Writing a History Essay
An essay is a long piece of writing that answers a question, talks about a topic, or talks about a problem.
Students’ progress in history is often measured by how well they do on essays. History essays test a wide range of skills, such as how well you understand history, how you interpret and analyze it, how well you plan, research, and write. To write a good essay, students must look at the question, figure out what it is about and what it wants, do research to find information and proof, and then put together a clear and well-organized answer.
Even for the best students, writing a good history essay should be hard work and a challenge. Like other skills, writing essays gets better and better over time. Each essay you write makes you smarter and more sure of yourself.
Look into the question.
This is an obvious tip, but some students don’t follow it. No matter what your essay is about, the first step to writing a good one is to think a lot about the question.
A question for an essay will give you some kind of task or challenge to do. It might ask you to explain what led up to a certain event or situation or what happened as a result. It could ask if you agree with a statement or not. It might ask you to explain and analyze the causes and/or effects of something that happened or something that happened to you. Or it might ask you to judge how important a person, group, or event is compared to something else.
Start by reading the essay question over and over again. Underline, highlight, or make a note of important words or phrases in the question text. Think about what you need to do to make it happen. Who or what should you pay attention to? Does it say or imply a certain amount of time? What problem or question is it asking you to answer?
Make a plan first.
A written plan should come first for every essay. As soon as you get your essay question and think about it, you should start making a plan.
Start getting ready for research by coming up with ideas and writing them down. What are your first thoughts or reactions to the question? What ideas, people, events, or problems are linked to the question? Does the question lead to any other questions or ideas? What do you need to know more about? Who are some helpful historians or sources?
If you hit a “brick wall” or aren’t sure how to approach the question, don’t be afraid to talk to someone else about it. Talk to your teacher, a smart classmate, or someone you know you can trust. Also, keep in mind that once you start doing research, your plan may change as you learn more.
Start looking into it.
After you’ve thought about the question and made a first plan, you can start gathering information and evidence.
Most people will start by reading some good secondary sources that give an overview of the topic or issue. This will help you remember or build on what you already know about the topic and give you a place to start asking more questions or doing more research.
From here, the essay question and your own plans should help shape your research. Find words or ideas you don’t understand and learn what they mean. As you look for information, you should ask yourself if it will help you answer the question. Look in many different places as you do your research.
If you are having trouble finding information, ask your teacher or someone you trust for help.
Make an argument.
All good history essays have a clear and strong point. Your main idea or argument is what you call a “contention.” It’s both your answer to the question and the main idea of what you’re writing.
You should be able to say what you’re saying in a single sentence, if possible. For instance, a question about the rise of the Nazis might start with the following claim:
Why did 37% of the vote go to the Nazi Party in July 1932?
A. The Nazi Party did well at the polls in 1932 because the Great Depression hurt the economy, people were unhappy with the democratic political system and major parties in the Weimar Republic, and Nazi propaganda promised a return to traditional social, political, and economic values.
An essay that used this claim would then go on to explain and back up these points in more depth. It will also use argument and evidence to back up the claim.
At some point while you’re doing your research, you should start to think about what your essay will be about. Remember that you should be able to say it in a few words, as if you were answering the essay question in a single sentence or wrapping up a debate.
Try to present your argument in a way that makes it sound strong, authoritative, and convincing. It should sound like someone who knows a lot about the topic and is sure of their answer.
Plan the structure of an essay
A plan for a history essay
Once you’ve done most of your research and have a strong point of view, you can start to write down a possible essay structure. This doesn’t have to be hard, just a few lines or dot points will do.
Every essay needs a beginning, a body with several paragraphs, and an end. Your paragraphs should make sense and flow from one to the next.
You can organize paragraphs in two ways: chronologically (talking about events or topics in the order they happened) or thematically (talking about similar ideas) (covering events or topics based on their relevance or significance). The topic sentence of each paragraph should make it clear what the paragraph is about.
Once you’ve finished making a plan for your essay, you can start writing the first draft.
Write an interesting first paragraph.
Many people think that the beginning of an essay is the most important part. Several things make it important. It is the first part of your essay that the reader sees. It’s where you answer the question and state your point of view for the first time. It is also where you show, or “signpost,” where your essay is going.
