essay writing historical significance

How to Write a History Essay with Outline, Tips, Examples and More

Before we get into how to write a history essay, let's first understand what makes one good. Different people might have different ideas, but there are some basic rules that can help you do well in your studies. In this guide, we won't get into any fancy theories. Instead, we'll give you straightforward tips to help you with historical writing. So, if you're ready to sharpen your writing skills, let our history essay writing service explore how to craft an exceptional paper.

What is a History Essay?

A history essay is an academic assignment where we explore and analyze historical events from the past. We dig into historical stories, figures, and ideas to understand their importance and how they've shaped our world today. History essay writing involves researching, thinking critically, and presenting arguments based on evidence.

Moreover, history papers foster the development of writing proficiency and the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. They also encourage students to engage with primary and secondary sources, enhancing their research skills and deepening their understanding of historical methodology.

History Essay Outline

The outline is there to guide you in organizing your thoughts and arguments in your essay about history. With a clear outline, you can explore and explain historical events better. Here's how to make one:

Introduction

• Hook: Start with an attention-grabbing opening sentence or anecdote related to your topic.
• Background Information: Provide context on the historical period, event, or theme you'll be discussing.
• Thesis Statement: Present your main argument or viewpoint, outlining the scope and purpose of your history essay.

Body paragraph 1: Introduction to the Historical Context

• Provide background information on the historical context of your topic.
• Highlight key events, figures, or developments leading up to the main focus of your history essay.

Body paragraphs 2-4 (or more): Main Arguments and Supporting Evidence

• Each paragraph should focus on a specific argument or aspect of your thesis.
• Present evidence from primary and secondary sources to support each argument.
• Analyze the significance of the evidence and its relevance to your history paper thesis.

Counterarguments (optional)

• Address potential counterarguments or alternative perspectives on your topic.
• Refute opposing viewpoints with evidence and logical reasoning.
• Summary of Main Points: Recap the main arguments presented in the body paragraphs.
• Restate Thesis: Reinforce your thesis statement, emphasizing its significance in light of the evidence presented.
• Reflection: Reflect on the broader implications of your arguments for understanding history.
• Closing Thought: End your history paper with a thought-provoking statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

References/bibliography

• List all sources used in your research, formatted according to the citation style required by your instructor (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago).
• Include both primary and secondary sources, arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.

Notes (if applicable)

• Include footnotes or endnotes to provide additional explanations, citations, or commentary on specific points within your history essay.

History Essay Format

Adhering to a specific format is crucial for clarity, coherence, and academic integrity. Here are the key components of a typical history essay format:

Font and Size

• Use a legible font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri.
• The recommended font size is usually 12 points. However, check your instructor's guidelines, as they may specify a different size.
• Set 1-inch margins on all sides of the page.
• Double-space the entire essay, including the title, headings, body paragraphs, and references.
• Avoid extra spacing between paragraphs unless specified otherwise.
• Align text to the left margin; avoid justifying the text or using a centered alignment.

Title Page (if required):

• If your instructor requires a title page, include the essay title, your name, the course title, the instructor's name, and the date.
• Center-align this information vertically and horizontally on the page.
• Include a header on each page (excluding the title page if applicable) with your last name and the page number, flush right.
• Some instructors may require a shortened title in the header, usually in all capital letters.
• Center-align the essay title at the top of the first page (if a title page is not required).
• Use standard capitalization (capitalize the first letter of each major word).
• Avoid underlining, italicizing, or bolding the title unless necessary for emphasis.

Paragraph Indentation:

• Indent the first line of each paragraph by 0.5 inches or use the tab key.
• Do not insert extra spaces between paragraphs unless instructed otherwise.

Citations and References:

• Follow the citation style specified by your instructor (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago).
• Include in-text citations whenever you use information or ideas from external sources.
• Provide a bibliography or list of references at the end of your history essay, formatted according to the citation style guidelines.
• Typically, history essays range from 1000 to 2500 words, but this can vary depending on the assignment.

How to Write a History Essay?

Historical writing can be an exciting journey through time, but it requires careful planning and organization. In this section, we'll break down the process into simple steps to help you craft a compelling and well-structured history paper.

Analyze the Question

Before diving headfirst into writing, take a moment to dissect the essay question. Read it carefully, and then read it again. You want to get to the core of what it's asking. Look out for keywords that indicate what aspects of the topic you need to focus on. If you're unsure about anything, don't hesitate to ask your instructor for clarification. Remember, understanding how to start a history essay is half the battle won!

Now, let's break this step down:

• Read the question carefully and identify keywords or phrases.
• Consider what the question is asking you to do – are you being asked to analyze, compare, contrast, or evaluate?
• Pay attention to any specific instructions or requirements provided in the question.
• Take note of the time period or historical events mentioned in the question – this will give you a clue about the scope of your history essay.

Develop a Strategy

With a clear understanding of the essay question, it's time to map out your approach. Here's how to develop your historical writing strategy:

• Brainstorm ideas : Take a moment to jot down any initial thoughts or ideas that come to mind in response to the history paper question. This can help you generate a list of potential arguments, themes, or points you want to explore in your history essay.
• Create an outline : Once you have a list of ideas, organize them into a logical structure. Start with a clear introduction that introduces your topic and presents your thesis statement – the main argument or point you'll be making in your history essay. Then, outline the key points or arguments you'll be discussing in each paragraph of the body, making sure they relate back to your thesis. Finally, plan a conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your history paper thesis.
• Research : Before diving into writing, gather evidence to support your arguments. Use reputable sources such as books, academic journals, and primary documents to gather historical evidence and examples. Take notes as you research, making sure to record the source of each piece of information for proper citation later on.
• Consider counterarguments : Anticipate potential counterarguments to your history paper thesis and think about how you'll address them in your essay. Acknowledging opposing viewpoints and refuting them strengthens your argument and demonstrates critical thinking.
• Set realistic goals : Be realistic about the scope of your history essay and the time you have available to complete it. Break down your writing process into manageable tasks, such as researching, drafting, and revising, and set deadlines for each stage to stay on track.

Start Your Research

Now that you've grasped the history essay topic and outlined your approach, it's time to dive into research. Here's how to start:

• Ask questions : What do you need to know? What are the key points to explore further? Write down your inquiries to guide your research.
• Explore diverse sources : Look beyond textbooks. Check academic journals, reliable websites, and primary sources like documents or artifacts.
• Consider perspectives : Think about different viewpoints on your topic. How have historians analyzed it? Are there controversies or differing interpretations?
• Take organized notes : Summarize key points, jot down quotes, and record your thoughts and questions. Stay organized using spreadsheets or note-taking apps.
• Evaluate sources : Consider the credibility and bias of each source. Are they peer-reviewed? Do they represent a particular viewpoint?

Establish a Viewpoint

By establishing a clear viewpoint and supporting arguments, you'll lay the foundation for your compelling historical writing:

• Review your research : Reflect on the information gathered. What patterns or themes emerge? Which perspectives resonate with you?
• Formulate a thesis statement : Based on your research, develop a clear and concise thesis that states your argument or interpretation of the topic.
• Consider counterarguments : Anticipate objections to your history paper thesis. Are there alternative viewpoints or evidence that you need to address?
• Craft supporting arguments : Outline the main points that support your thesis. Use evidence from your research to strengthen your arguments.
• Stay flexible : Be open to adjusting your viewpoint as you continue writing and researching. New information may challenge or refine your initial ideas.

Structure Your Essay

Now that you've delved into the depths of researching historical events and established your viewpoint, it's time to craft the skeleton of your essay: its structure. Think of your history essay outline as constructing a sturdy bridge between your ideas and your reader's understanding. How will you lead them from point A to point Z? Will you follow a chronological path through history or perhaps dissect themes that span across time periods?

And don't forget about the importance of your introduction and conclusion—are they framing your narrative effectively, enticing your audience to read your paper, and leaving them with lingering thoughts long after they've turned the final page? So, as you lay the bricks of your history essay's architecture, ask yourself: How can I best lead my audience through the maze of time and thought, leaving them enlightened and enriched on the other side?

Create an Engaging Introduction

Creating an engaging introduction is crucial for capturing your reader's interest right from the start. But how do you do it? Think about what makes your topic fascinating. Is there a surprising fact or a compelling story you can share? Maybe you could ask a thought-provoking question that gets people thinking. Consider why your topic matters—what lessons can we learn from history?

