Writing History
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The best way for the historian to explore the sources and to show the results of his searches to the reader is the rational one. The rational or scientific method foreseen different phases: hypothesis, experiment and thesis.
Hypothesis: at the beginning of his research, the historian shows his question and the way that he has used to interrogate the chosen sources. Documents have been produced in the past with different objectives compared to ours. That’s why the historian must always interrogate the documents with a precise question, otherwise they will not answer to him (see Chapter 1 - Building an Argument in Historical Research).
Experiment: the historian guides the readers in the exploration of the sources, analysing them to verify his hypothesis;
Thesis: at the end of the journey across the documents, the historian exposes his conclusion.
During all his work, then, the historian has to keep in touch with his sources, primary and secondary, which are indeed the basis of his research and the only way for the readers to verify his conclusions.
For that reason the historian has to follow some rules concerning the quotation of the sources that he has used. Every historical essay has to include three elements:
- Referencing. Referencing is a standardised method of acknowledging the sources of information and ideas that you have used in your assignments and submissions. Referencing provides enough information for the reader to find the original source you have quoted or used.
- Bibliography. A bibliography, whose other technical name is “works cited”, is a systematic list of books and other works such as reviews and articles, placed at the end of the work. It normally contains the secondare sources and all the printed works used in the research.
- Webliography. A webliography – or webography – is a list of websites that pertain to the topic. It is much like a bibliography, but is limited to a collection of online resources rather than books and academic journals.
