how to write a history essay introduction

how to write a history essay introduction

Crafting an Effective Introduction for a History Essay

1. Understanding the Purpose of the Introduction

What should go into an introduction? We have seen in seconds how the introduction to an essay usually consists of something about the topic, some historical background, and a statement that provides a clear answer about the meaning of the topic. The result of background information alone can be a few paragraphs. Consider another way to think of this. When you read a news story, you do not just see the lead, the first graph sentences that present the story and tells its significance, although these are important. Rather, you often see additional information about the story in graph two or three. When you read a research paper, you do not just see the abstract and introduction, although these are important. Rather, you see a significance statement prior to the introduction and maybe some sort of research question. Perhaps the introduction will also conclude with some statement on why the research matters.

Every essay serves some kind of purpose, and your essay is going to be determined by what that primary purpose is. The purpose of each type of essay, as you may have noticed, will influence how your introduction is crafted. History essays can be referred or persuasive, which influences how the introduction is approached. It is so important for a student to grasp the purpose of an introduction and exactly what is to be accomplished, whether we are talking about a short paragraph, especially if it is one of the few given within an assignment – that is used to introduce the essay, you need to ask yourself what the issue is before writing your introduction.

2. Key Elements to Include in a History Essay Introduction

Each of these elements – with engaging the reader and providing the background in particular – will be examined in subsequent chapters devoted to writing about the past generally and to formulating a thesis specifically. To some extent, all of the components of an effective introduction will likely vary somewhat according to the type of history paper (document-based question, critique, compare or contrast, change and continuity over time) you write in a history course. Topics of discussion also might vary: biographical, economic, ideological, political, psychological, etc. Furthermore, the approach a student uses when presenting evidence (narrative or descriptive, analytical or reasoned, interpretive or analytical, explanatory or comparative, using primary sources for different purposes) also shapes the task and dictates the presentation of support material used to achieve content objectives. Nonetheless, the ideas and organization of your essay also dictate the choices you have when preparing introductions.

After having formulated your thesis, most history essays will include one or more paragraphs that address the key elements in your topic. While a variety of types of information should be included in an introductory paragraph, several key elements are generally included. Since it stimulates interest and the anticipation of what lies ahead, engaging an audience’s attention is very important. Second, we need to provide background or context that hints at why our thesis is significant, important, or insightful. Indeed, the main reason to spend a significant amount of time crafting a strong, well-written introduction is the desire to guide the reader to those very same conclusions which will be a product of a tightly-reasoned and carefully thought out analytical sequence of ideas examined later in your paper. Next, we should state our thesis or tell the reader the specific topic or approach we will undertake in the paper. Another important feature to develop before completing an introduction is a road map which indicates the milestones along the way to the meanings and implications of our thesis which will be obvious to the reader once the paper has been examined.

3. Strategies for Engaging the Reader

Another technique is a literary allusion or reference, drawing upon a work of literature such as a novel, a philosophy, or a poem. A patron of the late British essayist, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (he was known as ‘Q’) was in the habit of essay-ising that “Sir, what every essay should do is to take you by the hand and lead you by devious paths not unknown to yourself to some talisman thought”. Another devise which is not uncommon in modern ways of writing essays like this one is the ‘talisman thought’, by which I mean the essay’s central problem or concern. This greatly enhances the value of the essay as a potential resource for teaching and it’s my view that all resources, including scholarly resources, should first and foremost be available for teaching.

Another way to begin an essay and gradually involve the reader in the topic you are discussing is to describe an experience or series of experiences related to your subject, so as to reveal the significance that the subject has for you. For example, David McCullough’s book Truman opens with the image of thumbing through some old letters in an attic and finds himself staring at a photograph of a small schoolhouse, “long, low and white,” “on the verso”. From that moment on, McCullough is resolved to write an essay on Harry S. Truman and the time of his presidency. Allen Guelzo’s recent essay on Lincoln does something similar, opening with the experience of an “obscure copyright lawyer in Florida” buying an old photograph on EBay, described as featuring nine “smudge-covered men in top hats”. It turns out to be one of only two original copies of Alexander Gardner’s famous “three days after Gettysburg” “photographic attribution” of the Gettysburg Address. This story suggests to Guelzo that in America both the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the Gettysburg Address “are” ultimately “matters of valued visual performance” for which we now “have only the echoes, and no original.” It thereby introduces a telling refrain in the coming essay.

Beginning with a highly charged, dramatic or unusual incident: e.g., Alfred Wallace’s famous sudden intuition of the Moriori of the far-off Chatham Isles while fracturing a marrow bone from a South American specimen while laid low with a fever in the Malay Archipelago. The physician publishing this story about himself added that he had little idea of the global significance of his profound insight until he had banged a drum for local head-hunters holidaying on a nearby beach. The essay concerned, I claim offered at least some interesting answers to Young’s famous scientific conundrum concerning the overthrow of atheism, including (inter alia) the hypothesis that the Moriori were important to Wallace in this context because of their behaviour in the initial period of settlement of their very remote islands.

Introductions that grab the reader’s attention are aptly called ‘attention-getters’ and there are many examples where an author or essayist attempts to draw the reader into the essay using a number of techniques.

4. Structuring and Formatting Tips for a Strong Introduction

Formulate the thesis: The body of the introduction usually consists of the big ideas or principal questions followed by a statement of a thesis or hypothesis.

An introduction is also the place to generate reader involvement. Ask the reader something other than whether or not she or he will give you an “A” on the essay. For example, consider asking a rhetorical question or conducting a brief survey that makes the reader think about a historical event. Such involvement invites the reader to become a participant and sets the stage for a review of the literature and research questions.

In the introduction to her paper titled “Civil Rights and the Changing World,” Stephanie Luce and her co-authors not only catch the reader’s interest but also provide a psychological backdrop. In essence, they suggest that one aspect of the Civil Rights Movement cannot be understood without understanding collective memory. Like the story of the slaves Cecilia was reading, the past is in the present—it is all around.

There are a number of formatting and stylistic points to keep in mind when crafting an effective introduction for a history essay. The writer should strive to engage the reader and not get lost somewhere in the introduction. Bringing in the important questions and even a little bit of intrigue will give the reader a reason to go on.