University at Buffalo 3 credits History
This seminar requires students to write a research paper on a topic of their own choosing. Our discussions and limited readings will focus on research methods and some examples of writing and historiography. Students should expect to share their research findings through assignments and presentations and ultimately to exchange drafts of working papers for discussion by the entire seminar. Students are encouraged to pick topics outside US history, since those focused on US history can take the other research seminar running this semester. This course has more than one purpose: to study how historiographical debates are made in secondary works, to undertake primary research, and to write an analytical paper. We will focus on the interpretation of primary sources and on the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments historians make, based on their interpretation of primary evidence. We will read paired or grouped works in order to discuss content, but also to discuss how arguments and debates are constructed. What are the key questions? What is the main argument? What primary sources are used? What debates or opposing arguments are shown in the selection(s)? Does the main argument hold?
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