A good introduction should be clear, sure of itself, and to the point. Don’t waste time with a long or story-like introduction. Get right to the point.
Start by giving some background information, then answer the question, explain your point of view, and say where your essay will go.
Write complete paragraphs.
Many students of history make the mistake of writing short paragraphs, with as few as one or two sentences. In a good history essay, each paragraph is like a “mini-essay” and is usually between 100 and 200 words long.
Only one topic or issue should be the focus of a paragraph, but that topic or issue should be looked at in depth.
A good paragraph starts with a strong first sentence, which is sometimes called a topic sentence or a “signposting sentence.” This sentence explains briefly what the topic of the paragraph is and how it relates to the question and your argument. Good paragraphs also have detailed explanations, some analysis and proof, and maybe one or two quotes.
Finish with a strong last sentence.
The last part of your essay is the conclusion. Two things should be true of a good ending. First, it should repeat or restate your essay’s main point. Second, it should end your essay in a polished way that isn’t too abrupt or awkward.
A short summary of “what happened next” is a good way to do this. For instance, an essay about Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 could end with a couple of sentences about how he strengthened and consolidated his power in 1934 and 1935.
Your conclusion doesn’t have to be as long or as detailed as the rest of your paper. You shouldn’t add new evidence or information in the conclusion.
Refer to and list the sources you used.
A history essay is more likely to do well if it has good citations. Your essay should use citations or references to reliable sources to back up its facts, ideas, and arguments.
Referencing not only gives credit to other people’s work, but it also gives your writing credibility and gives the teacher or assessor an idea of what you’ve learned. Here, you can learn more about how to cite a piece of history writing.
Check for mistakes, make changes, and ask for feedback
Before being turned in for a grade, every essay should be proofread, edited, and, if necessary, rewritten. Essays should be finished a few days before they are due, and then they should be put away for a day or two before being proofread.
When you’re proofreading, look first for spelling and grammar mistakes, typos, wrong dates, and other mistakes with facts.
Then, think about how you can make your essay clearer, more interesting, and better put together. Does your essay have a structure or order that makes sense? Is the way you lead the reader through your essay clear and effective? Some sentences seem to be too long or “ramble on.” Do you say the same thing over and over? Do the paragraphs need to be made longer, more precise, or stronger with more proof?
Read your paper out loud to yourself or to someone else. Ask a good writer or someone you trust for feedback and tips (they need not have expertise in history, only in effective writing).
Some other tips for writing a history essay
Always write about someone else. Don’t say things like “I think…” or “I argue that…” to talk about yourself. A good history essay should be written from the point of view of a knowledgeable and impartial third party. They should sound logical and based on facts, not like a person giving their opinion.
Always use the past tense when you write. Writing in the past tense is an obvious tip for a history essay. Be careful about how you use tense at all times. When you proofread your work, watch out for mixed tenses. One exception to the rule about the past tense is when writing about the work of modern historians. For example, “Kershaw writes…” sounds better than “Kershaw wrote…” or “Kershaw has written…”
Avoid generalisations. This is a problem with all essays, but especially with essays about history. When you draw broad conclusions from one or more examples, you are generalizing. Most of the time, this happens in history when students study one group and then think that their experiences apply to a much larger group. For example, “all the peasants were outraged”, “women rallied to oppose conscription” or “Germans supported the Nazi Party”. History and society are never this clear and easy to understand. Try not to make general statements, and watch out for them when you’re proofreading.
Write in short, punchy sentences. The length of a good writer’s sentences varies, but as a general rule, most of your sentences should be short and to the point. The longer a sentence gets, the more likely it is to be boring or hard to understand. Long sentences can easily lose their meaning, become confusing, or just go on and on. Try not to use too many long sentences, and when you’re proofreading, pay close attention to the length of each sentence.
Use an active voice when writing. When writing about history, it’s better to use the active voice than the passive voice. In the active voice, the subject does the action. For example, “Hitler started the Beer Hall Putsch [the action] to take control of the Bavarian government” shows that Hitler did the action. In the passive voice, the subject does the action (“Hitler, the subject, started the Beer Hall Putsch [the action] to take control of the Bavarian government”). The active voice also keeps sentences from getting too long, confusing, and full of words.
