Dr. Matt Kuefler

8. THE USE OF EXAMPLES

How are examples used in history?

The claims of any historians are only as good as the examples they use from the historical record to support their claims. Examples help to verify these claims, and without them, we would simply have to take historians' word for their theories about history. As much as history is a humanities academic discipline, because it relies on the skillful use of compelling ideas through elegant and convincing words, the importance of examples demonstrates that history is also a social science, because it relies on data collected and interpreted for others. In this case, examples from historical sources are the data that historians use.

How can I use examples in my essay?

Your essay should have a clearly thought out thesis (see Writing Tip #1) and a number of reasons why you believe this thesis (see Writing Tip #2), laid out in points also serving as topic sentences (see Writing Tip #3). Examples from historical sources provide proof of the reasons that you give in support of your thesis. Except for the introduction and conclusion, each paragraph in your paper should begin with a topic sentence and continue with two or three examples from the historical source or sources you are using, examples that prove that the reason you give is a valid one.

Where should I look to find the examples for my essay?

Mostly those examples should come from the primary source or sources that forms the basis for your topic. But you might also consider using examples from secondary sources, when you need to find information that is not in the primary source or sources you are using. Be careful that the secondary source you are using is a reliable one: books and articles published by university presses have a strict review process that helps to insure that the information they provide is reliable, and so are the best secondary sources to use. In contrast, anyone can post any kind of information on the internet, and information found in newspapers or magazine articles is often sensationalized in order to sell more copies.

Example:

Suppose that your thesis is something like this: The Hundred Years' War is a misnomer.

Your reasons, written out as topic sentences for your essay, include the following:

The battles counted as part of the Hundred Years' War span 113 years, not a hundred years, and no cessation of the war was ever officially proclaimed even after that.

In the period identified as the Hundred Years' War, there were long periods of truces as well as periods of open hostilities, so it was hardly a war in the usual sense.

Your examples will mostly be taken from Jean Froissart's Chronicles, as one of the main primary sources written during the period of the war. For the examples in the first paragraph, you'll need to find Froissart's reference to the first outbreak of hostilities between England and France, and give the details of that incident, including its date, in a sentence or two. For that same paragraph, you'll also need to find information on the last battle of the war, information that is not found in Froissart's work, since he died before the war was ended. Here you can go to a general history of the Middle Ages, or even a modern history of the Hundred Years' War, and find out details about the end of the hostilities. You might go to the internet or to a general world history textbook, but you're not likely to find much more information than the date traditionally considered the end of the war, and that won't be enough detail for your example in this paragraph. For the second paragraph, you'll need to look through Froissart for the periods of truces and the periods of hostilities, and should be able to provide two or three examples easily from this source.