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April 26, 2008
Writing History
Prof. Burke offers a quick guide:
I tell my students that all good research projects and analytical writing have to provide an answer to the question, “So what?”, a justification for the project or the essay. One student asked me if history as a discipline had any stock or standard answers to that question.I started to list a few that I could think of, and then a few more. I thought I’d try out the results here, to see if readers could knock a few down or add some more.
Go read his list.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at April 26, 2008 8:26 PM
Comments
Someone once told me (and I delight in telling my undergrads) that all philosophical arguments are intended to answer one of two questions: (1) Oh, yeah? or (2) So what?
It's probably a good thing no one has tried (a la Prof. Burke) to catalog the possible philosophical answers to either.
Posted by: Kalynne Pudner at April 27, 2008 4:50 AM
Thanks. That's a super list. I must try to tweak it for Church Historians.
I love "oh, yeah?" I must add it to my repertoire of handy nostrums for perplexed postgraduates -- along with "so what?" (which I must admit I thought I had come up with myself).
I also tell postgrads that the basic structure of a dissertation is almost always: "Moses and the prophets said, but now I say unto you..." But how one interpreted this would depend on whether or not one was a Marcionite.
Posted by: Nick Thompson at April 28, 2008 5:00 PM