Trying to summarize even a few historiographical trends in capsule form is a sin only slightly less serious than omitting the subject altogether. Not only is the topic immense, but any secondhand account of another historian's work should be viewed with suspicion. If you want to know what a historian says about a subject, you should read that historian's work. History as a discipline is alive and growing, telling its story of change but telling also how tenaciously the past survives in the present. Historiography is the study of the various approaches to historical method, the actual writing of history, and, primarily, the various interpretations of historical events.
Historiography is the study of the techniques employed by the individual historian.
It is not necessary to study primary materials, i.e., original source materials, in order to study historiography. For historiography is concerned mainly with what has been written about historical events the various schools of thought and interpretation centered around any particular historical occurrence not with the source materials from which the historical fact was derived, although the methodology employed by the historian may be scrutinized to substantiate his or her conclusions. But there are many significant, controversial topics in American history. These topics possess numerous legitimate, and sometimes conflicting, interpretations. It should be emphasized, however, that the study of American historiography is a deep and penetrating subject, requiring a thorough knowledge not only of historical fact but of individual American historians as well.