Mini-Historiographical Essay Instructions

PROMPT: Using the five articles in your topic folder, identify three major themes in the
historiography of this particular area of medicine. Each theme must be supported by
examples from at least three of the articles.

• The final paper is a mini-historiographical essay focused on the five articles located in your
topic folder. A historiographical essay, much like your précis assignments, is focused on the
way historians approach a topic. In fact, the précis assignments were assigned to help
prepare you for this paper. A successful historiographical essay will identify the broad
themes shared by the articles as well as compare and contrast the arguments made by the
authors.

• It is important to remember that this assignment is about how historians write about the
history of medicine. The success of this assignment depends on how well you understand
the readings so it is imperative that you have carefully read, reread, and made notes on the
articles in your topic folder. This is not the type of essay that can be written the day before it
is due so plan accordingly and give yourself enough time to think about the articles that you
have read.

• The articles in your topic folder have been intentionally selected with this final assignment in
mind. There are multiple themes shared across the articles and many “correct” answers
depending on how well you can support your argument.

• Hint: Think about the points the authors are making about the construction of medical
knowledge, framing disease or the need to reevaluate the work of other historians.

How to Organize the Essay

Introduction:

Identify the area of study (field, time period) and the three major historiographical themes the
articles illustrate.

Article Overview (2 or 3 paragraphs):

It’s important that you provide some preliminary information about the articles. Following the
introductory paragraph briefly discuss the academic background/institutional affiliation of the
article’s author (typically included in the footnotes of the article), publication information (name
of journal, year published) and author’s thesis.

• The titles of journal articles belong in quotation marks.

• The titles of journals should be italicized.

• Make sure that these paragraphs don’t read like a grocery list. It’s important that each
paragraph has a topic sentence that provides a rationale for the organization of the articles
even if it is chronological. Don’t just rehash your précis assignments here.

• The purpose of this section is to provide a good overview of the articles. You’ll go into
greater depth with regard to the author’s argument, evidence, and conclusions in the
comparative portion of the essay.

• The first time you mention an author always use his/her first and last name. All other
references to the author need only use his/her last name. It is not necessary to include titles
as part of the author’s name and NEVER refer to the author by his/her first name only.

Body Paragraphs (multiple)

Historiographical Theme #1

Identify and elaborate on the theme in general. Make sure to clearly state the theme that you’re
going to discuss. If you don’t adequately define and clearly state your theme, you’re not going
to receive credit. Be deliberate.

• Which articles illustrate this theme? How? Provide detailed examples with footnotes. You
must have citations.

• You might want to group articles together that provide the best evidence in support of your
claims and discuss them first. If there are articles that challenge your argument make sure
you explain how and perhaps why.

• Make sure that you have a topic sentence for every paragraph and that you are making
transitions between paragraphs.

Repeat for Historiographical Theme #2 and Historiographical Theme #3

Conclusion (one or two paragraphs)

Revisit and briefly discuss the major themes.

• Which one do you think is most significant? Why?

• Based on what you’ve discussed, what kind of opportunities do you see for historians
writing in this field?

Very Important Information:

I will be available for appointments 26 November through 7 December if you would like feed
back on a draft of your paper or help organizing it. Please email me directly
nicholsonpreussm@uhd.edu and provide me with a window of time that you would be
available.

The paper must conform to Chicago Manual of Style Humanities/Turabian guidelines and use
footnotes. All papers must include a minimum of ten footnotes (at least two per article).
Papers that do not use the correct citation style will be penalized up to 15 points. If you need
help formatting your citations, please visit the site I’ve listed below instead of using a web-
based citation generator.

Georgetown Library Guide to Chicago Humanities Citations https://

www.library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/turabian-footnote-guide

If you need to brush up on your grammar/punctuation and general writing skills. There are
some great resources (including worksheets and handouts) available from Humber College’s
Liberal Arts Writing Centre https://liberalarts.humber.ca/about/learning-resources/writing-
centre/student-resources.html