Also, remember to explain what your history essay will be about and why it's worth reading. What will grab your reader's attention and make them want to learn more? How can you make your essay relevant and intriguing right from the beginning?

Develop Coherent Paragraphs

Once you've established your introduction, the next step is to develop coherent paragraphs that effectively communicate your ideas. Each paragraph should focus on one main point or argument, supported by evidence or examples from your research. Start by introducing the main idea in a topic sentence, then provide supporting details or evidence to reinforce your point.

Make sure to use transition words and phrases to guide your reader smoothly from one idea to the next, creating a logical flow throughout your history essay. Additionally, consider the organization of your paragraphs—is there a clear progression of ideas that builds upon each other? Are your paragraphs unified around a central theme or argument?

Conclude Effectively

Concluding your history essay effectively is just as important as starting it off strong. In your conclusion, you want to wrap up your main points while leaving a lasting impression on your reader. Begin by summarizing the key points you've made throughout your history essay, reminding your reader of the main arguments and insights you've presented.

Then, consider the broader significance of your topic—what implications does it have for our understanding of history or for the world today? You might also want to reflect on any unanswered questions or areas for further exploration. Finally, end with a thought-provoking statement or a call to action that encourages your reader to continue thinking about the topic long after they've finished reading.

Reference Your Sources

Referencing your sources is essential for maintaining the integrity of your history essay and giving credit to the scholars and researchers who have contributed to your understanding of the topic. Depending on the citation style required (such as MLA, APA, or Chicago), you'll need to format your references accordingly. Start by compiling a list of all the sources you've consulted, including books, articles, websites, and any other materials used in your research.

Then, as you write your history essay, make sure to properly cite each source whenever you use information or ideas that are not your own. This includes direct quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. Remember to include all necessary information for each source, such as author names, publication dates, and page numbers, as required by your chosen citation style.

Review and Ask for Advice

As you near the completion of your history essay writing, it's crucial to take a step back and review your work with a critical eye. Reflect on the clarity and coherence of your arguments—are they logically organized and effectively supported by evidence? Consider the strength of your introduction and conclusion—do they effectively capture the reader's attention and leave a lasting impression? Take the time to carefully proofread your history essay for any grammatical errors or typos that may detract from your overall message.

Furthermore, seeking advice from peers, mentors, or instructors can provide valuable insights and help identify areas for improvement. Consider sharing your essay with someone whose feedback you trust and respect, and be open to constructive criticism. Ask specific questions about areas you're unsure about or where you feel your history essay may be lacking.

History Essay Example

In this section, we offer an example of a history essay examining the impact of the Industrial Revolution on society. This essay demonstrates how historical analysis and critical thinking are applied in academic writing. By exploring this specific event, you can observe how historical evidence is used to build a cohesive argument and draw meaningful conclusions.

FAQs about History Essay Writing

How to write a history essay introduction, how to write a conclusion for a history essay, how to write a good history essay.

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A guide to writing history essays

This guide has been prepared for students at all undergraduate university levels. Some points are specifically aimed at 100-level students, and may seem basic to those in upper levels. Similarly, some of the advice is aimed at upper-level students, and new arrivals should not be put off by it.

The key point is that learning to write good essays is a long process. We hope that students will refer to this guide frequently, whatever their level of study.

Why do history students write essays?

Essays are an essential educational tool in disciplines like history because they help you to develop your research skills, critical thinking, and writing abilities. The best essays are based on strong research, in-depth analysis, and are logically structured and well written.

An essay should answer a question with a clear, persuasive argument. In a history essay, this will inevitably involve a degree of narrative (storytelling), but this should be kept to the minimum necessary to support the argument – do your best to avoid the trap of substituting narrative for analytical argument. Instead, focus on the key elements of your argument, making sure they are well supported by evidence. As a historian, this evidence will come from your sources, whether primary and secondary.

The following guide is designed to help you research and write your essays, and you will almost certainly earn better grades if you can follow this advice. You should also look at the essay-marking criteria set out in your course guide, as this will give you a more specific idea of what the person marking your work is looking for.

Where to start

First, take time to understand the question. Underline the key words and consider very carefully what you need to do to provide a persuasive answer. For example, if the question asks you to compare and contrast two or more things, you need to do more than define these things – what are the similarities and differences between them? If a question asks you to 'assess' or 'explore', it is calling for you to weigh up an issue by considering the evidence put forward by scholars, then present your argument on the matter in hand.

A history essay must be based on research. If the topic is covered by lectures, you might begin with lecture and tutorial notes and readings. However, the lecturer does not want you simply to echo or reproduce the lecture content or point of view, nor use their lectures as sources in your footnotes. They want you to develop your own argument. To do this you will need to look closely at secondary sources, such as academic books and journal articles, to find out what other scholars have written about the topic. Often your lecturer will have suggested some key texts, and these are usually listed near the essay questions in your course guide. But you should not rely solely on these suggestions.

Tip : Start the research with more general works to get an overview of your topic, then move on to look at more specialised work.

Crafting a strong essay

Before you begin writing, make an essay plan. Identify the two-to-four key points you want to make. Organize your ideas into an argument which flows logically and coherently. Work out which examples you will use to make the strongest case. You may need to use an initial paragraph (or two) to bring in some context or to define key terms and events, or provide brief identifying detail about key people – but avoid simply telling the story.

An essay is really a series of paragraphs that advance an argument and build towards your conclusion. Each paragraph should focus on one central idea. Introduce this idea at the start of the paragraph with a 'topic sentence', then expand on it with evidence or examples from your research. Some paragraphs should finish with a concluding sentence that reiterates a main point or links your argument back to the essay question.

A good length for a paragraph is 150-200 words. When you want to move to a new idea or angle, start a new paragraph. While each paragraph deals with its own idea, paragraphs should flow logically, and work together as a greater whole. Try using linking phrases at the start of your paragraphs, such as 'An additional factor that explains', 'Further', or 'Similarly'.

We discourage using subheadings for a history essay (unless they are over 5000 words in length). Instead, throughout your essay use 'signposts'. This means clearly explaining what your essay will cover, how an example demonstrates your point, or reiterating what a particular section has added to your overall argument.

Remember that a history essay isn't necessarily about getting the 'right' answer – it's about putting forward a strong case that is well supported by evidence from academic sources. You don't have to cover everything – focus on your key points.

In your introduction or opening paragraph you could indicate that while there are a number of other explanations or factors that apply to your topic, you have chosen to focus on the selected ones (and say why). This demonstrates to your marker that while your argument will focus on selected elements, you do understand the bigger picture.

The classic sections of an essay

Introduction.

• Establishes what your argument will be, and outlines how the essay will develop it
• A good formula to follow is to lay out about 3 key reasons that support the answer you plan to give (these points will provide a road-map for your essay and will become the ideas behind each paragraph)
• If you are focusing on selected aspects of a topic or particular sources and case studies, you should state that in your introduction
• Define any key terms that are essential to your argument
• Keep your introduction relatively concise – aim for about 10% of the word count
• Consists of a series of paragraphs that systematically develop the argument outlined in your introduction
• Each paragraph should focus on one central idea, building towards your conclusion
• Paragraphs should flow logically. Tie them together with 'bridge' sentences – e.g. you might use a word or words from the end of the previous paragraph and build it into the opening sentence of the next, to form a bridge
• Also be sure to link each paragraph to the question/topic/argument in some way (e.g. use a key word from the question or your introductory points) so the reader does not lose the thread of your argument
• Ties up the main points of your discussion
• Should link back to the essay question, and clearly summarise your answer to that question
• May draw out or reflect on any greater themes or observations, but you should avoid introducing new material
• If you have suggested several explanations, evaluate which one is strongest

Using scholarly sources: books, journal articles, chapters from edited volumes

Try to read critically: do not take what you read as the only truth, and try to weigh up the arguments presented by scholars. Read several books, chapters, or articles, so that you understand the historical debates about your topic before deciding which viewpoint you support. The best sources for your history essays are those written by experts, and may include books, journal articles, and chapters in edited volumes. The marking criteria in your course guide may state a minimum number of academic sources you should consult when writing your essay. A good essay considers a range of evidence, so aim to use more than this minimum number of sources.

Tip : Pick one of the books or journal articles suggested in your course guide and look at the author's first few footnotes – these will direct you to other prominent sources on this topic.

