This assignment is known as a comparative book review or a historiographical paper. The goal of the assignment is to help you further develop your critical analysis skills by exploring key arguments and ideas in 2 different books, and then link those books together to discuss how they provide new insights on a given topic. We also want you to engage with the idea that books on the same broad topic sometimes focus on different issues; that authors often disagree with each other; that they believe that one reason over another is more important in proving their argument; that they may reach quite different conclusions about the same material; and that taken together, they provide many specific insights that allow us to understand historical events.
How to write a historiography paper: What to keep in mind
1. Do not simply regurgitate facts from the author
2. Begin and end each discussion of the book with transition sentences
3. Identify key overlapping themes between the works
4. Identify the argument of each work
5. Make connections between arguments where relevant
6. Note where arguments differ where relevant
7. Identify sources used
8. Refer to the author by their last name
If you mention their full name in the introduction (i.e Bob Smith) you would refer to them as Smith onwards
9. Argument, argument, argument
Topic: Everyday life under dictatorships
Book 1: Orlando Figes, Private Life in Stalins Russia
Book 2: Detlev Peukert, Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life
Paper Breakdown
Length: 8-10 pages double spaced, size 12 Times New Roman, 1 inch margin
Length does not include title page & bibliography
Citation style: Chicago (footnotes)
Paper style: historiographic
Basic Structure
Introduction + strong concluding sentence to set-up agenda of paper
o General Statements
o Thesis Statement
o Outline of main points
Main body paragraphs
o Topic Sentence
o Support 1 with evidence and examples
o Support 2 with evidence and examples
o Support 3 with evidence and examples
Conclusion + clear reiteration of main argument
o Restate thesis
o Summary of main points
o Final Comment
Bibliography
Introduction
Outline the scope of your paper and your plan of attack for discussing the two sources
Identify the two sources you will use
What topics do your books cover? (i.e. author 1 examines the family in Canada and author 2 explores legislation in Toronto)
You can briefly discuss their methods and approach
Combined together, what do these two sources accomplish?
A clear, impactful concluding sentence
Avoid first person/reflection language
Main Body Paragraphs
Make sure each paragraph has a point
If you only had this one paragraph to read…Does it make sense? Does it make a claim? Does it provide evidence for that claim? Does the paragraph drop off suddenly?
Use introductory and concluding sentences to transition from point to point
Transition sentences will help the flow of your paper
Ideally, each body paragraph should have one overarching idea that relates to your main argument
There can be sub ideas to the main idea or there can be one big idea and multiple forms of evidence to support the idea
The more evidence, the stronger the idea
A weak idea would be to argue that the sky is blue without providing evidence and explanation for this claim
Conclusion
Restate your main argument
Summarize the main ideas of your paper
Restate the two authors youve used what are their conclusions
A conclusion should reaffirm information you have already discussed vs. new information
Avoid first person/reflection language
End with a strong concluding sentence
Bibliography
Must have!
Organize in alphabetical order by last name
Remember formatting is different than footnote citations
Analyzing Book 1 & Book 2
What is the main argument of the book?
What is their approach/methodology? How do they structure their argument? What is their main focus?
Use your ~evidence & explanations~ to highlight the main points of the book
What sources does the author use?
Go beyond just saying primary and secondary be specific and elaborate on how these sources help the argument and the authors approach
How do these sources help the author make their argument and conclusions
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the book?
o This could include sources, approach, perspective, bias, conclusions
Analyzing Book 1 & 2 together
What are the differences and similarities of the approaches, arguments, sources, and conclusions
Continue to follow the same system of evidence and explanation
This should be the longest part of your paper
Highlight in a separate paragraph what the collective contribution of these two books to your chosen topic
o (i.e.) how have book 1 and book 2 have contributed to the historiography of decolonization?
o Continue to write assertively avoid first person/reflection language
Final Paper Structure
Introduction (~100-250 words)
Analyze book 1 (~2 pages)
Analyze book 2 (~2 pages)
Analyze both books together (~3/3.5 pages)
Conclusion (~100-150 words)
Bibliography
Keep in mind…
Remember this is a historiography paper not a research paper: focus on the argument, approach, sources, and conclusions
Be sure you remain focused on the arguments and sources of the two authors and how they approach X vs. a research paper which answers, what was X?
Make sure you use key cases, provide evidence in your final paper, and a strong concluding sentence at the end of your introduction
Be sure to elaborate on the sources each author uses go beyond saying primary and secondary and explore what they used, how they used it, and how it helps/hinders their overall argument
Format footnotes correctly in Chicago style citation (do not forget page numbers!)
This section is worth 5 points and can make the difference between a letter grade dont lose marks where you dont need to
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
These are books not novels
Do not use first person language I will discuss…as you can see…what this tells us…
Spell the authors names correctly
Italicize book titles
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