how to start off a history essay

how to start off a history essay

Effective Strategies for Starting a History Essay

1. Introduction: The Importance of a Strong Opening

You will often be given a prompt to start your history essay. Read the prompt twice and make sure that you are following the prompt. In a past essay example, a prompt for an AP European history essay read: “Analyze the ways in which the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation affected the political balance of Europe. In doing so, contemplate the ways in which the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation had an impact on states as well as foreign policy strategies.” What we need to recognize from this prompt is that you must be analyzing the ways. If it asks for analysis, analysis is what you will surely supply. Always make sure that you are fully aware of what the prompt is asking for. With this, you definitely want to begin your essay with a clear and concise introduction. It cannot be just some jumbled mess that you throw together in ten or twenty minutes.

When you are asked to begin a history essay, you want to make sure that you are following a few key strategies that are effective. It’s very easy to lose the reader of a history essay by beginning the essay in what is commonly perceived as the wrong way. Thankfully, our strategies will put you at an advantage from the very beginning. This video will focus on some very effective strategies for beginning your history essay.

2. Choosing a Compelling Hook or Opening Statement

The first and most important thing to do when writing a history essay is to develop a narrative line of argument that is compelling and meaningful, then create an effective organizational strategy. Begin the essay with an engaging and often unusual introductory paragraph. In addition, employ verbs and evaluate such qualities as reconnaissance ability, succinctness of expression, organization of thought, and conclusions. These qualities may come with more practice and the tips and techniques that the student learns and applies. In addition, the student becomes more familiar with the subject about which he is writing until the conclusion is reached and the essay is finished.

Many history majors are faced with writing a long essay as part of their course requirements. The characteristics of a history major, such as an interest in historical events and people, a strong desire to write and discuss others’ lives and activities, and a love of reading all kinds of works may seem like relatively natural traits to lean on to write an effective essay. However, most students struggle to express themselves in writing on unfamiliar subjects. How are writing tools useful?

3. Providing Context and Background Information

Nevertheless, if social history is well done, students will find it useful and enjoyable, and they will be able to explain how social history differs from what may be perceived as typical history curriculum (tales of leading figures and battle plans). They would be able to recognize certain obstacles which limit the completeness and accuracy of social history and would cope with them, drawing on pertinent questions and new skills. They would have learned these things to some extent profitably in any case, but they learn them more effectively through formal study. After all, the purposes of history education are very inclusive, including not only the traditionally recognized tasks of transmitting the values or transmission of basic cultural capital but also extremely necessary civic uses (development of capacity to make reasonable political judgments). And very probably, the upshot is false expectations. Informal exposure to social history can leave current students with the mistaken idea that careful research and professional skepticism are not so much necessary in weaving the tapestry of a single person’s life in the context of his or her times as they are in the telling of what has traditionally been called history.

At times, writers of history essays find it necessary to explain the meaning, significance, or background behind a contemporary issue. This is particularly true when writers are calling attention to something that contemporary readers might not view as an issue. There are times when such material is essential. On other occasions, however, the relationship between the discussion introduced and history is obvious and hence, readers perceive no real need to be specifically oriented.

It would be difficult to apply any rigid structure to the organization of an essay on American history because of the unique nature of the subject and the range of choices available for writers. Any useful division or marking of ideas would seem to depend on who is presenting them, so that any number of factors can help to shape the organization of a history essay. Generally, however, there are several types of strategies that writers frequently employ in starting a history essay.

4. Crafting a Clear Thesis Statement

After choosing an argument and conducting preliminary research in order to identify a thesis question, begin to write the thesis statement itself. To do this, identify the main categories of the dissertation; therefore, lessons learned from the American people or learned from/to. A good research question always includes a verb with a political focus. First, verbs are indicative of a more general theme. This will help determine the topic of the research question. Second, after the research question is complete, it is easier to develop the research question. It is necessary to explore the following questions: what does the word even mean? Why is this subject of history significant? Third, based on this more focused topic, what are the different questions. The third category is inspired by the keyword “learned,” which can be generally divided into a significant or insignificant category.

Crafting a clear thesis statement is crucial to writing a good essay. A thesis statement is typically one sentence at the end of the first paragraph that tells the reader what the essay is about and what points will be made. It is important to research a topic in order to narrow down the main points. After a lot of reading, a good way to remember what to include is CAR. C represents the claim that the essay maker, who supports his or her ideas but also never loses sight of opposing arguments. The C is equivalent to the position someone holds. CAR stands for “and reason.” R represents the reason or evidence to support a particular position. Research has given plenty of reasons why a claim is true. Some historians even compare history to a detective solving a mystery. A detective does not make a claim without evidence. The best detectives have the best reasons. Effective historians are detectives. They make informed claims with evidence.

5. Outlining the Essay’s Structure and Main Points

Effective strategies for starting a history essay: The reversal hook can be an effective start to a paper. Using the information just given, start a paper that starts before the end and journey back to that end, explaining why that particular end matters. This first substrategy doesn’t require an explicit reversal hook, does it? For example, instead of beginning with: “There are many objects in the Louvre, but more than any other, the Winged Victory of Samothrace.” For the introductory strategy to be effective, the thesis reading – probably by foreshadowing its terms or tone in the introduction – must also have revealed the object of the paper. Look at the historical aspects of the object in question. Such an introduction makes clear from the beginning what the larger inquiry of the whole paper is. Extensive thoughts in depth about the larger issue. Use of literary allusion is a second strategy, as Virginia Woolf’s “Beloved” began with verse from the Bible and so does Robert Farris Thompson. I think most of the successful papers in the class have a kind of unity about them that suggests that there’s a focal point. – Lowell Dittmer, Professor of Political Science.