Don't overlook journal articles as a source. They contain the most in-depth research on a particular topic. Often the first pages will summarise the prior research into this topic, so articles can be a good way to familiarise yourself with what else has 'been done'.

Edited volumes can also be a useful source. These are books on a particular theme, topic or question, with each chapter written by a different expert.

One way to assess the reliability of a source is to check the footnotes or endnotes. When the author makes a claim, is this supported by primary or secondary sources? If there are very few footnotes, then this may not be a credible scholarly source. Also check the date of publication, and prioritise more recent scholarship. Aim to use a variety of sources, but focus most of your attention on academic books and journal articles.

Paraphrasing and quotations

A good essay is about your ability to interpret and analyse sources, and to establish your own informed opinion with a persuasive argument that uses sources as supporting evidence. You should express most of your ideas and arguments in your own words. Cutting and pasting together the words of other scholars, or simply changing a few words in quotations taken from the work of others, will prevent you from getting a good grade, and may be regarded as academic dishonesty (see more below).

Direct quotations can be useful tools if they provide authority and colour. For maximum effect though, use direct quotations sparingly – where possible, paraphrase most material into your own words. Save direct quotations for phrases that are interesting, contentious, or especially well-phrased.

A good writing practice is to introduce and follow up every direct quotation you use with one or two sentences of your own words, clearly explaining the relevance of the quote, and putting it in context with the rest of your paragraph. Tell the reader who you are quoting, why this quote is here, and what it demonstrates. Avoid simply plonking a quotation into the middle of your own prose. This can be quite off-putting for a reader.

• Only include punctuation in your quote if it was in the original text. Otherwise, punctuation should come after the quotation marks. If you cut out words from a quotation, put in three dots (an ellipsis [ . . .]) to indicate where material has been cut
• If your quote is longer than 50 words, it should be indented and does not need quotation marks. This is called a block quote (use these sparingly: remember you have a limited word count and it is your analysis that is most significant)
• Quotations should not be italicised

Referencing, plagiarism and Turnitin

When writing essays or assignments, it is very important to acknowledge the sources you have used. You risk the charge of academic dishonesty (or plagiarism) if you copy or paraphrase words written by another person without providing a proper acknowledgment (a 'reference'). In your essay, whenever you refer to ideas from elsewhere, statistics, direct quotations, or information from primary source material, you must give details of where this information has come from in footnotes and a bibliography.

Your assignment may be checked through Turnitin, a type of plagiarism-detecting software which checks assignments for evidence of copied material. If you have used a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, you may receive a high Turnitin percentage score. This is nothing to be alarmed about if you have referenced those sources. Any matches with other written material that are not referenced may be interpreted as plagiarism – for which there are penalties. You can find full information about all of this in the History Programme's Quick Guide Referencing Guide contained in all course booklets.

Final suggestions

Remember that the easier it is to read your essay, the more likely you are to get full credit for your ideas and work. If the person marking your work has difficulty reading it, either because of poor writing or poor presentation, they will find it harder to grasp your points. Try reading your work aloud, or to a friend/flatmate. This should expose any issues with flow or structure, which you can then rectify.

Make sure that major and controversial points in your argument are clearly stated and well- supported by evidence and footnotes. Aspire to understand – rather than judge – the past. A historian's job is to think about people, patterns, and events in the context of the time, though you can also reflect on changing perceptions of these over time.

Things to remember

• Write history essays in the past tense
• Generally, avoid sub-headings in your essays
• Avoid using the word 'bias' or 'biased' too freely when discussing your research materials. Almost any text could be said to be 'biased'. Your task is to attempt to explain why an author might argue or interpret the past as they do, and what the potential limitations of their conclusions might be
• Use the passive voice judiciously. Active sentences are better!
• Be cautious about using websites as sources of information. The internet has its uses, particularly for primary sources, but the best sources are academic books and articles. You may use websites maintained by legitimate academic and government authorities, such as those with domain suffixes like .gov .govt .ac or .edu
• Keep an eye on word count – aim to be within 10% of the required length. If your essay is substantially over the limit, revisit your argument and overall structure, and see if you are trying to fit in too much information. If it falls considerably short, look into adding another paragraph or two
• Leave time for a final edit and spell-check, go through your footnotes and bibliography to check that your references are correctly formatted, and don't forget to back up your work as you go!

Other useful strategies and sources

• Student Learning Development , which offers peer support and one-on-one writing advice (located near the central library)
• Harvard College's guide to writing history essays (PDF)
• Harvard College's advice on essay structure
• Victoria University's comprehensive essay writing guide (PDF)

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Struggling with historical significance: Reasoning, reading, and writing processes

The concept of historical significance is seen as a key concept of historical reasoning. Assigning significance is based on criteria and related to the identity of who assigns significance. However, little is known about reasoning-, reading-, and writing processes when students attribute significance. The aim of this study is to investigate how students and experienced history teachers with a master’s degree reason, read, and write about historical significance while thinking aloud. We analyzed the think-aloud protocols of twelve 10th-grade students and four history teachers on reasoning, reading, and writing processes. While thinking aloud, participants read two contrasting accounts after which they wrote an argumentative text about the historical significance of Christopher Columbus. Analysis of participants’ think-aloud protocols and their written texts showed that students did not recognize historical accounts as perspectives—influenced by the historical context. In contrast, teachers looked for the authors’ judgement, evidence, and context. In addition, students’ limited use of metaknowledge regarding texts and the concept of historical significance hampered them. These out-comes provide direction for teaching reasoning, reading, and writing with respect to historical significance.

Zusammenfassung

Das Konzept der historischen Bedeutung wird als Schlüsselbegriff des historischen Denkens betrachtet. Bedeutung wird auf Grundlage von Kriterien zugewiesen und hängt zusammen mit der Identität desjenigen, der die Bedeutung zuweist. Allerdings ist wenig über Argumentations-, Lese- und Schreibprozesse bekannt, wenn Schüler Bedeutung zuschreiben. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist, zu untersuchen wie Schüler und Geschichtslehrer in der Oberstufe über historische Bedeutung argumentieren, lesen und schreiben, während sie laut denken. Wir haben die Protokolle des lauten Denkens von zwölf Schülern der 10. Klasse und vier Geschichtslehrer in der Oberstufe auf Argumentations-, Lese- und Schreibprozesse analysiert. Während sie laut dachten, lasen die Teilnehmer zwei kontrastierende Berichte. Danach verfassten sie einen argumentativen Text über die historische Bedeutung von Christoph Kolumbus. Die Analyse der Denkprotokolle der Teilnehmer und ihrer schriftlichen Texte ergab, dass die Schüler historische Berichte nicht als Perspektiven erkannten, die durch den historischen Kontext beeinflusst werden. Im Gegensatz dazu suchten die Lehrer nach dem Urteil der Autoren, den Beweisen und dem Kontext. Darüber hinaus wurden die Schüler von ihrer begrenzten Nutzung von Metawissen zu Texten und dem Konzept der historischen Bedeutung behindert. Diese Ergebnisse bieten dem Unterricht eine Richtung für das Argumentieren, Lesen und Schreiben in Bezug auf historische Bedeutung.

El concepto de significado histórico es considerado como la clave del razonamiento histórico. La asignación de significado a la historia se basa en determinados criterios y está relacionada con la identidad de quien asigna el significado. Sim embargo se sabe poco sobre los procesos de razonamiento, lectura y escritura que utilizan los estudiantes cuando atribuyen dicho significado. El objetivo de este estudio es investigar como estudiantes y profesores titulados en máster razonan, leen y escriben sobre la importancia histórica mientras piensan en voz alta. Hemos analizado los protocolos de pensamiento orales de doce estudiantes de décimo grado y cuatro profesores de historia con máster en procesos de razonamiento, lectura y escritura. Mientras pensaban en voz alta, los participantes leyeron dos relatos comparativos y después escribieron un tex-to argumentativo sobre la importancia histórica de Cristóbal Colón. El análisis de los protocolos de pensamiento orales de los participantes y sus textos escritos, reveló que los estudiantes no reconocían los relatos históricos como perspectivas – influenciados por el contexto histórico. En contraposición los profesores buscaron el juicio, la evidencia y el contexto de los autores. Además, el uso limitado de los metaconocimientos por parte de los estudiantes con respecto a los textos y el concepto de significado histórico, les obstaculizó. Los resultados de esta investigación proporcionan una guía para la enseñanza del razona-miento, la lectura y la escritura con respecto al significado histórico.

