In the process of writing, when we practice writing, we should first make a good plan and understand the historical materials and related issues within the scope. There are two ways: first, prophetic materials, and then arouse our interest in writing. For example, li yanshou, a native of the Tang Dynasty, participated in the compilation of books of Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen, Zhou and Sui, became familiar with the historical materials of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then decided to write the History of the South. Then, the historical materials of Qin Hui, Senior Three Dynasties and Jin People's Peace War were collected. Writers since ancient times have come up with these two methods. Of course, there must be a theoretical basis and you can use it when writing a paper. And before writing, we must know whether it is necessary for society to write this book, what are the shortcomings of previous writing, and what supplements or contributions will be made to the history books planned to be written. Otherwise, it is a waste of energy and time, the so-called hard work.
When writing a book or a paper or practicing writing, you must master the materials. First of all, you must have a concept as the starting point of writing. The source of the concept comes from the actual struggle, or from some doubts caused by reading, and I want to do further research, or I have experience to correct the mistakes of my predecessors, or compare various records of an event to get the truth, or I am inspired by my teachers and friends to study in depth. With the concept, we can draft the content. Solid depends on its content, and whether it is suitable for editing also has certain influence. The so-called compilation belongs to the form of books, such as the distribution of chapters and the appropriateness of organization. The importance of compilation can be seen from Hanshu. Han Shu written by Ban Gu is not as good as Historical Records written by Sima Qian. However, the compilation of Hanshu is neat, much more than Shiji, which is the public responsibility of the world.
About beginners' writing, we should pay attention to five items: first, choose the topic; Second, draw up an outline; Third, collect materials; Fourth, copy notes; 5. write a paper. This is the main procedure of history writing. As for the textual research of historical materials and the unity of historical materials and historical views, it is not mentioned, just as far as writing is concerned. The procedure seems simple, but it is not easy to apply, so here is an explanation.
First, choose a topic. Writing performance is often closely related to topic selection. The scope of the topic should not be too wide or too narrow. There are too many materials, which will be difficult to handle, and too little is not enough to apply. Therefore, before choosing a subject, we must first understand the situation, such as the availability of materials, the difficulty of the work, and more importantly, we must know what our predecessors have done, what achievements and shortcomings they have, and whether they can make further development on the basis of their previous research.
Second, draw up an outline. It will be a subjective imagination to draw up an outline after deciding the topic, which may not be applicable at all in the future. It is best to be quite familiar with the materials within the scope and understand the work of predecessors before drawing up the outline. The outline should not be too detailed or too rough, and it can only be used as a temporary plan to try to collect materials. We have read more materials and learned more stories, so we will have different comments on the works of our predecessors, and we will focus on our own works. When it is necessary to revise the outline, you can use it instead of insisting. Beginners ask teachers and friends to have a look and give their opinions for reference and revision.
Third, collect materials. The materials are quite dispersed. For example, every major city in Jiangsu Province has some collections, which cannot be satisfied with one or two libraries. A library with rich information is most helpful for collecting information, but other libraries should not be denied. Books are often checked through catalogues. Generally, the catalogue only includes the title, author, volume, publishing unit, year and edition, and the contents of the book are unknown to readers. More than seven-tenths of Nanjing Library's materials about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are the works of unknown people. However, these people's works preserve more real and important materials. Detailed catalogues and thematic catalogues can often help readers solve problems, as well as manuscripts, books and unpublished documents. If we have a chance to use them, we shouldn't lose them. We should not be satisfied with catalog knowledge.
4. copy notes. Reading historical materials, in which the plots recorded are often unknown to readers, is to avoid forgetting after reading, or to facilitate re-checking. Notes are written by readers in their own words, abstracts or important words for their personal reference, form and content. Generally speaking, it is appropriate and useful to extract materials with cards. Each piece of information should be an independent unit, neither lengthy nor out of context, and the page number of the original book should be indicated. In the future, you can compile the title, so that it can be summarized into categories and easy to find. Zhang Mu called it a theory in the preface of the existing manuscript: "After half a day's footprint at the beginning of Richard, the book is finished, but the reading is brief. Everything is a topic, and there are dozens of huge albums, scale comparison. "
5. write a paper. After collecting all kinds of materials, historians choose appropriate materials, connect them with arguments, arrange them in appropriate positions, become an organized whole, and then write papers or books. The length of the work will depend on the size of the topic and the amount of materials, which is in form. In fact, works can be divided into two types: first, low-level works, copied from predecessors, patched together, and of low value. We have used all available materials to produce new ideas or new ideas that have never been put forward or are unknown to our predecessors. We really want to correct the mistakes of our predecessors and find out the truth of the historical process based on real and valuable materials. We are beginners, but we don't have to expect to write a blockbuster book in a short time, but if we practice writing in a realistic way for a long time, we will certainly achieve something.
