“For all the centuries up to the most recent one, historical writing was largely narrative in style, but since the Second World War analytical forms have mostly pushed aside narrative historical writing in the academy.”
The first quote chosen from the article is an interesting one. I’ve never thought about the history of historical writing, and how it has changed. Learning it went from narrative writing styles to analytical after World War II makes sense. I feel like World War II was one of the first huge events that was analyzed across the world, and then after was during a time in which college grew in popularity too. So it makes sense to me that that would be when the shift occurred, but I just thought it was interesting.
“Is it any wonder some of them get bored, especially since the ways they “write” in the rest of their lives are so different?”
The second quote is an important one. History students are obviously assigned to write historical papers often, but they tend to get bogged down and bored with it. All of them seem to follow the same pattern and way to write them, and it makes them harder to get through and write. It seems like you’re just writing them to follow the guidelines and what the professor wants to hear instead of how and what you want to write about.
“Writing a solid historical essay is still a very important skill that students need to develop, but it is also incumbent upon us as their teachers and mentors to help them mine these various forms of presenting historical information for all they are worth, while helping them remain true to the values of our profession.”
The final quote is the most important and the biggest take away from the article. Writing historical essays is a very important skill for students to have and develop in school. Historical writing is obviously an important skill for historians, but a lot of the times professors just throw you into it with little to no guidance, and they just expect you to figure it out. I’ve only had a few professors that really explained what they wanted from papers and work, and really showed how to do it. I think if they worked more on how and why we do things instead of throwing students into it it would be better for everyone involved.
