A historiography (noun) or historiographical paper is an analysis of the interpretations of a specific topic written by past historians.
The major purpose of writing a historiographical paper is to convey the scholarship of other historians on a particular subject, rather than to analyze the subject itself.
Thus, a good historiography does the following:
Thesis
Main Body
Conclusion
Questions of historiography include the following:
As you can tell, the underlying sentiment of historiography is one of skepticism. This is due to the recognition that historians do have agendas and do select sources with the intent of "proving" certain preconceived notions. History is therefore never truly "objective," but always a construct that presents the historian's view of things.