Scott Eric Kaufman of UC, Irvine, blogs at Acephalous and The Valve. He has a recent series of posts on"How To Open An Academic Essay ...." Here they are for your convenience:

Part I: Hostile Habilis
Part II: The State of the Field
Part II, Part II: Know Thyself, Field Surveyor
Part III: Good Sir, I Implore You vs. The Historical Anecdote
Part IV: The Self-Aggrandizing Personal Anecdote
Part V: Build You a Metatheoretical Apparatus
Part VI: The Balinese Cockfight

These learned posts are supplemented by:

How Not To Open, Close, or Anything In Between An Academic Essay, Part I: My Formative Years and
How Not To Open, Close, or Anything In Between An Academic Essay, Part II: Welcome to Your New Low Opinion of Me.

Scott Eric Kaufman - 6/26/2005

Depends on who "we" are, as I'm not an historian but that much hated beast among historians, an "historicist." I strive for accuracy, but I'm sure all y'all actual historians would find plenty to tsk-tsk in my work.

Jonathan Dresner - 6/26/2005

Sure we are, though the balance is a bit different in history....