1 Introduction

People in the past have left traces such as weapons and diaries, which can be studied by historians. Historians judge these traces on their usefulness and use them when constructing a substantiated interpretation of the past. Secondary sources or historical accounts contain historians’ interpretations and may be evaluated critically by other historians (e. g., Chapman , 2011; Megill , 2007; Seixas , 2016). Although procedural knowledge of reading historical accounts is important to understand history, our knowledge of how students read historical accounts is limited ( Cercadillo et al., 2017; Innes , 2020).

R easoning about historical significance is a key aspect of history ( Lévèsque , 2008; Seixas & Morton , 2012). Significance is assigned from a perspective and, due to different historical circumstances, can change over time ( Lévèsque , 2008; Seixas & Morton , 2012). For example, Columbus could be considered as significant because he contributed to the “discovery” and conquest of America or (seen more critically) because his journey opened an era of genocide of the native Americans. Historical significance is defined as everything that is considered important according to historians when they evaluate the past from a certain perspective.

The concept of historical significance is also important for history education. Hunt (2000) argued that reflecting on historical significance makes history meaningful to students. Focusing on historical significance gives teachers the opportunity to clarify long-term developments, which may contribute to a better understanding of present society ( Hunt , 2000). Despite the widespread importance assigned to historical significance, little is known about how students reason when attributing significance.

The interface between language and subjects such as history has been widely acknowledged, but is still ill-defined ( Lorenzo & Trujillo , 2017). When investigating the significance of an historical person, reasoning processes, reading processes, and writing processes are highly intertwined. For example, in order to argue for the significance of a person, a researcher must read accounts in which historians assign significance to that particular person. When individuals read and write, they employ explicit reasoning in order to comprehend and to create a text. Because students might encounter problems with these activities, it is relevant to study their learning processes while they reason, read, and write.

We aimed to investigate students’ reasoning, reading, and writing processes as they assigned historical significance to Christopher Columbus and to evaluate how the assignment of significance is influenced by historians’ perspectives. With this knowledge as well as knowledge regarding students’ struggles, researchers can develop interventions regarding reading historical accounts. For this reason, we compared the approaches of 12 tenth-grade students and four history teachers.

2 Theoretical Framework

2.1 reasoning about historical significance.

Reasoning with respect to historical significance encompasses a claim about the significance of a particular person, event, or development and the arguments that support the claim. These arguments relate to aspects of change and continuity as well as causes and consequences ( van Boxtel & van Drie , 2018). The focus on (long-term) consequences provides opportunities to examine the relationships between events and between the past and the present ( Hunt , 2000).

When students are asked to evaluate how significance is assigned to people in the past, they must understand that criteria are used in the process of assigning historical significance. Most criteria focus on the consequences of events in the past or on the importance of an event for the present time. (e. g., Hunt , 2000; see also Cercadillo , 2001; Counssel , 2004; Lévèsque , 2008). However, few studies exist that have investigated whether criteria for significance were applied when students argued for the significance of a past event or person.

In addition, students need to understand that historians are influenced by their historical context ( Megill , 2007). Prior research shows students’ (basic) awareness of perspectives when they assign significance. As Peck (2010) shows, students with different ethnic backgrounds regard the same facts as significant, but they construct different narratives. These findings align with others ( Barton , 2005; Cercadillo , 2001; Seixas , 1994; 1997; Yeager, et al., 2001). However, previous studies have shown that students struggle with comprehending historical phenomena in their historical context and students tend to consider history from one perspective ( Carretero & Kriger , 2011; Cercadillo , 2001; van Drie et al., 2013). Consequently, students may not understand that the assignment of significance may develop over time and instead may consider significance as unchanging.

2.2 Reading historical accounts

In order to develop and support claims about the historical significance of a particular person, it is important to read what historians have written about the person in question. Most researchers focus on reading primary sources, and there is evidence that heuristics like sourcing, corroboration, and contextualization are useful (e. g., Wineburg , 1991 & 1998; see also List & Du , 2021; Reisman , 2012). In history education, however, little is known about reading historical accounts that contain historians’ perspectives ( Cercadillo et al., 2017, Innes , 2000).

Reading historical accounts entails breaking down the text into small pieces in order to understand the main idea and how it is constructed ( Schoenbach et al., 2012). This breakdown requires several higher order reading processes for reading accounts, such as determination of a reading objective, identifying the theme by summarizing, and discovering the relationships between words, sentences, and paragraphs (Schellings, et al., 2006). Therefore, students need to understand how a specific topic is presented linguistically and to recognize common historical language, like temporal clauses ( Lorenzo & Dalton-Puffer , 2016). Using two or more contrasting accounts seems useful in order to understand an author’s main idea ( Bråten & Strømsø , 2011). Furthermore, there is reason to believe that knowledge of text structures or genre features may improve reading comprehension (Léon & Carretero , 1995).

Previous research shows that (young) students regard accounts as records of the past ( Wolfe & Goldman , 2005). That is, students may consider accounts as sources of information and may struggle with comprehending accounts as substantiated perspectives on the past.

2.3 Writing historical accounts

The result of reasoning about the significance of a person is often presented in a text written in an argumentative style. In order to write a convincing text in the domain of history, arguments should be underpinned with evidence extracted from historical sources, which are accurately interpreted and comprehended within the historical context ( Monte-Sano , 2010).

Students need to apply several processes when they write a text. During the first phase, content is retrieved from memory and organized. Afterwards, the generated ideas are translated into written text. Finally, the written text is edited during the review phase. While writing, it is important to monitor all processes. Awareness of the audience is also required ( Hayes , 2012; Kellog, 2008). General writing processes may be subdivided into microprocesses, such as planning, monitoring, evaluating, and revising (Martinez et al., 2015).

Coffin (2006) describes three main genres (recording, explanation, and arguing) that belong to writing in history. Every main genre contains several subgenres. The subgenre “discussion” is part of the main genre “arguing” and is relevant for this study. The general structure of a discussion contains an explanation of background and issues, description of perspectives, and position ( Coffin , 2006). In order to describe perspectives of other historians and to develop an own position, researchers may use phrases and words like “in addition” and “however” to describe historians’ argumentation or to develop their own positions. Researchers may then use (temporal) clauses like “the consequences were significant or temporal” in order to make historical events more or less important ( Lorenzo & Dalton-Puffer , 2016; Schleppegrell & de Oliveira, 2006). In addition, former research has shown that sourcing might be particularly relevant for writing in order to convince the audience ( List & Du , 2021).

Students may struggle with higher order functions of language like involving counterarguments and using weighting strategies in order to integrate both sides while describing their own position ( van Drie et al., 2006; Lorenzo & Dalton-Puffer , 2016; behing Matteos et a., 2018). Given that students regard historical texts as records ( Wolfe & Goldman , 2005), students may encounter problems with describing historians’ perspectives (by using their historical context).

2.4 Aim of the research

Our aim was to explore students’ reasoning about historical significance in the context of reading multiple accounts and writing a text while thinking aloud. To our knowledge, it is unknown how students reason, read, or write about contrasting historical accounts written in different times when they are tasked with developing their own perspective on the historical significance of a particular person.

To encompass these unknown factors, we formulated the following research question: How do reasoning, reading, and writing processes differ between 10th-grade students and experienced history teachers as they reason, read, and write about historical significance? We strove to answer the research question by analyzing think-aloud protocols and texts written by students and teachers.

3.1 Instruments

In order to answer our research question, we used the think-aloud method. Although the think-aloud method has some shortcomings, it is widely seen as a reliable method to gain insight into thinking and reasoning processes (e. g., Charters , 2003; Pressley & Afflerbach , 1995; van Someren et al., 1994; Wineburg 1991).

In order to strengthen the trustworthiness of the think-aloud method, methodological triangulation is recommended (Chartres, 2003). To achieve this end, we also asked participants to write a text, all of which were incorporated into our analysis.

3.2 Participants

Participants of this study were twelve 10th-grade higher secondary students and four history teachers. All names were blinded and participation was voluntary. An equal number of men and women participated.

Students were selected from two classes at a suburban school in the center of the Netherlands. None of the students had been diagnosed with learning problems or struggled with the Dutch language. The task was formulated and performed in L1. All students were unfamiliar with our study’s tasks and the concept of historical significance.

