teaching with writing
history assignments
Common
writing assignments in history include research papers, informal
think pieces, and essay exams. These assignments stress close
and critical reading of primary and secondary source
materials. Short, informal writing assignments, annotated bibliographies,
and abstracts may also be assigned to address skills such as
recall of information, organization, evaluation, interpretation,
analysis, and synthesis. Persuasive logic and evidence are
central elements of all of these assignments. Because historical
writing is often conducted in an “inside-out,” or data-to-document
manner, student writers also need practice in assembling a
variety of facts into evidence that is not only accurate, but
also coherent and, ultimately, persuasive. Good historical
writing must therefore interpret “facts” derived from both
primary and secondary sources and persuade through its presentation
and conclusions about those facts. Key strategies in historical
writing include evaluating relevant sources, muddling through
the obscurity of primary texts, and discerning authors' motives,
goals, prejudices, presuppositions, and rhetorical strategies
in order to ascertain the accuracy, relevancy, and sincerity
of historical documents. (Marius 1-7).
-
American History, Oral History Assignment
and Historiographic Essay: two interpretative assignments
focused on historians' treatment of events. The assignments
are in the syllabus.
-
United States History 1865 to Present, Formal Essays: a detailed
assignment requiring several longer history papers and stressing
comparision and evaluation. The syllabus sets these assignments
in context.
-
History of Science, Microtheme: an informal
assignment in letter form.
-
The Crusades, Informal and Formal Assignments:
a schedule of informal assignments and guidelines for two
textual analysis exercises.
-
Dawn of Modern Europe, Writing Assignment:
an assignment that includes a sequence of in-class and out-of-class
activities.
-
World History, Primary Document Interpretation:
an assignment requiring students to identify and analyze
a primary source.
-
Early Modern Chinese History, Social Response
Essay: a series of assignments asking students to use
newspaper articles to interpret a historical event.
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Early Modern Chinese History, Sequenced Assignments:
a sequence of informal activities leading to formal papers.
-
History of Science, Weekly
One-Pager: a one-page interpretation of primary documents.
-
Western Civilization, Formal Paper: a research
paper involving primary documents. This assignment includes
writing guidelines.
-
Early Modern Europe, Research Paper: an
assignment including writing and research resources. The syllabus for this course
places the assignment in context.
-
History of the British Isles, Annotated Bibliography:
an assignment requiring students to summarize ten sources.
history assignment resources
-
History
Site: a compendium of sample syllabi, assignments,
essays, and one teacher's explicit guidelines for her students'
papers.
-
The
Writing of a History Essay Examination: a site offering
insight about the history essay including examples of types
of questions that are engaging, intellectual, and creative.
- CourseLib:
a service provided by University of Minnesota librarians that
enables instructors to build and post customized, course-specific
research pages.
Marius,
Richard. A Short Guide to Writing about History. 3rd
Ed. New York: Longman, 1999.
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