HSC Advice Line- How much historiography? (1 Viewer)

[braindrainedAsh]

I rang up the HSC Advice Line today because I wanted to know how much historiography one would need to incorporate in to their essays to recieve a band 6. The guy I got was very helpful, and these are some points that he gave me.

-You can get a band 6 without putting any historiography in to your essay (that certainly came as a surprise to me), but he recommended that you put some in to be safe.
-You don't have to directly quote historians, you can just state their opinions.
-Historiographical debate can be seen in the media, and even in courts of law (apparently there was a court case over Irving's statement that the Holocaust was a lie... need to look more at that)
-In the syllabus it talks about usefulness, reliability and variety of sources available... it isn't really necessary to discuss this, however it will be reflected by the historiography you mention. Historiography showing different perspectives is good.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[meh]

yep it does thanks so much for posting

 

[Benno]

hmm, can u use websites? quote on of what people have thought about the holocaust etc.
a while ago i went to nazi.org (no im not a nazi) and read through the FAQ could i use there opinions on hitler and the holocaust?

 

[picaresque]

probably not a safe route to take - it is a much better idea to use well-established and published opinions, otherwise, you could simply make up your own quotes and attribute them to any random person. also, history essays are testing your in-depth knowledge of personalities and events, not your knowledge of contemporary public opinion.

 

[onemoreyear]

you can go over the top in historiography. I reckon I would know 80 historians for the Germany and Cold War (maybe 60/40). In the trial essays I structured my answers around the evidence for and against different sides of the historiographical debate. i.e. what makes historian A think historian B is wrong and is this conclusion from the evidence correct.

Whilst I got fairly good marks (18 and 28) the problem was that I went over the top on historiography. What they would prefer is not so much a discussion of the historiographical debate but just to bring in a few historians, and maybe attach one or two to the end of each paragraph. Much more tokenistic.... to show you are aware of historiographical debate than actually try and participate in it.

 

[jgirl:).....]

yeha i think that historiography shuld be used to back up a statement - its jus an added way of showing that you know you stuff...they aren't goin 2 want a full essay of qoutes, and historical debates, rather just a few simple uses of it..to back up your statement, showing you understand critics/historians as well as can relate them to certain areas - well thats wot i think - hehe not that im markin HSC papers!

 

[TastesGoodBut]

make up a historians names, or use your teachers

*insert teacher here* argues that *insert fake statement about Colectivisation in the soviet union*

 

[Insanity540]

I've heard you can get tops without any histo.,
and also the problem with using it is - using it too much,
the markers want your opinion/analysis, not someone elses...

just use it a bit, to support your argument.

 

[apollo]

historiography is not worth the thought people seem to think it is. you can cain the exam without it, and putting it in simply will not make up for lacking information, or make you looking like a sterling student immediately. a well structed essay, truckloads of information and passing reference to a historian - "hooker says that this was not the case, he suggests that the truth is they blah blah" will get you a good mark.

do not lose any sleep over historiography... its what history extention students preach to mod & ancient students

 

[emily]

i agree that it is a bit overrated, but sorry - i'm an exaple of where shoving it in got me more marks!! my trial question fro germany was iccy, and i had absolutely no idea how to answer it (how did militarism effect political life in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 45 - how incredibly iccy is that?!!) but i mentioned a couple of names and got 18...

ahh well, i guess it all depends hey...

 

[apollo]

i use it in every essay i do... mention a historians bias after a quote, whatever... but like i said - i will not be losing any sleep over it. it's not really a big issue unless you do 3 unit.

 

[sugared plum]

Historiography WILL make up for not knowing anything.
I did it in the trials for Germany - had about 5 'facts', the rest historians' analysis (which I basically made up).