In order to trace students’ weaknesses, we asked four teachers from the same school who were familiar with reading historical accounts to participate in this study. All participating teachers possess a master’s degree in history and wrote a master’s thesis about the western world after 1850; their teaching experiences ranged from eight to 23 years.

We developed a task that centered on the historical significance of Columbus. The topic of Columbus fits within the curriculum of 10th-grade higher secondary education in the Netherlands, and this topic was chosen in consultation with the involved school.

Participants were asked to write a text in which they evaluated how the significance of Columbus has developed over time and whether Columbus Day should still be celebrated, which invited students to think about Columbus’ significance in present times. This kind of authentic tasks (Appendix A) may elicit historical reasoning ( van Boxtel & van Drie , 2018).

Participants received two accounts that contained the perspectives of Washington Irving (nineteenth century) and Howard Zinn (twentieth century). Although Irving’s interpretation does not fit current historians’ standards, his interpretation of Columbus is seen as representative for many historians in the nineteenth century. In terms of uniting the people of the United States of America (USA), Irving presents Columbus as a relevant figure in the “discovery” and in the founding of the USA. Zinn holds Columbus responsible for the culture clashes between European people and the native Americans, ending in the extermination of Native Americans. Although Zinn was criticized ( Wineburg , 2013), his account is seen as representative for many center-left historians in the twentieth century. These different perspectives might enable students to recognize both accounts as interpretations of the past. Both texts, in particular the language of the nineteenth century, are considered too difficult for students. Therefore, we reduced the texts to approximately 500 words and we avoid complex sentences. In order to recognize different arguments, we prefaced these using words and phrases such as “therefore,” “however,” and “in that time.” These words where always used as sentence-starter. A Flesch-Kincaid readability test ( Kincaid et al., 1975) made clear that both texts were appropriate for 10th-grade students.

In order to discover that historians’ interpretations are influenced by their context, participants received additional background information about the political and cultural context of the USA in both the nineteenth and twentieth century. Students also received a brief biography of Columbus to ensure that all had access to the same factual information.

3.4 Procedure

To ensure that students possessed enough background knowledge, students sat through two introductory lessons regarding the consequences of Columbus’ journey. We provided no specific instruction on reasoning, reading, or writing. The first author—an experienced teacher—taught the lessons, which were based on principles that should enhance historical reasoning, for example, using open questions, interacting in small groups, and employing whole-class discussions ( van Boxtel & van Drie , 2018).

During the first lesson, the teacher instructed students on the consequences of Columbus for (some) people in (some) parts of Europe and America during Columbus’ life, after his dead, and in the present. The teacher also instructed students on the symbolic value of his journey (Hunt, 200). Afterwards, the consequences of Columbus’ journey for the inhabitants of Europe and the native Americans were discussed. The lesson finished with a short whole-class discussion. The second lesson centered on the different perspectives of Columbus’ journey. In pairs or triads, students discussed how inhabitants from different countries in the present could interpret Columbus. In a second round, students discussed how people living in different periods interpreted Columbus’ journey. Each small-group discussion was followed by a whole-class discussion. The participating teachers were not informed about the content of the lessons.

The three authors and a fourth person, who is a specialist in assessing students, gathered data on students and teachers. All think-aloud sessions with students and teachers were organized in a separate room at school during school hours. Participants wrote their text on the computer and were allowed to work on the task for 60 minutes. All sessions were videotaped and transcribed afterwards.

3.5 Analysis

All think-aloud data were coded using a coding scheme that consisted of five main categories: Task, Reading, Reasoning About Significance, Writing, and General—all of which were divided into subcategories relevant for our purposes (Appendix B).

The subcategories related to Task included Reading, Rereading, Comprehension, Monitoring, and Evaluation. The subcategories related to Reading were Reading, Rereading, Summarizing, Monitoring, and Evaluating ( Kendeou et al., 2011; Schellings et al., 2006). The subcategories that fall under Reasoning About Significance were partly derived from studies on historical thinking and reasoning: Background Author, Contextualization, Explicit or Implicit Use of Criteria Used for Significance, Asking Historical Questions, and Comparing Historical Eras ( Hunt , 2000; Reisman , 2012; van Boxtel & van Drie , 2018; Wineburg , 1991). The task required participants to take into account and to compare several points of view and to develop their own point of view, so we added the following subcategories: Authors’ Point of View, Own Point of View, Comparing Texts, and Comparing Authors’ Backgrounds. We derived these subcategories from research on reading multiple texts ( Bråten & Strømsø , 2011; List & Du , 2021; Wineburg 1991) and matched them to the two main categories, Reading and Reasoning About Significance. We considered these subcategories important for history and thus placed them in the category Reasoning About Significance. The category Writing consisted of the following subcategories: Reading Written Text, Formulating Text, Writing, Monitoring Writing Process, Evaluating Written Text, and Planning Text. These processes are considered important in writing research ( Hayes , 2012; Martinez et al., 2015). Finally, the category General consisted of non-relevant talk and general talk related to the task.

All protocols were divided into segments (i. e., the units of analysis) under the same topic: utterances. Consequently, utterances were of different lengths. Except for (re)reading, most utterances contained one or two (sometimes incomplete) sentences. Two coders (the first and second author) coded and discussed differences in coding and the quality of the coding scheme as well as two protocols in a training phase, after which interrater agreement was calculated for three student protocols and one teacher protocol (516 segments, about 19.9 % of all segments). Cohen’s Kappa was .81, which is considered good.

The written texts were analyzed using a coding scheme—a four-point scale rubric (Appendix C). The coding scheme consisted of three main categories (Text Structure, General Writing Quality, and Domain-Specific Reasoning) and was an adaption of a previously used coding scheme that included writing and domain-specific elements ( van Drie et al., 2018). All categories were divided into subcategories. The first category, Text Structure, consisted of Introduction, Arguments Pro, Arguments Contra/Rebuttal, and Conclusion. The second category, General Writing Quality, consisted of Audience Awareness and Coherence. The final category, Domain-Specific Reasoning, consisted of Perspectives on Columbus, Contextualization, Reasoning About Significance, and Use of First-Order Knowledge.

All texts were coded by the first and third author. Two texts were coded and discussed in a training session. The remaining 14 texts were coded separately. In the second session, Cohen’s Kappa varied between .71 (Use Criteria Significance) and 1.00 (e. g., Conclusion), which is considered to be acceptable or good. All differences were discussed until an agreement was achieved.

For every protocol, we calculated the percentage of all utterances related to each subcategory. Based on these calculations, differences in the think-aloud protocols between students and teachers were identified in several rounds. Themes were selected and representative utterances were presented in the Results section. This is in line with the thematic-analysis method as proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006).

4.1 Think-aloud protocols

Table 1 presents the results of the analyses of the think-aloud protocols and shows that students’ protocols contain 154.33 utterances and teachers’ protocols 186.75. Participants mostly engaged in writing activities. Students, compared to teachers, engaged more often in activities related to the main categories Task (17.79 %) and Reading (26.21 %). Teachers, compared to students, showed more utterances related to the main categories Reasoning About Significance (10.97 %) and Writing (52.90 %).

Most students (11) started by reading all the materials and then wrote their texts. While writing, they searched for information in the materials by rereading. One student took some notes between reading and writing. Three teachers used another approach. After reading (parts of) the materials, they reflected on the text(s). Finally, the teachers wrote their text. In the next sections, we discuss reading, reasoning, and writing processes more in detail.

4.1.1 Reasoning processes

Differences in reasoning processes are presented in Table 1 . Students were less active with respect to background author/author’s viewpoint (1.05 % and 0.05 %, respectively), their own subjectivity (0.15 %), and historical context (0.93 %) compared to teachers (background author: 3.59 %, author’s viewpoint: 0.98 %, own subjectivity: 0.71 %, historical context: 1.90 %). We found relatively fewer utterances in which students (1.67 %) or teachers (0.89 %) implicitly or explicitly stated criteria for significance. Overall, however, teachers’ protocols showed more reasoning activities than students.

The variation in reasoning processes can be illustrated using the protocols from student Jayden and teacher Jill. Jayden was the only student who seriously reflected on the historical context and on the background of the author. He seemed aware that it was important to focus on the background of the author in order to comprehend the text—as evidenced by his rereading of Irving’s account: “That is about history. It is not important.” It appears that Jayden reflected on the historical context when he said, “Nineteenth century...Slavery is not acceptable in that time.” However, Jayden did not relate Irving’s scientific statements to his historical context during reasoning or writing.