What we want to explain is that historical works are not accumulated by many facts. In addition to facts, there is also the relationship between historical view and historical sites, which is the so-called internal relationship. Historians serve different classes and have different views on history. As working-class intellectuals, we should use Marxism-Leninism theory to explain historical sites, which can run through the whole work and become the argument of the whole article. No matter how many facts are quoted, we mainly focus on proving the argument. On the other hand, the author should pay attention to causality. In nature, all phenomena are interrelated and restricted. The development of all kinds of things in human society can not be separated from each other's connection and mutual restriction. There is no single thing in the world. No matter how many facts are quoted, we mainly express relationships. If we can pay attention to the arguments and context of the full text everywhere, it will become an organized work. To sum up, the work as a whole, organized according to relevant facts, is by no means a pile of facts. When we collect materials, we must first distinguish which facts can be part of the whole and which cannot be part of the whole. After collecting enough facts, we must study how to use each part to make it a coherent and organized whole.
Note: historical works must explain the source of materials, which the ancients often did not do. Zhang Xuecheng said in Notes on Literature and History: "People's thoughts are increasingly open, the atmosphere is changing, the meaning of essays is unclear, and the habit of attaching chapters is becoming more and more complicated. In official books, this is just a question of responsibility. In private school books, it is ostentatious, plagiarized, and clumsy. " The density of skills, the sincerity and falsehood of the mind can be seen from the book, but the atmosphere can gradually return to ancient times. "Writing a book is inevitably perfunctory, both ancient and modern. Zhang Xuecheng has a strong retro idea, but he should be cautious in his works and explain the source of materials, but this is an important suggestion. Sima Guang's Zi Tongzhi Jian, Li's Zi Tongzhi Jian, and Li Xin's In order to be a historian on the right track, the Ganjia School indicated the number of books cited. We should now indicate the number of pages, place and year of publication. Felling discussed this matter and divided it into two categories, which are introduced as follows;
A: Notes. Those listed at the bottom of each page can be divided into three items: 1. Number of pages of books cited; Second, quote the original historical materials; Three. Evidence of discussion. 10 。
B: Timetable. There are three items attached to the end of an article or book: 1. Bibliography; Second, the relationship file; Three. Important comments.
Lin Fei put forward this suggestion according to the habit of modern western works. The History of International Relations of the Chinese Empire written by Marx has both annotations and appendices, occupying a considerable space. This is an example of a book. Papers often have notes without appendices, and there may not be three items in each category. When necessary, there are even notes listed at the end of the paper in various forms, but the source of the materials should be explained.
It will be more convenient for readers if there are tables in the book. There are many kinds of tables, and the author has added many facts or figures to the table, which impressed the readers deeply, and was too specific and descriptive. Pictures include images and maps. Written records can't describe the shape of cultural relics in detail, but it will be helpful if there are images. Maps are indispensable tools for reading history and should be inserted. For example, ancient prose, historical records and Han books are all examples. Later generations put the table of contents at the beginning of the book to facilitate readers to consult the contents of the book. What the predecessors didn't know was the index. Modern western works must have a table of contents at the beginning and an index at the end. The table of contents should be detailed and the index should be detailed. The former refers to the breakdown of each item in the catalogue, while the latter refers to the detailed notes under each item in the index, which is particularly convenient for reference. It was recently published in China.
How to write a history paper
There are some similarities between the writing of historical papers and other papers, and there are also some specific requirements. What I'm discussing with you today is the related problems of writing historical papers.
First, the writing methods and requirements of historical papers
The most important thing is to determine the theme, list the writing outline according to the theme, and use the mastered materials in a planned way according to the guiding ideology and overall thinking of historical papers.
The article takes the outline as the framework, but not the outline as the boundary. It should be a whole with a complete history and momentum.
To write a good history paper, we should pay attention to the following questions:
(1) strives to integrate theory into narrative, so as to achieve the organic connection and internal unity between historical view and historical materials. It is necessary to prevent empty theories from lacking historical facts, and to avoid piling up historical materials without theoretical analysis. More importantly, we should try to avoid two skins of historical theory and historical materials, proceed from reality, lead to regularity and find out the internal relationship of things. To do this, we must rely on objective facts in detail.
