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This article discusses '''historiography''', the writing of history by scholars and specialists.  For lists of historians, see [[Historians]] .

This article discusses '''historiography''', the writing of history by scholars and specialists.  For lists of historians, see [[Historians]] .

British historian E. H. Carr (1892-1982) has advised that history is not a single, well-defined narrative or bundle of facts that can be memorized, but a terrain of contestation between competing and evolving interpretations whose influence is as much shaped by time and place as by any given set of facts.<ref> E.H. Carr, ''What is History?'' (1961)  

British historian E. H. Carr (1892-1982) has advised that history is not a single, well-defined narrative or bundle of facts that can be memorized, but a terrain of contestation between competing and evolving interpretations whose influence is as much shaped by time and place as by any given set of facts.<ref> E.H. Carr, ''What is History?'' (1961) </ref>

Historians face seven methodological problems: how to address a past holistically, given the inevitable process of excluding certain peoples from our accounts and the issue of absent social categories; generalizing from fragmentary evidence; understanding causality; establishing differences and similarities; social constructionism; presentism and appropriate concepts; and evaluating competing explanatory accounts.<ref>Miles Fairburn. ''Social History: Problems, Strategies and Methods'' (1999). </ref>

Historians face seven methodological problems: how to address a past holistically, given the inevitable process of excluding certain peoples from our accounts and the issue of absent social categories; generalizing from fragmentary evidence; understanding causality; establishing differences and similarities; social constructionism; presentism and appropriate concepts; and evaluating competing explanatory accounts.<ref>Miles Fairburn. ''Social History: Problems, Strategies and Methods'' (1999). </ref>