Illustrative for teachers’ method of reasoning is Jill’s comment: “I am determining his position. How he, as an historian, is affected by his time.” Jill tried to understand the authors’ point of view by reconstructing their backgrounds through contextualization. She considered the historical context when she commented, “It is the era of slavery. Therefore, he [Irving] is a witness of the consequences.” Contrary to students, she seemed aware of the importance of her own subjectivity when she said, “This is about peoples’ suffering. That is important for me; that is why I am critical.”

4.1.2 Reading processes

The protocols of both students and teachers, as shown in Table 1 , may have featured comparable percentages of activities as reading, summarizing, and monitoring, but we found differences with respect to the activities rereading (students: 11.37 %, teachers: 2.04 %) and evaluating texts (students: 0.62 %, teachers: 2.49 %).

Mean Percentages and Standard Deviations for Activities in the Think-Aloud Protocols for Students and Experts

The differences in the reading processes can be illustrated by the protocols of student Emmely and teacher Patrick. Emmely started by reading all materials. She read without comment, breaks, or rereading and seemed to comprehend the aim of the task as well as both texts and background information. When she was finished, she read the task again and started writing. During the writing process, she constantly reread substantial parts of the text to extract information for her own text.

When Patrick read Irving’s account, he expressed doubts about both accounts and commented on the text. Illustrative were his comments on a passage about supposed resistance from the Catholic Church against the voyage of Columbus. He commented, “I thought, the church has already accepted that point of view.” In contrast with Emmely, Patrick barely reread while writing parts of the accounts or the assignment; he did go back for some details such as Irving’s first name.

Patrick’s comments exposed an idea of historical accounts as being perspectives on the past. The following segment is typical for Patrick’s way of reading:

He [Irving] is positive about Columbus. The European people were very important for the USA. Thanks to Columbus. However, .... uhm.... He is troubling with slavery. Irving states that he does not want to use the idea that slavery was common in Columbus’ time to justify Columbus’ mistakes. [...] He disliked slavery....It is before the civil war...the tensions between both parties could be noticeable....That is his point of view.

This strategy enabled Patrick to gain deep understanding of both authors’ points of view and seemed to make rereading unnecessary. Emmely’s protocol did not contain utterances pertaining to the authors’ perspectives.

4.1.3 Writing processes

With regard to writing processes, Table 1 shows comparable percentages for students and teachers. Teachers’ protocols contained more segments about planning (2.98 %) and monitoring writing (12.03 %), compared to students (planning: 0.79 %, monitoring writing 4.66 %), but fewer segments about how to formulate written texts (students: 10.07 %, teachers: 8.80 %). Teachers and students showed comparable activities on formulating text, writing, revising, and evaluating written text.

The distinctions in writing processes between teachers and students may be illustrated with the protocols from student Lynn and teacher Nick. Lynn was one of the four students who thought about planning, “I have to present my arguments and counterarguments.” Given the rest of the protocol, this was an isolated remark. She focused her activities concerning monitoring writing on individual sentences within her text: “this sentence needs improvement.” Her revising activities also related to the formulation of sentences. After writing a sentence, she asked, “How do you actually say that?” and subsequently revised the sentence. In contrast to students, teachers developed a structure for their text. Thinking about the structure of his text, Nick said:

First of all, I have to think about the structure of my text. First an introduction with my point of view. uhm...uhm... it is an argumentative text. You are convincing people of something. So, in my introduction I should give my point of view. I have to finish with a conclusion and a recommendation about Columbus Day. In the middle part, I will write my arguments.

Contrary to Lynn, Nick’s approach enabled him to select historical facts and to offer support by selecting usable fragments from both texts: “This is my introduction. Then first...uhm...outlining...uhm...the development in the thinking about Columbus.” Nick’s comments about revising focused on the improvement of the quality of his arguments; for example, Nick would delete a sentence in order to strengthen an argument.

4.2 Written texts

Table 2 shows differences between the written texts of students and teachers. Teachers outperformed students on every aspect. The most outstanding differences are in the subcategory Introduction (teachers: 3.00, students: 1.50) and the main categories General Writing Quality (teachers: 3.13, students: 1.87) and Domain-Specific Reasoning (teachers: 3.44, students: 2.29). These results support the results of the think-aloud protocols. The differences can be illustrated using the texts from student Rayne and teacher Emma.

Although Rayne earned the highest score on his student text, there were remarkable differences between the introductions written by Rayne and Emma. Rayne started his introduction with three sentences about Columbus’ historical context and asked, “What could we learn from Columbus?” Subsequently, he wrote about the changing evaluation of Columbus and his own position. He finished his text, which was divided into clear paragraphs, with a short summary of his text. Teacher Emma wrote a clear and eye-catching introduction that outlined the structure of her text. The body contained a contextualized summary of the accounts of both historians as well as her own position. She finished her text with a short summary.

Compared to the teachers, none of the students related the historical context to the account of Irving or Zinn. Only student Rayne mentioned the changing historical circumstances in his text. Although he made no remarks about the historical context in his think-aloud protocol, Rayne paid attention to the changing historical circumstances of Irving and Zinn:

In the past, people were more respectful of Columbus because they were delighted with the independence. In the second part of the twentieth century, the African-Americans were fighting for their rights. Because the rising focus on the treatment of the Afro-Americans, the respect for Columbus declined.

However, Rayne did not relate this sentence to the account of Irving or Zinn. Teacher Emma used the historical context in order to comprehend the authors. She wrote for instance: “Hundred and fifty years later, the historian Howard Zinn (1980) speaks much more negatively about Columbus. At that time, people were much more critical about the role of Caucasians in history.”

The last noteworthy difference between students and teachers relates to their opinion about Columbus Day. All students used the language from the task, which asked them whether Columbus Day should be celebrated. All students answered this question with a clear statement—either affirming (student Ann: “because of the emerging trade”) or denying (student Rayne: “because someone else would have found the USA”). In contrast, the teachers’ answers were more complex; for example, they changed the word “celebrated” to “remembered” (teacher Emma: “in museums or memorials”). This change enabled teachers to incorporate different perspectives, to avoid sensitivities in the audience, and to defend the existence of a day on which all inhabitants of America could remember Columbus’ journey to America.

Mean Scores (Scale 1–4) on Text Structure, Writing, and Domain-Specific Reasoning

5 Conclusion and Discussion

This study focused on historical significance, an important aspect of historical reasoning, and aimed to gain insight into 12 students’ reasoning, reading, and writing processes. Four history teachers with a master’s degree were added to this study in order to grasp students’ weaknesses. Our data revealed several differences between students and teachers. Judging by their think-aloud protocols, students were more active while working on the main categories Task and Reading. Teachers focused more on Reasoning About Significance and Writing. Students and teachers differed on a wide range of subcategories: Rereading Texts, Evaluating Texts, Background Author, Author’s Viewpoint, Historical Context, their Own Subjectivity, Planning Writing, and Monitoring Writing. Overall, the outcomes of the think-aloud protocols matched the outcomes of the written texts. Teachers scored higher on all categories—especially on domain-specific reasoning and general writing quality.

These results suggest that students seemed unaware of the existence of “contextualized perspectives”; students saw Columbus’ journey as either “positive” or “negative.” Although students recognized the different impact Columbus’ journey to America had on the inhabitants of Spain and the native Americans, most students did not relate this to the perspectives of Irving or Zinn or to the different historical contexts in which both historians lived. This could be explained by Dutch teaching practices. Teachers consider teaching the ongoing interpretation of the past as too difficult for senior high school students ( Wansink et al., 2018). It seems that students considered historical accounts as records of the past. This finding links to students constantly rereading parts of the texts, while writing, in order to extract facts and ignoring the authors’ background, and context. Our findings align with those of Wolfe and Goldman (2005) and suggest that participating students’ (10th grade) understanding of the past did not progress (much) compared to the sixth-grade students participating Wolfe and Goldman’s study. In contrast, teachers regarded historians as interpreters of the past; they knew how authors’ accounts were influenced by their historical circumstances, and some teachers made comments about their own historical subjectivity. Consequently, teachers attempted to reconstruct historians’ perspectives by tracing the main idea, ascertaining how this idea was constructed, and in which context the text was written. Our finding supports findings from earlier research (e. g., Wineburg , 1991).