(2) The unity of historical logic and linguistic logic, the language of historical papers should serve and obey the authenticity of history. On the premise of ensuring the correctness and accuracy of historical facts, both grammar and rhetoric should be attached importance to. Historical development has its objective laws that are independent of human will. The objective historical laws are reflected in people's minds and in historical papers or works. This is historical logic; The practice of embodying this historical logic is accomplished through the use of words, sentences and articles. However, "the truth in historical facts and truth" is the first, and "good articles" are the second. Historical papers should pay attention to the quality of language and prose, but we should not put the cart before the horse because of words. On the basis of true and rich content, give full play to the style of language and writing. Only in this way can we.
(3) The article should be fluent, concise and clear. In historical articles, in order to express people and things "truly, concisely and vividly", it is also appropriate to use part-time writing or so-called "half-writing and half-writing". In fact, it is impossible to use a little "classical Chinese" words and phrases.
(4) the accurate use of quotations, the emergence of "quotations" in historical papers is inevitable, which makes the argument reliable, helps to improve the quality of the article, reflects the author's knowledge, and the depth and breadth of understanding. However, there are also problems of what to quote and how to quote. First, we can quote the teachings of classic writers and the important speeches of revolutionary leaders. Third, the current statutory history textbook can be cited because it is based on the most reliable information. It is written with the most recognized arguments and the most standardized and concise words. Some non-historical works with historical themes, such as historical novels, romantic novels and historical stories, may have literary and artistic value and educational significance, but we can't quote them casually.
(5) The level and organization of historical papers. In general historical papers, we should pay attention to three points: paragraph division, quotation form and annotation type. A long historical paper of more than four or five thousand words can be divided into several large paragraphs according to the development of historical events or historical plots, with subtitles, so that the structure of the full text is neat and the connotation of each question is clear. The citation of historical papers should be short, appropriate and weighty. It should be properly embedded in the whole article, but it should not be abridged or taken out of context.
Second, the historical thesis model essay
Outline of modern Chinese history
First, we should attach importance to the study of China's modern political history.
The study of China's modern political history was relatively neglected for a period of time. Since 1980s, the study of modern cultural history in China has risen and become a hot spot. At that time, the study of China's modern history was focused on the revolutionary history and political history, and people felt that it was necessary to broaden the field, so people paid attention to the cultural field. However, in the "cultural craze", there has been a phenomenon of belittling political history. Some researchers believe that the study of political history is superficial and superficial, and only the study of culture can enter the deep layer of history, which is the center. Subsequently, the modern social history of China also attracted the interest of scholars, and the research on it was in the ascendant. However, there is a similar statement in the "cultural craze", which belittles the study of political history and even advocates replacing history with social history. Whether these statements are accurate is worth pondering. But I don't think culture is the center of history. In a conversation with Professor Bai Shouyi, I once talked about what is the center of history. Mr. Bai believes that history mainly focuses on politics, and politics is the backbone of history. Although economy is the foundation, it is restricted by politics, and culture is more restricted by politics. Culture cannot be the center of history. Although not many words, but very incisive.
Samuel huntington, a famous American scholar, published the article Clash of Civilizations a few years ago, which aroused strong international repercussions. This paper holds that the future international conflict is not a conflict between economy and ideology, but a conflict between western culture, Confucian culture and Islamic culture. Obviously, this takes culture as the center of society and plays a decisive role. No matter in history or in real society, culture undoubtedly has its due role, but it is not in the central position. Can't play a decisive role. As far as the real international community is concerned, the first is economic and political interests. The United States sells its values and culture to other countries in order to realize its economic and political interests. The fundamental factor of the Gulf War is not the so-called conflict between Islamic culture and western culture. Huntington wrote the book Clash of Civilizations and the Reconstruction of World Order on the basis of the article Clash of Civilizations. Provide a comprehensive, profound and more detailed answer to the questions raised in his article. Although he still tries to explain in his book that the fundamental factor is the conflict between Islamic culture and western culture, he cannot but admit that "the Gulf War was the first resource war between civilizations after the Cold War". He said: "The most critical question is: Will the world's largest oil reserves be controlled by the Saudi government and the UAE government that rely on western military forces to protect their security? Before the war, Iran, Iraq, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United States competed for influence in the Gulf region. After the war, the Persian Gulf became the inner lake of the United States. " [1] thinks that the key to this war is to fight for the control of "the world's largest oil reserve". "After the war, the Persian Gulf became the inner lake of the United States", which are the essence. Countries with the same Islamic culture can fight each other for economic and political interests such as oil and strategic position, and they can also support and participate in the war against Iraq organized by the United States. This just shows that the fundamental factor of the Gulf War is not the war between Islamic culture and western culture, but the conflict between economic and political interests.
