Researching Historiographies

General Information about Historiography

General Considerations

  • Who are the major historians for your topic?
  • How can these historians be organized into schools of approach or methodology?
  • How has the historiography of your topic evolved over time?
  • How did the various historians explore the topic through a political, social, or economic lens?

Books
Example searches:

  • historiography "French Revolution"
  • historians "Mao Zedong"

Articles
Example searches:

  • historiography and "Australia"
  • historians and "Slave Tade"
  • “historiographical-evolution” and "Aztecs"
     
  • Additionally, conduct searches on the topic (e.g., "French Revolution") and note who is cited in the bibliography.

Recommended databases:

Researching Historians

Do they have websites?
  • Often, scholars will post their Curriculum Vitae online, including their list of publications.
  • Are they associated with a university or other organizations?
Search for the authors and their articles/books on Google Scholar.
  • On the results page, if an author's name is hyperlinked, click on it to see the author's page.
  • For specific books or articles, click the Cited by hyperlink to view books/articles that have cited the work.
Conduct author searches in history databases, such as JSTOR.

Additionally, explore the faculty of universities specializing in the field that you are research.