本課程透過選讀西方史學名著，讓學生對西方史學發展的歷程有基本瞭解。課程將按時間順序簡介西方史學發展軌跡，並搭配代表性著作的片段。
　　西方史學源遠流長，最初可以追溯到帶有神話成分的荷馬史詩。後來到了西元前六世紀的希臘史學革命後，出現了希羅多德與修昔底德等著名史家，西方史學才另闢蹊徑，開始出現強調事實根據的世俗歷史。後來希臘史學也影響了羅馬史家，確立了西方古典史學傳統。後來基督教在西方興起，在中世紀時成為西方社會的主要精神紐帶。而此時期的基督教史學家則以英國的比德為代表，強調從宗教立場來解釋歷史的演變。
　　到了十五世紀，現代西方史學開始興起。文藝復興、科學革命以及啟蒙運動都對西方史學界造成了影響，中世紀的基督教史學逐漸被拋棄，而宣導回到古典史學理想的世俗史學，但又同時對古典史學進行批判。到了十八世紀末，美國革命也進入了西方史學，美國史學開始走出一條不同的道路。十九世紀的歐洲史學持續對啟蒙運動中的理想做出回應，出現了觀念論、馬克思主義、實證主義和浪漫主義等不同流派，而其中又以實證主義對後世史學影響最大。同一時期，美國史學界受到浪漫主義與民族主義的影響，並逐漸走向職業化。
　　進入二十世紀後，現代史學在美國的初期發展分別受到相對主義、實用主義與進步史觀的影響。進入1960年代後，馬克思史學、法國年鑑學派與英國新左派史學對美國史學產生廣大影響。1970年代以來，新社會史開始大行其道，以社會科學治史成為趨勢。1960年代的法國思潮，如結構主義、後現代理論、文學理論以及文化人類學，於1980年代對美國史學開始發揮影響，使得美國史學界出現了語言轉向、後現代主義、文學轉向、人類學轉向和文化轉向。
　　自二次大戰以降，美國史學的關注就從美國史而逐漸更加關注非西方與全球觀點。後殖民主義、比較史以及區域史到了1990年代都越來越受矚目。自1960年代以降興起的全球史則在1990年代起大放光芒，並成為二十一世紀初期的史學主流。而隨著人與其他生物和自然環境的關係成為當今人類社會的重要課題，如何回應這些課題則成為未來西方史學發展的重要指導。
The course is a chronological survey of Western historiography. Western historiography has a long tradition since the Homeric epics. By the sixth century BC, the Greek revolution initiated by Herodotus and Thucydides opened a new direction for Western historiography and secular history based on facts appeared since then. Later Greek historiography influenced Roman historians and Greco-Roman history laid the classical tradition for Western historiography. As Christianity prevailed in the West, it became the spiritual tie for the Western world. Christian historiography in this era viewed destiny as the driving force of historical change, and Bede in England was the most important monk-historian at that time.
During the fifteenth century, modern historiography began to rise in Europe. The Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment had great influence to Western historiography. Medieval ecclesiastical history was gradually abandoned, and early modern historians called for returning to Greco-Roman ideal of history while being critical of classical tradition. In the end of the eighteenth century, the American Revolution became an important subject in history. American historiography began to take shape and became a different but important branch of Western historiography. In the nineteenth century, European historiography kept on responding to Enlightenment ideals, and different schools of thoughts formed around major historical theories. Four of the most influential ideologies shaping European and American historiography at that time were Idealism, Marxism, Empiricism, and Romanticism. Empiricism ultimately became the most influential for later development of modern Western historiography. In this era, American historiography was mainly influenced by Romanticism and nationalism, and moved toward professionalization.
In the early twentieth century, modern historiography in the US was influenced by Relativism, Pragmatism, and Progressivism. By the 1960s, Marxism, the French Annales school, British New Leftism became the most important inspirations for American historians. Since the 1970s, New Social History became popular in America and the application of social sciences to history was the main trend. The French theories of structuralism, postmodernism, literature, and cultural anthropology, prevailed in Europe in the 1960s, began to catch American historians’ attention in the 1980s. During this era, there were a series of the Linguistic Turn, Postmodernism, Literary Turn, Anthropological Turn, and Cultural Turn.
Since the WWII, the focus of American historians gradually moved from national history toward non-Western and global history. Postcolonialism, comparative history, and regional history became popular in the 1990s. The rise of global history in the 1960s became more and more dominant in the 1990s and the mainstream in the early twenty-first century. As the human-animal and human-natural relationships have become important issues for contemporary human societies, the responses to those issues will guide the directions of future Western historiography.