{"id":1408,"date":"2019-10-01T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/?p=1408"},"modified":"2019-07-22T15:25:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T20:25:16","slug":"the-need-for-research-and-writing-in-history-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/2019\/10\/01\/the-need-for-research-and-writing-in-history-class\/","title":{"rendered":"The Need for Research and Writing in History Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Professor Peter Baganz<\/em><\/p>\n

Before teaching at MLC, I taught history for 19 years at one of our area Lutheran high schools. Every student in every one of my history classes wrote a major research paper each year in addition to writing shorter papers and doing other projects. Why did I subject myself to all that correcting? Because research writing is such a vital component of \u201cdoing\u201d history.<\/p>\n

Writing Research Papers Builds Higher-Level Thinking Skills
\n<\/strong>Students who dislike history usually state that this is because all they do is learn boring names, dates, and facts. However, the true study of history goes far beyond these minuscule details into the real causes of events. Prominent philosophers of history have described the process in different ways. R. G. Collingwood stated that the historian must recreate the historical event in his or her mind to find the root causes of the event. The historian then writes a document that can be examined and studied even further to get the most accurate recreation of the event.[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

John Lewis Gaddis, the preeminent Cold War historian, compared the historian to an artist painting a picture, but then went on to describe how it is up to the historian to decide which aspects are part of the background and which parts of the picture need to be examined in detail.[ii]<\/a> Edward Carr described an \u201cunending dialogue between the past and the present\u201d practiced by historians.[iii]<\/a> They examine the works of others before writing their own point of view, and then others respond to their work as they try to get closer and closer to how something actually happened.<\/p>\n

Note that none of these descriptions of history point to a commonly accepted group of \u201cfacts\u201d that one must learn.[iv]<\/a> Rather, they all involve examining evidence and then writing <\/strong>one\u2019s version of history. If writing is so vital to the work of the historian, students studying history in our classrooms should also be using this same tool. At times, this is through essay questions that ask them to analyze, evaluate, or otherwise go beyond simply regurgitating names and dates. Sometimes it is through posing a question to them and having them write out their thoughts before discussing the question or hearing the teacher\u2019s point of view. But the most critical piece of writing for our history students is to have them research, read, and create their own work.<\/p>\n

Crafting a research paper forces students to practice all the higher-level thinking skills that are vital to learning. Students have to evaluate different sources for reliability and effectiveness in answering the question they have posed. They have to analyze the evidence that they collect and organize it into an effective argument. They must synthesize this information into a thesis that summarizes the point they are trying to make. They create a paper that pulls together these various elements into a unified whole.<\/p>\n

Students Must Write Research Papers at All Grade Levels
\n<\/strong>Yet, despite the critical importance of research writing, not all students have the opportunity to practice this vital skill. At MLC, every student is required to write a research paper for United States History Since 1945. As part of the writing process, I have a conference with every student to discuss the first draft of the paper. After several years of hearing students explain that they had never written a paper like this before college, I decided to begin tracking this information. I was rather shocked at the correlation between previous writing experiences and success at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n

During this past year, I had 109 students in this course. About 50% reported having experience at writing a history research paper before entering college, although levels of research varied. Others had written a research paper for another class, usually English, and a few had never written a full-blown research paper. I then compared the final grades on their college papers to their previous experiences. I was not surprised that students with previous writing experience did better, but I was shocked at how pronounced the difference was. Students who wrote any kind of research paper, such as one for English class, scored 5% higher than those who had not written any papers. That is the equivalent of 2\/3 of a grade, or the jump from a C to a B-. However, writing a paper for a history class raised the student\u2019s grade by an additional 4%, the equivalent of jumping the grade from a C to a B+. The correlation here is obvious. Writing research papers at the elementary and high school levels prepares students for success at writing college papers.<\/p>\n

Students studying history at all grade levels need to write. It is the key process in history. Students at upper levels, especially high school, need to do research writing. It builds higher-order thinking skills. It is a vital factor in their preparation for college. It helps them learn to research, to read, to organize their thoughts, and to build a logical argument. It is a vital part of understanding that history is not just \u201cfacts,\u201d it is interpreting and understanding why<\/strong> things happened as they did. If you are teaching history at any level, consider how you can provide opportunities for your students to practice their research and writing skills.<\/p>\n

Peter Baganz (DMLC \u201987) serves as professor of history and social sciences at Martin Luther College.<\/em><\/p>\n

______________________<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> [i] R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History<\/em> (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946), 282-284<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> John Lewis Gaddis, The Landscape of History<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 28.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> Edward Hallett Carr, What is History? <\/em>New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1967, 35.<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> Note that I put the word facts in quotation marks for a reason. I could have gone on a long rant about just who tries to determine something to be a vital \u201cfact\u201d in history, but in the interest of space, I restrained myself.<\/p>\n

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