Historian Readers and Writers: The Exploring Stage of Argumentative Reading and Writing

• In Event: Thinking Historically: Narratives, Reasoning, Argumentation, and Assessment

Abstract

Using observations of historians engaging collaboratively in a historical reading and writing exercise, I identify their reading strategies, particularly their open-minded exploration of multiple competing interpretations, as prewriting strategies. I offer a new definition and conception of argumentative reading and highlight the vital role of academic humility in argumentation. These research findings carry instructional implications related to history teachers’ educational responsibility to prepare young people for civic engagement.

Author

• Jeffery D. Nokes, Brigham Young University