Question

What is historiography?
A) Letters to historians
B) Study of old calligraphy
C) Ancient graffiti
D) Writing history with critically examined sources, and testable materials and synthesis

Answer 1

Hint: Historians' study interests fluctuate with time, with a trend away from traditional diplomatic, economic, and political history and toward newer approaches, particularly social and cultural studies. Between 1975 and 1995, the percentage of American history professors who identified with social history climbed from 31% to 41%, while the percentage of political historians declined from 40% to 30%.

Complete answer:
Historiography is the study of historians' approaches in creating history as an academic field, and by extension, any collection of historical work on a certain topic. The historiography of a topic is the study of that topic by historians utilising specific sources, techniques, and theoretical perspectives.

"When you study 'historiography,' you don't examine the events of the past directly, but the shifting interpretations of those events in the writings of various historians," according to a more current definition.

The goal of modern historians is to rebuild a record of human activities in order to gain a better understanding of them. This understanding of their role is relatively new, originating from the creation of "scientific" history in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as the establishment of history as an academic discipline. It is based on a relatively novel perspective in human history: the notion that historical research is a natural, unavoidable human activity. Historiography did not exist in any civilisation prior to the late 18th century. History was almost never taught as part of a regular education programme, and it never attempted to present a comprehensive view of human life.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘D’.

Note: While myth, folklore, epic poetry, and the novel all have a similar ancestor, history has deviated from these genres. Its claim to be true is based in part on the fact that all of the people and events it recounts were genuine people who lived in the past. Historians can't say anything about these people or events that aren’t backed up, or at least hinted at, by documentary evidence.