HST 553: The Medieval City
Portland State University
Fall 2022
GRADUATE ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES:
CRITICAL HISTORIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW ESSAY
Due in my office or via e-mail (CH 441-H) by 5:00 on Wednesday, December 7
General guidelines
Please follow these guidelines when preparing your paper. Papers should be around 15 pages long.
- Papers should be typed, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, and should have a title (title page optional). Your bibliography, headed as "References" or "Works Cited," should appear last and should be paginated. Please use 12-point font.
- You must follow an accepted citation format (e.g., Modern Language Association, APA, or Chicago; I have no preference, other than that you be consistent). Footnotes and bibliographical references must conform to accepted styles of use for the format you choose. If you are uncertain about which style to use, or have no experience with academic citation, please see me before submitting your final draft.
- Based on your readings and class discussions over the course of the term, you should be able to formulate a broader argument (thesis) about the subject and field you choose and varying historical interpretations of it. I am not looking for original research here but you should be able to argue your way around a particular critical or historiographical issue related to medieval cities and defend your argument with evidence drawn from and supported by your readings.
- Plan to use at least 12 sources. They may consist of a combination of articles from peer-reviewed journals, academic encyclopedias, book chapters, and/or scholarly monographs.
- Students must consult with professor about project at least once before submitting final draft.
Late papers
Papers received after class on Wednesday, December 7, and before 5:00 on Monday, December 12, will be deducted 5/100 points (5%) per day. I will not accept papers after 5:00 on Monday, December 12, unless there are mitigating circumstances that have been discussed in advance of the paper due date. Under otherwise normal circumstances I will not give an "Incomplete" grade.
Assignment
An historiographical essay or review essay examines historians' approaches to a particular historical subject or field over an extended period of time, up to and including recent scholarship of the past few years. In the context of this course, the historical subjects we have addressed concern various aspects of medieval cities, covering diverse historical terrain. In this essay, using a combination of sources spanning at least three different decades (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s, etc.) evaluate the past and current status of a historical field pertinent to the history of medieval cities, including how historians questions and concerns have evolved over time. Where possible, assess current and/or likely future directions of historical inquiry. Examples of historiographical review essays can be found in most of the more important journals and periodicals published on medieval topics, as well as in journals of general historical scholarship like The American Historical Review and above all, History Compass. Both are available at PSU Library. It might also help to start with general textbook treatments of a particular subject, and you are strongly encouraged to make use of PSU's subscription databases on the Middle Ages, specifically Oxford Bibliographies Online, Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and the International Medieval Bibliography, to locate secondary sources and relevant scholarship. Lead footnotes in articles are often also important sources for the historiography of the given subject.
As you work, try tto identify key works in the field (and what makes them "key works," perhaps their influence on later scholarship). In the end, after reviewing and critiquing individual articles and monographs (usually starting with the earliest published and working your way to the most recent), you should be able to evaluate the state of the field as a whole, and how its methodologies, source materials, emphases, and conclusions have changed; note possible furture directions for research; and identify problem areas or weaknesses in past historical writing on the subject. In doing so, you must present a thesis of your own, which should be a critical assessment -- with your reasons given and defended -- of the development of a particular historiographical question and the current state of the field.
Questions? Come see me!