Writing Workshop: Essays and Policy Briefs
After this term, I hope we can all agree that 'perfect' essays -- like all the other forms of 'perfectibility' we have explored -- can only be social constructions. There is certainly no Platonic ideal of a final essay -- or final policy brief -- out there for this module. However, there are more or less interesting, more or less achievable, and more or less analytical essay or policy briefing questions. Today, we will talk about how to form an exciting and generative question either for a standard essay or a policy brief, how to go about researching it while playing to your own strengths as a historian, and how to produce an essayor brief that is as interesting and readable as your own favourite readings this term.
PLEASE BRING TO CLASS:
- Your topic (this can be specific -- but it can also be 'I really enjoyed the seminar on... How can I write an essay on that kind of stuff?'
- Your reflections on what kind of research you enjoy the most (Primary or secondary? Visual or textual? Films or photos, diaries or novels? Quantitative evidence, like survey data or bulk analysis of printed text or social media?)
- An idea or two about what time or place you would like to explore.
- A few thoughts of what you do best as an essayist/historian. Do you want to speak to current events or issues in society? Do you prefer to look more deeply into the past to recover, identify or reinterpret historical identities, activities, or phenomena?