Written Communication Jan 1995

Writing in History

SHARON STOCKTON

Abstract

Student writing in history courses, graded evaluation of that writing, and faculty interviews all reveal a contradiction between the stated and implicit aims of historical discourse. The explicit definition of writing in history is “argumentation”; the implicit expectation, however, is for narrative. This apparent contradiction highlights what the author argues is the central function of academic historical discourse: the establishment of an autonomous subject of meaning who is always speaking from outside history about a distant and objectified past. Students are rarely aware of the importance of this voice, even at an unconscious level, because faculty themselves fail to articulate for students the distinctive nature of their genre or the function of historical discourse generally. This project thus builds on previous studies in rhetoric by using the work of theorists of history to identify more precisely what it is in historical discourse that is hidden from student view—the autonomous, transhistorical voice.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1995-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088395012001003
Open Access
Closed
Topics
voice and style argument

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Wolfe (2011)
    Argumentation Across the Curriculum
    Written Communication
  2. Coffin (2004)
    Learning to Write History
    Written Communication
  3. Smart (1999)
    Storytelling in a Central Bank
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. YOUNG et al. (1998)
    Writing from Primary Documents
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (1)

  1. Herrington (1985)
    Writing in Academic Settings: A Study of the Contexts for Writing in Two Colleg…
    Research in the Teaching of English
Also cites 7 works outside this index ↓
  1. Grumley, J.
    History and totality: Radical historicism from Hegel to Foucault
     ↗
  2. LaCapra, D.
    History and criticism
     ↗
  3. Mandelbaum, M.
    The anatomy of historical knowledge
     ↗
  4. Ricoeur, P.
    Time and narrative
     ↗
  5. White, H.
    The content in the form: Narrative discourse and historical representation
     ↗
  6. 10.1037/0022-0663.83.1.73
     ↗
  7. 10.3102/00028312028003495
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 13 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2025
    Rhetorics of Authenticity: Ethics, Ethos, and Artificial Intelligence ↗
    Adrianna Deptula; Paul Thompson Hunter; Richard Johnson-Sheehan
    multimodality artificial intelligence professional writing multilingual writers voice and style argument
  2. Poroi Dec 2024
    Ethos and expertise in the making of a celebrity (citizen) scientist ↗
    Nolan Speicher
    public rhetoric voice and style argument
  3. Written Communication Jul 2024
    Gateways and Anchor Points: The Use of Frames to Amplify Marginalized Voices in Disability Policy Deliberations ↗
    Sean Kamperman
    disability studies voice and style argument
  4. Poroi Jan 2022
    The Gendered Ethos of Pseudoscience: Feminized Discourse on Food Safety in the Blogosphere ↗
    Flemming Schneider Rhode; Tisha Dejmanee
    discourse analysis multimodality social media multilingual writers voice and style argument
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2019
    Trans Students’ Right to Their Own Gender in Professional Communication Courses: A Textbook Analysis of Attire and Voice Standards in Oral Presentations ↗
    Fernando Sánchez
    professional writing gender and writing voice and style argument