State of the Field Paper
My sophomore semester in the fall of 2022 ended up being the best academic semester of my life, but it started out as by far the most stressful. My schedule consisted of five classes that constituted sixteen credits, certainly not an insurmountable amount by credit standards. However, there were two classes in particular that were the root of my concern: HIST 415 England since 1603 and HIST 391. Despite the challenges I faced during the semester I was able to gain confidence in myself and in the process learn valuable skills for my major when writing a state of the field essay while simultaneously learning how to write a new type of scholarly writing.
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I would not consider myself close to an expert in any area of history, but English history was never a topic that I had read or learned a great deal about. Any doubts I initially had following registering for HIST 415 England since 1603 were bolstered when it became apparent there were some students who knew a lot more about English history then I did going into the class. Of course, in retrospect I should have known not to be making such trivial observations, but I felt it was necessary at the time because I was taking a paring history course, HIST 391. For the History BA degree there are three one credit courses that complement upper-division courses, essentially making them have similar workloads to graduate level courses. For HIST 391 this meant extra readings relevant to the course to enhance course knowledge and make it slightly more rigorous. The other characteristic of the pairing course was picking a topic to investigate further and writing two additional papers, a state of the field and book review, related to that topic. I felt that since I was taking such a course, I would have to be one of the most proficient and knowledgeable students in the course. After looking over the syllabus and calculating the weekly workload in addition to be other courses I started to convince myself that I was not capable of managing my classes, especially considering my limited knowledge on my most difficult course, one I was convinced I did not belong in.
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After repeated encouragement from my parents, consulting my professor about the class, and getting accustomed to managing my time for my classes, my worries started to gradually fade away. One of the aforementioned distinguishing features that taking the HIST 391 course entailed was writing a state of the field essay on a topic of your choice, so long as it pertained to England’s history in some way. The point of a state of the field essay is to provide a summary of the current historiography of a subject and compare it to older interpretations. Therefore, the importance of the paper lies within the overview of modern literature on a topic, the current areas of emphasis relevant to the topic, and accessing the strengths and weaknesses of each contribution. Writing such a paper entailed compiling relevant monographs from over the years, roughly ten to fifteen, and analyzing their contribution to the topic. Having already done my book review on a book about British fascism, I choose British fascism as my topic for the state of the field essay. I knew nothing about the topic prior to the class and was very intrigued by what I was learning. To find books to use for the state of the field essay I used the further reading section of a textbook chapter on British fascism my professor had assigned me and the recommended readings section from the book I reviewed.
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One of the most significant steps for writing this type of paper was being able to determine what sections of a book were necessary in order to get a coherent understanding of the author’s argument. This is important not only to be time efficient, but also in finding what unique aspect the author is contributing to the field. To conduct this research, I used the Memorial Library and the inter-library loan system to get copies of books. For books not available in entirety I read academic book reviews that summarized the arguments and contributions, the JSTOR database was especially helpful in that respect. Writing in the Chicago Manual of Style, I expanded my knowledge of the professional citation format in my field, both for footnotes and bibliography. The prospect of summarizing over ten author’s arguments was intimidating, but I was able to find an effective system where I would read the introduction and conclusions of books to get an understanding of what the author’s argument and contribution was. If necessary, I would also read chapters that provided the most vivid example for complicated arguments.
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While working on accomplishing this I learned a lot of valuable skills in writing a historiography paper. In doing this I also learned to analyze potential biases, limitations, or idiosyncratic elements of sources. For example, Keith Hodgson’s Fighting Fascism: The British Left and the Rise of Fascism, challenged the traditional belief that British fascism was not a legitimate threat by detailing the austerity parties on the British left regarding fascism. A special aspect the British left used when analyzing fascism was doing so through a class lens. After my finishing my research I concluded that the modern historiography surrounding British fascism contradicted original arguments about the movement being illegitimate and non-threatening by writing extensively about the diverse nature of the movement and the traction it gained in British society.
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Taking HIST 415 England since 1603 allowed me to gain more confidence in myself, specifically in my time management and academic capabilities. Ultimately, I think I was reminded that I decided to become a history major because I enjoy learning about the past, not because I know most of it. While writing my state of the field essay on British fascism I learned how to efficiently and effectively summarize the arguments and contributions made by various authors. Thanks to this experience, I am now much more confident in my abilities to identify arguments and contributions in future research projects. I learned how to write a new form of historical paper and dissect arguments in a manner that will be useful for future academic endeavors like the history capstone research paper and other research projects. I will now have experience that I can apply when accessing the quality of sources in any future research projects. Being able to recognize biases, limitations, and idiosyncratic elements will also be helpful in a professional setting such as being able to share analytical skills through teaching, reports, or even in a legal setting.