1, guided by historical issues

Asking an interesting question is the key to writing a successful paper. Your thesis is not so much about a historical topic as a question, and then you will use the historical evidence you have in the following pages to solve this problem.

2. Demonstrate from a historical perspective.

Your paper must show the position of the question you raised. You are not simply observing what you read, you are using your observation to build an argument and tell us something new about the past. Your argument may correct the views put forward by other scholars, may clarify a new way of looking at a theme, and may also reveal a point that scholars have neglected in previous studies.

3. Based on first-hand information

Different from the research papers of other disciplines, historical papers rely on original materials, that is, the materials of the period covered by the papers. They may be letters, diaries, census data, maps, speeches, treaties-any original materials at a certain historical moment. First-hand information is the key evidence to support your argument

Example 1:

China's long tradition of "restraining business" has formed people's consistent thoughts of "restraining business" and "restraining business". Businessmen are often in an embarrassing unbalanced state: they have great wealth and strong economic strength, but they are not recognized by society and people.

Shanxi merchants are unwilling to accept the extreme imbalance between "extremely rich as enemies" wealth and "humble and lowly" social status. The reason why Shanxi businessmen have this kind of cognition and emotion is that the unfair judgment of society has caused various ideological tendencies and behavioral tendencies-hoping to change the unbalanced judgment of society and get social recognition and affirmation.

But how can we change this unbalanced state? The mainstream consciousness of society has long been ashamed of being an official. To win respect, the important means is to rely on education. First, they improve their literacy through education, make friends with scholars, so as to close the distance with the literati class in knowledge, reach psychological communication with the literati class, improve their business taste, and win the understanding and recognition of the upper class.

Therefore, among the businessmen in Shanxi, there are many knowledgeable and talented businessmen. Even Liu Dapeng, a highly respected Qing Dynasty juren, praised: "Yu Yu has recently contacted several Shanxi businessmen, which is better than ten times. For example, there are great treasures in fish and salt, and there are noble people in Huo Zhi.