Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2026 - HIST 300 D100

Historiography (4)

Class Number: 2829

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 9 – Dec 6, 2026: Thu, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units, including six units of lower division history.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the conceptual problems involved in the historian's attempt to apprehend the past. Focuses on the nature of historical knowledge and explanation, and to the broad systems and patterns in which history has been conceived.

COURSE DETAILS:

How have historians understood and written history? What objectives have they pursued and what methods have they used in writing history? We shall explore these questions in various ways. A survey of the history of historiography accompanied by illustrative samples will begin the course. Then we shall investigate two ways of decolonizing history by reading excerpts from an archive prepared by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto before its destruction in 1943 by German forces and from a survivor of one of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools.

You will set the agenda in the final weeks of the course with your own historiographical research projects. For the final essay, you will develop your own topic that investigates an historian, or historical genre, or historical controversy. 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

The course requirements of History 300 will help you achieve the educational goals of undergraduate courses in the Department of History.  Specifically, by the end of the course you will be able to

  • identify and assess objectives, methods, and genres of historical writing.
  • perform historiographical research.
  • develop a research topic in historiography.
  • present historiographical research in oral and written form.

The assessment of these goals will take several forms: regular class participation and a presentation that facilitates class discussion of an aspect of historiography, two short essays on historiographical themes, a longer historiographical research essay in which you will draw on several primary and secondary sources, and two early brief assignments and a prospectus that will prepare you for the research essay.

Grading

  • Oral class participation 10%
  • Prospectus for Historiographical Research Essay, due on 27 October 10%
  • Brief reference format assignment due on 17 September 4%
  • Class Presentation in preparation for the Historiographical Research Essay (Weeks 9-12) 7%
  • Brief historiographical research assignment due on 22 September 5%
  • Historiographical Research Essay (2000 words, due on 3 December) 30%
  • Two short essays (800-1000 words each, due on 29 September, 2 November) = 2 x 17% 34%

NOTES:

This course counts towards the History Honours Program as well as a Group 4: Global Comparative requirement for the History major. 

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Jeremy D. Popkin, From Herodotus to H-Net: The Story of Historiography, 2nd ed. (2021): purchase from the SFU Bookstore as a paperback book or as a rented eBook. Please note: your assignments will be based on the second, not the first, edition of Popkin’s book.

David G. Roskies, ed., Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto: Writing our History (2019), online at the SFU library.

Bev Sellars, They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School (2013), online at the SFU library.

Readings available electronically from the SFU library through the course syllabus.

Department Undergraduate Notes:

Learn more about studing History at SFU:

History areas of study


Why study History?

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.