How To Write A Winning Essay On History


Are historical essays for history graduates only? If you think so, you are completely wrong. The purpose of an essay is to develop the skills of independent creative thinking, information structuring and presentation of one’s thoughts. So, every person is capable of doing that. This article will teach you how to do it with little effort and in the way that will make every reader interested in your thoughts.
Whether you are a college student or a professional historian, you have to acquire some skills for writing essays and communicating your message clearly. The questions “How should I write my history essay?”, “What to start with?” or “What is prohibited in such kind of essay?” may be bothering you but you should not worry as long as we have some tips and tricks for you.
The Most Important Tips for Writing History Essays
Before you start your writing process, do not hesitate to look through our pieces of advice. A good history essay should have a clear statement and some supportive arguments, historical events to rely on. Here is how you can do your history essay fast and high-quality:
- Explore the reliable sources before you start writing. Rely on credible researches and scientifically confirmed ideas only.
- Draw a map of your ideas. It will help you to express your thoughts clearly in your text and not get lost among your arguments.
- Make your main idea correspond some historical event or era. Explaining some historical ideas is a very good start.
- Do not exaggerate when talking about some controversial topics. Stay as objective as you can.
- Do not start with too general and well-known sentences (such as “History plays a huge role in the life of every person. There will be no future if we do not know our history”) as people may perceive your text as a boring one from the first sight.
- Short stories about kings and queens, conquers and peasants, all the people in history will be definitely helpful.
- Review your essay. Reread it, as not all the mistakes are visible to the person who writes his or her texts.
- Read a lot and think a lot. All the thoughts you want to deliver need to be as concise as possible, and some historical books will help you to make them such.
How to Structure Your Essay
Start with a hook to make the reader interested in your essay. History is boring for most people and writing an essay on that theme requires some efforts to look at it from an interesting angle. The essay’s body is an essential part, so spend some more time on writing it rather than on an introduction and conclusion. This is because your statements should be compelling. You will certainly benefit if you write your essay with concluding transitions that help you to go from one idea to another, for example, “All in all,” “Briefly,” “As it has been noted above,” etc.
All in all, write a powerful conclusion. Wrap up the essay well with the conclusion of all your thoughts in one paragraph. It cannot sound similar to your main point. When you are done with all your thoughts, the final element is the one sentence statement that allows the reader to take something from the written text. Also, remember that your mistakes do far more to improve your skills. Your self-improvement is boundless so do not be afraid to fail.
What about the Language?
An interesting essay should sound good and compelling. That is why an essay’s language matters. The need for some technical vocabulary will appear to describe historical periods precisely. Its usage may be necessary for the sake of clarity. Whether you are professional to history or you are just a student, you should simply describe the basic terms to the audience. And do not use technical language for no reason, only where it fits perfectly.
Some metaphors will also make your text unique. It is up to you whether use them or not but the language of an essay gets more beautiful and easier to read with some metaphors, especially the ones connected to the topic. But, doing so, try not to make your essay full of metaphors, so that it will not become a literary style paper.
By the way, if you did put off your essay until the last moment, do not panic. You have the chance to write your history essay well even though there is little time left. Perhaps you are not even a student, but just a historian eager to develop his or her writing skills. We promise that if you do your best, everything is possible.