Forum #3: What specific person, movement, or topic that existed in your time period are you interested in exploring for your thesis?
Who are the main historians who have written about your specific interest? Provide a historiographical analysis on how their interpretations have changed over time on this specific topic.
Remember now you are looking as the specific topic for your thesis, and how its historiography fits into the general trends identified last week.
Topic Historiography
Now that we’ve done a bit of general research into the time period and geographical location that you want to discuss in your thesis, it’s time to start getting more focused. This week, I want you to think as specifically as possible about your thesis. Imagine if someone came up to you and asked you to explain the argument of your thesis in a single sentence (oddly enough, I’ve had people do this to me). What would you say? Although you should never phrase your argument this way in your writing, it might help to think of it this way: My thesis will prove ___.
Like last week, I would like you to find at least three books (no tertiary sources!) and two peer-reviewed journal articles to discuss in your post. These need to focus on your specific thesis argument. For myself, then, I would search for sources that discuss the 22 October 1812 anti-Bonapartist conspiracy of Claude François de Malet. Explain how the argument of your sources fits with your own. Which sources agree with your own conclusions? Which disagree? Keep in mind that if most of your sources agree with your conclusions, your topic may not be unique enough for a Master’s thesis. It’s always best (and certainly more interesting) to find sources that counter your own interpretations. When discussing a source that disagrees, be sure to explain why your perspective is the accurate one.
After you explain each source, please provide full bibliographic citations for them. Like last week, I expect these to be properly formatted in Chicago style, as this is the required format of the field of History. Of course, if you choose to quote from your sources, you will need to provide footnotes in addition to the required bibliography.