Thank you so so so much for making this thread!! Bless your heart!
I have a slightly concerning question about my History Extension major work. I haven't really started at all (I know, I know, i've had ages and i've practically stuffed up the entire major work because I have absolutely no motivation and I am the queen of procrastination), so my question is: how do I start? I have my main idea (Witchcraft as Gender History) and I've decided the two events of history which may have impacted the way history is recorded (first and second wave of feminism), but I have no idea how to begin writing the actual major work. I am yet to find historians, but I have heaps of readings to do so that should be fine, but my issue is the way I should layout my major work and basically how do I start actually writing it, proposal and synopsis included.
Honestly I've asked my teacher and he just gives me more readings and I feel like I am slowly drowning!!
If you could help me out that would be actually so fantastic!!
Thanks 
No worries haha, absolutely happy to help
First of all, please don't freak out that you haven't started haha. Not that I want to encourage procrastination by any means, but you still have more than enough time (with some hard work) to bang out a fantastic essay
Last year I wrote three essays to three different questions before finally finding "the one" in the middle of term 2!
In terms of how to start, I'd have a look at your topic and try and break it down into a discussion of historiographical concepts (eg. postmodernism, linguistics, orientalism, empiricism, reductionism, macro-history, etc.), rather than events. IMO concept driven major works tend to be more sophisticated, and allow for a greater level of integration of key aspects of the syllabus. They also really help with making sure that your essay has the appropriate level of historiography over just history if that makes sense
Soooo I believe the best way to approach the major work is to structure your response around these key concepts, having a paragraph for each and how they relate to your argument.
It's easier to explain using my major work as an example. So my major work was on the legitimacy of Hegelian maoist dialectics (particularly the theory of the interpenetration of opposites) in explaining the current historiographical climate and trends. I looked at history and identified a pattern consistent with this theory, that though history was expanding and gaining momentum as an academic medium through new ideas and new historical actors/authors, it was also declining in significance due to the fact that there was no longer a concrete definition of history, and no way to actively assess the legitimacy of historians (I used Bill O'Reilly as an example - horrific historian but a historian none the less). History was transitioning into its opposite, from a discipline obsessed with objectivity that now thrived on its subjectivity. I structured my response around the "new ideas and new historical actors/authors" - the concepts of my essay. I had a paragraph on the linguistic turn/postmodernism as my expanding idea, and a paragraph on social history/bottom up approach in regards to new individuals engaging with the past or being included within its re-telling. (Just fyi when I use the term paragraph it's probably more appropriate to think of it as a "section" as they were made up of multiple paragraphs just on the same point).
If you are struggling with working out the concepts do not be afraid to structure your response around the key questions of the syllabus if they fit! So that includes;
• Who are the historians?
• What are the aims and purposes of history?
• How has history been constructed and recorded over time?
• Why have approaches to history changed over time?
A paragraph on each of these would also make for a fantastic essay! Yeah so basically my number one thing is to avoid structuring your essay around events as you want to avoid writing a chronology. DEFS mention first and second wave feminism. They're freaking important to what you're studying! But I'd really advise not using them as your structure, moreso as examples that back up your concept driven arguements
In terms of your
proposal, that varies from school to school unfortunately. At my school, the proposal was only worth 2 marks, so as long as you appropriately outlined what you are going to discuss then you were fine. At other schools however it can be more strict. What I will say is that I believe that an effective proposal should include what you intend on discussing, why you want to discuss it, what is your question and thesis/judgement, how do you intend on answering that question, what sources have you looked at so far, what sources will you look to in the future
I've attached my proposal for reference (this was for my old old question though). Your
synopsis should just be written as your introduction. Like it can literally BE your introduction and then you start the essay from the first paragraph (check with your teacher first - but if it's good enough for the HTA then it should be good enough for them
).
I hope this all makes sense! How to start the major work is quite a big one, but I think this has covered quite a few key points
If you need any more clarification, feel free to post any more questions below, or check out this thread that I made:
THE MAJOR WORK! TIPS FROM A 2016 SURVIVOR :)
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