What's historiography and how do I use it effectively in an essay?

Historiography is a word used to describe the different ways historians have thought about an answer to an historical question. For example, one area of historical debate is Italian unification, and what exactly caused it. Romantic nationalist historian Benedetto Croce argued that nationalism was key to the unification of the Italian states, forming the basis of the traditional approach to unification. However, this has proved a highly contentious view; Mack Smith argues that the "realpolitik" of Piedmontese figure Cavour was much more important. Both of these different perspectives represent just a fraction of the historiography, or debate, over the issue of Italian unification. Exam questions are always based on these areas of historical debate, and are designed for you to demonstrate your knowledge of them and arrive at your own opinion. Using historiography is an excellent way to show that you understand a question beyond a superficial level, and recognise its significance within history for historians, and exactly why you are being asked it in the first place.When answering a question that wants you to explore and examine different factors, you can use historiography to present these different factors, or rather, arguments. Taking the aforementioned historical debate of Italian unification as an example, in a question asking what was most significant in causing unification you could structure your answer explaining that: "traditionally, historians such as Croce have argued that nationalism was the most important factor in unification. This approach is convincing to some extent, as..." and continue on to examine the significance of nationalism in Italian unification. For your following point, you could then use opposing historiography, like Mack Smith, to move along your essay in a sophisticated manner. For example:Whilst to a limited extent the nationalist approach has its merits in explaining unification, more recently revisionists like Mack Smith have argued that individual Piedmontese figures such as Cavour had a much more significant hand in achieving the unification of Italy." and then go on to examine and compare the strength of the argument in comparison to the nationalist argument. For examples of historiography, look in your textbook - these often contain snippets from historian's books containing opposing arguments. Read these to give yourself a sense of the historical debate surrounding the question and use the historians names in your essays to really wow a marker. Wikipedia can also be quite useful for this (although of course approach the site with the given amount of caution with regard to its accuracy). Click on the references to see where certain arguments have been sourced from. Maybe even check out a couple of the most influential pieces of historiography from your local library!