Reading Like a Historian

What is history?

• History is an account of the past.

• Accounts differ depending on one's perspective.

• We rely on evidence to construct accounts of the past.

• We must question the reliability of each piece of evidence.

• Any single piece of evidence is insufficient to build a plausible account.

Sourcing

• Who wrote this?

• What is the author's perspective?

• Why was it written?

• When was it written?

• Is this source reliable? Why? Why not?

Close Reading

• What claims does the author make?

• What evidence does the author use?

• What language (words, phrases, images, symbols) does the author use to persuade document's audience?

• How does the document's language indicate the author's perspective?

Contextualization

• When and where was the document created?

• What was different then? What was the same?

• How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?

Corroboration

• What do other documents say?

• Do the documents agree? If not, why?

• What are other possible documents?

• What documents are most reliable?

Writing Like a Historian

1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

a. Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.

c. Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

d. Establish and maintain a formal style.

e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

*** I highly suggest using Claim, Evidence, Reasoning format (C.E.R)

Claim

• Based off of historical documents and evidence.

• Makes an argument about person, event, law, idea, causation, etc.

• Prepares to defend claim with proper evidence and explanation to prove the claim made.

Evidence

• Documents, photographs, video, testimony, data, etc. that supports your claim.

• The source and evidence is trustworthy.

• The evidence is appropriate and sufficient to support the claim.

• The source of the evidence is cited.

Reasoning

• Justification that links the claim and evidence.

• The evidence sufficiently described on how it proves the claim.