask such factors as the class, race, gender, ethnicity, or regional background of its creator/narrator? So each of the short answer problems is three questions long and they all discuss one facet of American history. Mention one important source used by historians in writing about the last 250 years of Indian history. 1.3 Why Write History? The alternative is to make what happens at GCSE and (especially) A-Level more like university. Once you have a topic in mind, you need to find out what other scholars have written about your topic. Access answers to hundreds of history questions explained in a way that's incredibly easy for you to understand. ), and periodization (from when to when?) U.S. census records concerning neighborhood residents for 1900 and 1910. x��][o#7�~���/H���{c/�I��H�ř�}��m�%e���g����K_h�z8�%�Y,���q�W?�������V�����������(��j��X��e����x��?��Ż����^ %PDF-1.5 Our history question and answer board features hundreds of history experts waiting to provide answers to your questions. What is the format of the document? Question. If you think interracial relationships are an interesting topic and you find the 1940s to be an equally fascinating time period, come up with a question that incorporates both these interests. endobj But note how the language is still vague. History. The British believed that the act of writing was important. <> Offers a well-organized and persuasive thesis of its own. You can ask any history question and get expert answers in as little as two hours. oral histories of packing house employees’ experiences, though a historian’s comments on those oral histories would be a secondary source. Examples (why and how, compare/contrast, explanatory): A good historical question must be phrased in such a way that the question doesn’t predetermine the answer. WARNING: Avoid selecting a topic that is too broad: “How has war affected sex in America?” is too broad. Is the thesis clearly and succinctly stated? How do the official records of the British administration help historians to write about the last 250 years of Indian history? These images suggest a language because, in some instances, they seem to tell a story (say, of a hunting expedition in which specific events occurred) rather than being simply pictures of animals and people. stream For example: “How did white and African-American defense plant workers create and think about interracial relationships during World War Two?” This question investigates broad issues—interracial romance, sexual identity—but within a specific context—World War Two and the defense industry. After selecting a broad topic of interest, narrow it down so that it will not take hundreds of pages to communicate what happened and why it was important. Ans: The official records of the British administration. How and why? How do we come to know about them? Once you have a topic in mind, you need to find out what other scholars have written about your topic. Does the thesis answer a research question? 2. �~͝�U����C�0�d�{WH+w��.��Ы�Xd���@��G`������#C`�6��}^���J�ץ�V�,�a��ey��k�I���X�GF9QY�,O��qTe8���/މ�~x/����r"�.�TrQ�Q\. And so your job in these questions is not to try to write an essay, but merely to just answer A, B, and C, which will be related to each other, and you have about the front of one blue book page to do this, so really no more than 200 words. As Richard Marius and Melvin E. Page attest in their book A Short Guide to Writing About History, "history and writing are inseparable." It could be strengthened further by suggesting HOW Richardson’s sympathies are undermined by her traditional attitudes. And the only way we can do history is to examine the available records from the past and then write about them. Answer: 3 question Historians disagree about Jackson's legacy. So, historians and archaeologists are like detectives who use all these sources like clues to discover the past. A short film, such as an actualité, made during the period that shows the yards. A historian has the fascinating job of studying and interpreting the past. Once sources are found, learning about the past becomes an adventure, as we reconstruct it bit by bit. It is thought that human beings developed language c. 35,000 BCE as evidenced by cave paintings from the period of the Cro-Magnon Man (c. 50,000-30,000 BCE) which appear to express concepts concerning daily life. Asks a good historical question; Tells how its interpretation connects to previous work by other historians, and; Offers a well-organized and persuasive thesis of its own. Historians, libraries and museums now are making sure, in that way, history does not repeat itself with the coronavirus pandemic. How might the text be received by those for whom it was NOT intended? Has the document been edited? After you’ve located and analyzed some primary sources and read the existing secondary literature on your topic, you’re ready to begin researching and writing your paper. Analyze historians’ interpretations, historical sources, and propositions about history. National? With what aspects of the text (content, form, style) can you most readily identify? 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. There are 8,000 dissertations out of the 30,000 in the set that have two years in the title: usually, those are start and end dates. Chicago newspapers, c. 1900-1920, in a variety of languages. The preferred guide for citations in history is The Chicago Manual of Style.