One reason for belittling the study of China's modern political history is that some researchers think that the political history written in China's modern history is a history of class struggle, and some even accuse it of "focusing on class struggle". Engels pointed out in the preface written for the English version of 1888 Producers' Party Manifesto that "all history (since the disintegration of the original land public ownership) is the history of class struggle". It is "the basic idea that constitutes the core of the declaration" [2]. Lenin also said: "Class relations-this is the fundamental and main thing. Without it, there would be no Marxism [3]. If we adhere to the guidance of Marxism on historical research, we cannot do without class analysis and class struggle theory. As for equating class struggle with "taking class struggle as the key link", it is a confusion of different problems.
The weakening of the study of China's modern political history is also due to the fact that historians in the past focused on the study of major events from the Opium War to the War of Liberation, with many achievements. The starting point for further study is higher, the progress is more difficult, and greater efforts are needed. However, these major events are not without further study, many problems have not been fully clarified, and some problems need further study. For example, in recent years, Sun Yat-sen discovered a number of related materials, which were not well used for research; Researchers have different views on his thoughts and other comments. What's more, there is still no biography with high academic value and weight.
Major events are an important part of China's modern political history, but they are not equal to China's modern political history, nor are they all its contents. The content of China's modern political history is very rich and can't be ignored. The study of China's modern cultural history and social history has expanded the field of China's modern history, which is undoubtedly meaningful. However, it is not appropriate to advocate this point and suppress the other. Politics, economy, culture, even military affairs and diplomacy all need to be studied, which is necessary and valuable.
Second, we should pay attention to both micro-research and comprehensive research.
In recent years, the study of China's modern history tends to be detailed, focusing on specific issues, and has made gratifying achievements. Specific and microscopic research is the basis of comprehensive research, but if it is too fine, it will become "fragmentation". Modern China has a history of more than 100 years, and there are many people and things, so it is impossible and unnecessary to study all the details or minor problems one by one. That doesn't mean anything. Detailed research needs to consider whether the selected topics have research value. The topics with research value should not only be practical and clearly described, but also be investigated and explained in the big background.
On the basis of specific microscopic research, we should pay attention to comprehensive research. For a long time, we have done a lot of classified research and special research on the modern history of China, and we are qualified to do comprehensive research.
In my research work, literature, history, philosophy and so on belong to different disciplines. There are ancient history of China, modern history of China, world history and all kinds of special history. People who study the modern history of China are different from those who specialize in a major historical event. This kind of division of labor is too narrow and too specialized, which is not conducive to the development of history discipline, personnel training and quality production. It is also difficult to conduct a comprehensive study. Many figures in the history of China are familiar with classics, history, Confucianism, literature and Buddhism. The research on them should be comprehensive. For example, Wei Yuan, in China's works on modern history and ideological history, mainly wrote his thoughts on studying the world, especially focusing on Hai Guo Zhi and his famous saying "Learn from foreigners to control them". For example, there is no doubt that Wei Yuan's thoughts on studying the world should be emphatically analyzed. However, Wei Yuan is well-read. When he was young, he studied Yangming's mind and loved reading history books. Later, I followed my father to the capital, asked Hu about Confucianism in the Han Dynasty, asked Yao Xueshu NG @ 1, and asked Liu Xue Ram to practice Zen in his later years. He wrote a lot in his life, except the Atlas of the Ocean. Such as Zhang Sentence, Ancient University Books, Yong Yi, Shuo Ya, Ancient Chinese Classics in Primary School, Textual Research on Ancient Chinese Classics in Han Dynasty, Original Meaning of Laozi, Notes on Sun Zi, Fa Wei in Spring and Autumn Period, Shi Shu and Sun Zi. We can't just talk about some aspects, but also need comprehensive research. This is related to the knowledge structure of researchers and should meet the requirements of "general knowledge". A subject also has the problems of up-and-down communication and left-and-right communication to change the state of being too specialized and separated from each other.