In addition, students did not expose the use of metaknowledge regarding historical accounts and the concept of historical significance. Students ignored criteria for significance while writing. Being more aware of the existence of criteria for significance might help students to construct a richer picture of the past. Therefore, several researchers stressed the importance of criteria for assigning significance ( Cercadillo , 2001; Lévèsque , 2008) and previous research has found that students seem capable of doing so ( van Drie et al., 2013). Second, students used counterarguments and rebuttals in their written text; however, these counterarguments and rebuttals were poorly written. Participating teachers possessed more metaknowledge regarding texts and used that knowledge to write (more) audience-orientated texts by planning their texts, describing clear perspectives, and revising their texts. This mirrors earlier research on literacy ( Kellogg , 2008).

The results of the current study may provide teachers direction on teaching writing about historical significance. First, instructional practices should focus on metaknowledge about historical accounts and knowledge of text genres. This might help to recognize accounts as “contextualized perspectives” and provide support to students as they read and write. In addition, student need to learn how to apply knowledge of historical significance, which might help them to construct a richer picture of the past. This means that teachers should encourage students to think consciously about questions regarding the authors’ main ideas, the construction of these ideas, and how the main idea is influenced by the historical context.

This study has several limitations. First, it is a small-scale study. All participants were selected from one school and one teacher taught all students, which may have influenced the outcomes of this study. Students who were familiar with other teaching styles may have used other activities and processes. In addition, our task was very complex. Students had to consider not only Columbus’ time, the nineteenth and twentieth century, but also the time in which they live. The multi-layered nature of the task and the demands that writing makes on the available capacity of students’ memory ( Kellogg , 2008) may have been overwhelming. Finally, the aim of this study was to investigate reading, reasoning, and writing processes, but we may have lost sight on some of the details of these processes.

Future researchers should seek more evidence for these conclusions by conducting think-aloud studies with other age groups, other levels of education, or in other cultural settings. Perhaps future researchers could develop tasks that ask more explicitly for the use of criteria for significance. Future researchers should develop and investigate instructional practices which focus on supporting students’ reading, reasoning, and writing. In addition, we recommend that future researchers make a more in-depth analysis of reading, reasoning, and writing processes.

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Columbus Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in the United States. This day has been officially a national holiday since 1937. However, not all States celebrate this day. Some States find this day an insult to the descendants of the original inhabitants of the United States. The state of South Dakota celebrates this day but calls it “Native American Day.”

The US government wonders whether Columbus Day should be celebrated as a national holiday. A historical committee has been set up to investigate this issue. The committee receives these questions:

How has the assigned significance to Columbus developed over time?

Should Columbus Day be celebrated as a national day or not?

In order to make a decision about Columbus Day, you as a historian are asked to answer these questions.

Write a text to the committee in which you indicate to what extent Columbus is historically important. Also pay attention to how thinking about Columbus has developed over time. Then give a reasoned opinion on whether Columbus Day should be celebrated as a national holiday or not.

Use the texts in which two historians assign significance to Columbus (Text 1 and 2) and a text with background information (Background to the texts). Finally, you will find a brief biography about Columbus.

You can also use the information from the lessons. Write an argumentative text in which you answer the above questions. There is no prescribed length of the text. Attempt to write a text of at least 250 words. For this assignment you have one lesson.

Coding scheme: Think-aloud protocols

Coding scheme: written texts.

Text Structure

General Writing Quality

Reasoning About Significance

© 2022 Johan van Driel, Jannet van Drie and Carla van Boxtel, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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19 Standards of Historical Writing

In this chapter, you will learn the basic expectations for writing an undergrad history research paper. At this point in your college career, you’ve likely had a great deal of instruction about writing and you may be wondering why this chapter is here. There are at least three reasons:

• For some of you, those lessons about writing came before you were ready to appreciate or implement them. If you know your writing skills are weak, you should not only pay close attention to this chapter, but also submit early drafts of your work to the History Tutoring Center (at UTA) or another writing coach. Only practice and multiple drafts will improve those skills.
• Those of you who were paying attention in composition courses know the basics, but may lack a good understanding of the format and approach of scholarly writing in history. Other disciplines permit more generalities and relaxed associations than history, which is oriented toward specific contexts and (often, but not always) linear narratives. Moreover, because historians work in a subject often read by non-academics, they place a greater emphasis on clearing up jargon and avoiding convoluted sentence structure. In other words, the standards of historical writing are high and the guidelines that follow will help you reach them.
• Every writer, no matter how confident or experienced, faces writing blocks. Going back to the fundamental structures and explanations may help you get past the blank screen by supplying prompts to help you get started.

As you read the following guide, keep in mind that it represents only our perspective on the basic standards. In all writing, even history research papers, there is room for stylistic variation and elements of a personal style. But one of the standards of historical writing is that only those who fully understand the rules can break them successfully. If you regularly violate the rule against passive voice verb construction or the need for full subject-predicate sentences, you cannot claim the use of sentence fragments or passive voice verbs is “just your style.” Those who normally observe those grammatical rules, in contrast, might on occasion violate them for effect. The best approach is first to demonstrate to your instructor that you can follow rules of grammar and essay structure before you experiment or stray too far from the advice below.

Introductions

Introductions are nearly impossible to get right the first time. Thus, one of the best strategies for writing an introduction to your history essay is to keep it “bare bones” in the first draft, initially working only toward a version that covers the basic requirements. After you’ve written the full paper (and realized what you’re really trying to say, which usually differs from your initial outline), you can come back to the intro and re-draft it accordingly. However, don’t use the likelihood of re-writing your first draft to avoid writing one. Introductions provide templates not only for your readers, but also for you, the writer. A decent “bare bones” introduction can minimize writer’s block as a well-written thesis statement provides a road map for each section of the paper.

So what are the basic requirements? In an introduction, you must:

• Pose a worthwhile question or problem that engages your reader
• Establish that your sources are appropriate for answering the question, and thus that you are a trustworthy guide without unfair biases
• Convince your reader that they will be able to follow your explanation by laying out a clear thesis statement.

Engaging readers in an introduction

When you initiated your research, you asked questions as a part of the process of narrowing your topic (see the “Choosing and Narrowing a Topic” chapter for more info). If all went according to plan, the information you found as you evaluated your primary sources allowed you to narrow your question further, as well as arrive at a plausible answer, or explanation for the problem you posed. (If it didn’t, you’ll need to repeat the process, and either vary your questions or expand your sources. Consult your instructor, who can help identify what contribution your research into a set of primary sources can achieve.) The key task for your introduction is to frame your narrowed research question—or, in the words of some composition instructors, the previously assumed truth that your inquiries have destabilized—in a way that captures the attention of your readers. Common approaches to engaging readers include:

• Telling a short story (or vignette) from your research that illustrates the tension between what readers might have assumed before reading your paper and what you have found to be plausible instead.
• Stating directly what others believe to be true about your topic—perhaps using a quote from a scholar of the subject—and then pointing immediately to an aspect of your research that puts that earlier explanation into doubt.
• Revealing your most unexpected finding, before moving to explain the source that leads you to make the claim, then turning to the ways in which this finding expands our understanding of your topic.

What you do NOT want to do is begin with a far-reaching transhistorical claim about human nature or an open-ended rhetorical question about the nature of history. Grand and thus unprovable claims about “what history tells us” do not inspire confidence in readers. Moreover, such broadly focused beginnings require too much “drilling down” to get to your specific area of inquiry, words that risk losing readers’ interest. Last, beginning with generic ideas is not common to the discipline. Typical essay structures in history do not start broadly and steadily narrow over the course of the essay, like a giant inverted triangle. If thinking in terms of a geometric shape helps you to conceptualize what a good introduction does, think of your introduction as the top tip of a diamond instead. In analytical essays based on research, many history scholars begin with the specific circumstances that need explaining, then broaden out into the larger implications of their findings, before returning to the specifics in their conclusions—following the shape of a diamond.

