Writing a history essay

[Khamsin]

Start paragraphs with a topic sentence, include a few sentences supporting it, and end with something that ties back to the beginning of the paragraph.

String a few of those paragraphs together, following the same general pattern of starting with a topic, supporting it, and then ending with a conclusion that brings you back to the start.

Slap a title on it and you're good to go.

[Aurara]

God I am so fucking bored I hate working this late. At least they feed us when we work late...

where do you work that makes you stay so late ._.; that sucks.
(ty for the replies btw :D )

[zoobernut]

You are welcome. I make slot machine games and we have a big show coming up in Vegas later this month so it is crunch mode. Also they don't make me work late, it is my responsibility to get the work done and if it takes me longer because of program crashes and bugs in tools or other things or I don't work fast enough during the day I decide to work late to make up lost time.

Khamsin is correct. Each new paragraph almost has the same structure as the entire essay, statement followed by support followed by conclusion/transition.

[Elesirdur]

These are more writing pointers than anything, but they apply especially to essay writing.

Your first paragraph should include a thesis statement, which briefly describes what you are arguing in your essay. Even if it is a "narrative" essay (ie. your teacher just wants you to demonstrate if you learned any facts and often does not require much analysis of the subject) one must have a focus to narrow the topic down. Let's take Yellow Journalism during this conflict. A poor thesis statement would be something like "yellow journalism was part of the Spanish-American War" (way too general) while a better one would be "yellow journalism created a negative public opinion of American actions during the Spanish-American War" (I have no clue if this is true, I'm Canadian and only know some very rudimentary details about this conflict). The latter statement takes a side and informs the reader that the essay will discuss specifically the issue of public opinion to news media coverage of the conflict.

Please, for the love of all that is good in this world, remember that a paragraph contains one idea or concept. If you are moving on to a different idea, quotation, event, whatever, start a new paragraph. Each paragraph must have a beginning, middle, and end - even if it is only two sentences. Don't skip around from idea to idea in a single paragraph; it's very confusing to read and shows poor organization. This is something I saw in undergrad writing, and I even encounter in the business world. Please have an idea of what a paragraph is going to discuss when you start writing it and stick to that one idea. Even if you want to expand upon an idea or bring a new concept in to an old idea, start a new paragraph.

Your conclusion should never, ever, introduce new ideas, evidence, or concepts that have not been seen elsewhere in the essay. Tie your conclusion into your thesis statement by describing how the points you made in your essay support or deny your thesis statement. Introducing new material during the conclusion is highly confusing to the reader and, from an evaluation point of view, makes one think why this information was not included earlier. A conclusion should not necessairly just be a summary of what you have talked about, but a place to assert your assessment of the information and ideas presented as they relate to your thesis statement. Doing so brings your readers to a conclusion and affirms in their mind what you were writing about and why you were writing it.

Don't take this basic stuff for granted. There are scads of people in university and in the business and professional world who cannot master these simple tasks when writing. I certainly do not profess to be any expert of above suspect when I write, but I always think about audience, planning, language, and structure whenever I write; be it a forum post, email, academic essay, or business report. Learning these skills is absolutely necessary to being successful in any form of written communication, so taking these lessons to heart early will only increase your returns later in life.


PS: I have a BA in History and Political Science so I've written my fair share of essays in my years. However, a lot of the advice I could provide on how to write an academic history essay would be to a level above what you need in high school, and probably above your competency level anyway. History as taught in high schools is criminally shitty and boring (memorize these facts and dates and then regurgitate them up on a test), but at the university level and beyond it is a very complex academic discourse. If history interests you and you think you might like to study it should you go too university, start thinking about the "why" when considering an event, what are all the interconnected events and ideas that have culminated in the creation and execution of a historical moment, and especially what the biases are in historical sources and how those biases have influenced our past and present understanding of history. Historiography (essentially, the history of history), and historical academic/ontological/epistemological theory are whole other realms of their own that are absolutely fascinating in their ability to cut deep into the actual study of historical knowledge.


PPS: Okay, looks like other people have already stated what I have, though just a lot more concisely. That's what I get for checking pof while trying to post lol

[zoobernut]

A little late to the party Eles but still very good detailed advice.

[Kaylia]

In your first paragraph, you need to bash social sciences. Make sure to include a part about history teachers who are (next to phy-ed and art teacher), the most incompetant of the bunch. I mean, people who did well in school rarely take this route. While there is exception, I'm sure we can generalize.

Secondly, history teachers are always nationalist hippies. So when you write your text, pretend you're from another country (france, japan,) and be very critics about everything. I'm sure they will love it.

[fishstix]

Make sure you know enough stuff about the war to include a lot of different facts. After that, it's just a matter of piecing it together in a cohesive manner. Like say the prompt is "What were effects that the Spanish-American War had on the US?" Have a short intro with something like:
The Spanish-American War, a war that was fought around the globe from the Philippines to Guam and Cuba, had a great impact on America. It affected the people socially, economically, and politically in many different ways.

Add some other flair in the intro and then go onto 3 paragraphs highlighting each of the 3 ways it affected the US.

[Nightraid]

Always back up facts with Evidence, don't say like "Oh xxx amount of people died" without a reference.

Always show both sides of the arguement, why did America want Cuba to be independant, but why did the Spainish want to keep control, dont say like; "oh America want to war because they wouldnt give them independce, so it's their fault" In War both sides always think they're right.

Always include a judgement; say you think it was right for America to go to war then say why you agree, don't sit on the fence you're either for Spain or USA.

Interpret references such as(making these numbers up); 15,000 Americans died, 50,000 Spainsh died, why did they lose more? why did the Americans kill more? etc

[Lbelle]

this OP hurts my head

[Linliel]

Seriously the best advice is:

READ THE QUESTION

then:

READ IT AGAIN

then write your essay, ALL THE WHILE, GOING BACK TO READ THE QUESTION TO MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER IT.

In all the essays I've marked over the last few years, it's astounding how many people fail this rather simple thing.

Good luck!

[MrW]

Remember that we fought those feisty Spaniards for the liberation of Cuba.


Libertad! Libertad! Raaaaaabeeeennnnnnggggaaaaaaa!

[Elesirdur]

Seriously the best advice is:

READ THE QUESTION

then:

READ IT AGAIN

then write your essay, ALL THE WHILE, GOING BACK TO READ THE QUESTION TO MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER IT.

In all the essays I've marked over the last few years, it's astounding how many people fail this rather simple thing.

Good luck!

qfmft

I recall taking a 3rd year History course and half-way through two of two 20-page exam essay finding out that I had misinterpreted the question. I managed to salvage it and get a half-decent mark, but I was writing all the way up to the 3 hour limit. Not fun.