how do you write a history essay

how do you write a history essay

Effective Strategies for Writing a History Essay

1. Introduction to Writing History Essays

In university, you will most likely be asked to write essays on historical topics. Individuals who are often called upon to write history essays are high school students and undergraduate history students. Students who study history do more than look at the past. They also think about the present and, perhaps, the future. There is a saying of almost religious content: “Do not forget history.” Not only is it true that history helps us to understand the present, but in many ways, the present is the consequence of the past. Because of this, writing about history can be very interesting, but it can also be very overwhelming. This article provides the strategies to help the writer with writing a history essay.

History essays test a range of skills including historical understanding, interpretation and analysis, planning, research and writing. To write an effective essay, you need to have a clear understanding of the question and use detailed analysis and evidence to support your view. Keeping a good flow of information and argument throughout the essay is like having a good theme in a piece of music. An essay that has a weak structure or is just a list of points loses half the marks available.

2. Researching and Gathering Evidence

In many cases, your most effective source of information about the past is written by the people you are studying. Old letters, diaries, Civil War memoirs, Postito, court records, and witness statements in coroners’ inquests are some of the types of writing that can provide you with valuable information that you need in order to answer your essay questions. Newspaper reports and painted records are some of the other forms of evidence that are especially useful. But remember that written records of the past were generally authored by males and reflected their perspective on the past. It is often the case that you will need to complement your historical research with archaeological or physical evidence. Draw up a list of required resources. When you have chosen your topic, you should search for sources of information on your topic. Your list of required resources should also include pertinent newspaper and periodical articles, and books, many of which have already been published on your chosen topic. You should also be aware that many research libraries will not own the resources you will need but will be willing to borrow them for you from other libraries, usually with a twenty-five cent borrowing fee.

You’ve chosen a topic and asked the appropriate questions, and you’re well on your way to writing a good history essay. Your next section of research involves gathering evidence. Every point in your essay should consist of one or more pieces of evidence. Sources of evidence about the past are varied, and go by such names as letters, memoirs, autobiographies, court records, wills, diaries, sheriff’s records, genealogies, histories, annals, census records, religious records, and customs records.

3. Structuring Your Essay

Pressure is added in this section. Writers often complain that they have to do so much in the opening paragraph: grab the reader’s attention, make a statement that demonstrates the essay is essential, lay the grounds for the thesis, and avoid making a basic factual statement that is likely to appear in another opening sentence. Sometimes the complaint is that nobody knows how to write ‘an opener.’ In response, it may help to know what students (not their teachers or their grandmothers) say they are looking for from an opening paragraph. Almost universally they specify the following five objectives. These students suggest that an effective opener does not deliberately try to ‘close the sale.’ They are prepared to wait a pars fora fine house and are interested first and foremost to know what the writer sees as important. They should be convinced that within the first page or two the thesis will address the issue of all issues, that the writer will not cruise through pedestrian and obvious evidence and that the prospects are good for a balanced exhibition of historical fact.

Pressure is added in this section. Writers often complain that they have to do so much in the opening paragraph: grab the reader’s attention, make a statement that demonstrates the essay is essential, lay the grounds for the thesis, and avoid making a basic factual statement that is likely to appear in another opening sentence. Sometimes the complaint is that nobody knows how to write ‘an opener.’ In response, it may help to know what students (not their teachers or their grandmothers) say they are looking for from an opening paragraph. Almost universally they specify the following five objectives. A history essay is a fact-stating piece of work. This must be the starting point of the essay. It is the reality base because the foundation of historical fact is mass documentation.

4. Writing and Revising Techniques

While revising, a student needs to check if the argument is clear, if the sources are accurately cited and used, and verify if the evidence is sufficient. The areas in the essay to revise are the subject and the title, and then check if the paper contains a thesis in the first paragraph. A student should also ask themselves if references are well-documented and if they are presented in a variety of formats. Another standard question is to check the word count and outline how to improve specific parts of the paper and remove redundant text. Moreover, a student should examine the concision of language and the language should be active but informative. After revising, proofreading and editing of the paper should be the last step.

Writing a history essay should start with an adequate analysis of the question and an essay structure that contains key elements such as an introduction, body, and a conclusion. While writing an introduction, a student needs to formulate a clear thesis statement, which has to be formulated as a question. The introduction should be followed by a detailed outline of the essay, arranging the body by listing of arguments and substantiating sources. In addition, each body paragraph should relate to the topic. The bridge in the writing process incorporates some standardized procedures and key writing strategies. After this, a student should develop the conclusion, which includes a summary of the main points of the essay.

5. Conclusion and Final Tips

The key to writing a good history essay, in a word, is organization. This can easily be achieved by simply jotting down notes in rough drafts and then reviewing the rough draft for any mistakes. Writing in this more formal way is primarily a matter of communication, but it is also an extremely expensive kinetics of the human mind at work. When the mind is dealing with such complex thoughts, it is always a relief to know that learning to write and write well comes down to a few simple, clear, and not-so-simple directives that are generated in clear and easily understandable protocols. And, quite naturally, while we are writing, it would be invaluable to stay on the topic. After reading the essay, stay on the topic. At the end of each paragraph, just make sure that the facts mentioned should be relevant to the topic being discussed in that paragraph.

In conclusion, while many students become overwhelmed with trying to brainstorm the best strategies for tackling the task of writing an essay, the time-proven method of organizing your thoughts into an outline and only writing the final essay after meticulously editing your rough drafts should produce a good essay. Given the importance of a history essay, one must not forget that a good introduction is an essential part of a successful essay. The introduction should contain a clear thesis that provides the essential facts that are usually not present in the body of the essay. Finally, one can increase the quality of an essay by thoroughly grounding any opinions with absolutely true facts and using good grammar. A conducive environment and good research work should be given to arriving at a well thought out and polished conclusion. With all these good and essential ingredients, one should produce an excellent essay that is bound to fetch good marks.