Clear Thesis Statements

Under the standards of good scholarly writing in the United States—and thus those that should guide your paper—your introduction contains the main argument you will make in your essay. Elsewhere—most commonly in European texts—scholars sometimes build to their argument and reveal it fully only in the conclusion. Do not follow this custom in your essay. Include a well-written thesis statement somewhere in your introduction; it can be the first sentence of your essay, toward the end of the first paragraph, or even a page or so in, should you begin by setting the stage with a vignette. Wherever you place it, make sure your thesis statement meets the following standards:

A good thesis statement :

• Could be debated by informed scholars : Your claim should not be so obvious as to be logically impossible to argue against. Avoid the history equivalent of “the sky was blue.”
• Can be proven with the evidence at hand : In the allotted number of pages, you will need to introduce and explain at least three ways in which you can support your claim, each built on its own pieces of evidence. Making an argument about the role of weather on the outcome of the Civil War might be intriguing, given that such a claim questions conventional explanations for the Union’s victory. But a great deal of weather occurred in four years and Civil War scholars have established many other arguments you would need to counter, making such an argument impossible to establish in the length of even a long research paper. But narrowing the claim—to a specific battle or from a single viewpoint—could make such an argument tenable. Often in student history papers, the thesis incorporates the main primary source into the argument. For example, “As his journal and published correspondence between 1861 and 1864 reveal, Colonel Mustard believed that a few timely shifts in Tennessee’s weather could have altered the outcome of the war.”
• Is specific without being insignificant : Along with avoiding the obvious, stay away from the arcane. “Between 1861 and 1864, January proved to be the worst month for weather in Central Tennessee.” Though this statement about the past is debatable and possible to support with evidence about horrible weather in January and milder-by-comparison weather in other months, it lacks import because it’s not connected to knowledge that concerns historians. Thesis statements should either explicitly or implicitly speak to current historical knowledge—which they can do by refining, reinforcing, nuancing, or expanding what (an)other scholar(s) wrote about a critical event or person.
• P rovide s a “roadmap” to readers : Rather than just state your main argument, considering outlining the key aspects of it, each of which will form a main section of the body of the paper. When you echo these points in transitions between sections, readers will realize they’ve completed one aspect of your argument and are beginning a new part of it. To demonstrate this practice by continuing the fictional Colonel Mustard example above: “As his journal and published correspondence between 1861 and 1864 reveals, Colonel Mustard believed that Tennessee’s weather was critical to the outcome of the Civil War. He linked both winter storms and spring floods in Tennessee to the outcome of key battles and highlighted the weather’s role in tardy supply transport in the critical year of 1863.” Such a thesis cues the reader that evidence and explanations about 1) winter storms; 2) spring floods; and 3) weather-slowed supply transport that will form the main elements of the essay.

Thesis Statement Practice

More Thesis Statement Practice

The Body of the Paper

What makes a good paragraph.

While an engaging introduction and solid conclusion are important, the key to drafting a good essay is to write good paragraphs. That probably seems obvious, but too many students treat paragraphs as just a collection of a few sentences without considering the logic and rules that make a good paragraph. In essence, in a research paper such as the type required in a history course, for each paragraph you should follow the same rules as the paper itself. That is, a good paragraph has a topic sentence, evidence that builds to make a point, and a conclusion that ties the point to the larger argument of the paper. On one hand, given that it has so much work to do, paragraphs are three sentences , at a minimum . On the other hand, because paragraphs should be focused to making a single point, they are seldom more than six to seven sentences . Though rules about number of sentences are not hard and fast, keeping the guidelines in mind can help you construct tightly focused paragraphs in which your evidence is fully explained.

Topic sentences

The first sentence of every paragraph in a research paper (or very occasionally the second) should state a claim that you will defend in the paragraph . Every sentence in the paragraph should contribute to that topic. If you read back over your paragraph and find that you have included several different ideas, the paragraph lacks focus. Go back, figure out the job that this paragraph needs to do—showing why an individual is important, establishing that many accept an argument that you plan on countering, explaining why a particular primary source can help answer your research question, etc. Then rework your topic sentence until it correctly frames the point you need to make. Next, cut out (and likely move) the sentences that don’t contribute to that outcome. The sentences you removed may well help you construct the next paragraph, as they could be important ideas, just not ones that fit with the topic of the current paragraph. Every sentence needs to be located in a paragraph with a topic sentence that alerts the reader about what’s to come.

Transitions/Bridges/Conclusion sentences in paragraphs

All good writers help their readers by including transition sentences or phrases in their paragraphs, often either at the paragraph’s end or as an initial phrase in the topic sentence. A transition sentence can either connect two sections of the paper or provide a bridge from one paragraph to the next. These sentences clarify how the evidence discussed in the paragraph ties into the thesis of the paper and help readers follow the argument. Such a sentence is characterized by a clause that summarizes the info above, and points toward the agenda of the next paragraph. For example, if the current section of your paper focused on the negative aspects of your subject’s early career, but your thesis maintains he was a late-developing military genius, a transition between part one (on the negative early career) and part two (discussing your first piece of evidence revealing genius) might note that “These initial disastrous strategies were not a good predictor of General Smith’s mature years, however, as his 1841 experience reveals.” Such a sentence underscores for the reader what has just been argued (General Smith had a rough start) and sets up what’s to come (1841 was a critical turning point).

Explaining Evidence

Just as transitional sentences re-state points already made for clarity’s sake, “stitching” phrases or sentences that set-up and/or follow quotations from sources provide a certain amount of repetition. Re-stating significant points of analysis using different terms is one way you explain your evidence. Another way is by never allowing a quote from a source to stand on its own, as though its meaning was self-evident. It isn’t and indeed, what you, the writer, believes to be obvious seldom is. When in doubt, explain more.

For more about when to use a quotation and how to set it up see “How to quote” in the next section on Notes and Quotation.”

Conclusio ns

There exists one basic rule for conclusions: Summarize the paper you have written . Do not introduce new ideas, launch briefly into a second essay based on a different thesis, or claim a larger implication based on research not yet completed. This final paragraph is NOT a chance to comment on “what history tells us” or other lessons for humankind. Your conclusion should rest, more or less, on your thesis, albeit using different language from the introduction and evolved, or enriched, by examples discussed throughout the paper. Keep your conclusion relevant and short, and you’ll be fine.

For a checklist of things you need before you write or a rubric to evaluate your writing click here

How History is Made: A Student’s Guide to Reading, Writing, and Thinking in the Discipline Copyright © 2022 by Stephanie Cole; Kimberly Breuer; Scott W. Palmer; and Brandon Blakeslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Resources – historical writing essentials, introduction to the topic.

Are you taking your first history class at Northwestern and struggling to write that 4-6 page argumentative essay that your professor just assigned you? Or maybe you are a seasoned history major and just need a refresher on how to write an extended research paper? Don’t fret—anyone can learn the essentials of good history writing. I’ve collected the wisdom of four Northwestern history professors (Ed Muir, Brodwyn Fischer, Amy Stanley, and Daniel Immerwahr) and a history PhD student (Joel Penning). I’ve synthesized their wisdom into the following ten essentials of good history writing.

The following quotations are from email messages from these scholars; December 11, 2012.

*Note: This text and its corrected version are not meant to convey historically true information

10 Essentials of Writing a Good History Paper

1. argument.

Though essential to most academic writing, good history writing always contains a strong argument. According to professor Muir, history writing isn’t about coming up with an opinion; instead, “what matters is proving a provable thesis.”  An argument isn’t an argument unless you can disagree with it. Professor Fischer adds, “In the best papers, the argument will also be creative, and make me think about the material in a new way.” Oftentimes students try to be overly comprehensive in their response to a prompt. Their argument may be a list of historically true things, but a “list is not an argument,” says professor Stanley. A prompt may ask you to discuss why the colonists rebelled against Britain in the 1770s. You should not say, “The colonists rebelled against Britain in the 1770s because they favored republican government, did not like Britain’s taxation policies, and were outraged at oppressive events like the Boston Massacre.” While most historians consider these three items true, this statement is not a sufficient historical argument because it does not explain how these three items relate to one another. Joel Penning, a grad student in history, says, “don’t be afraid to go out on a limb.” It’s better to say something with which many people will disagree than something that does not really capture anyone’s attention.

2. Counter-arguments

A good argumentative history paper must address counter-arguments. According to professor Immerwahr, “The claim that  X happened  is rarely interesting. By contrast,  X happened, when we might have expected Y to happen , is rarely not interesting.”

3. Evidence

Because good history writing makes an argument, you must have relevant evidence to back up your argument. Penning puts it well in saying that “every paragraph must contain both assertions and evidence which supports them. A paragraph with only assertions is bad scholarship. A paragraph with only evidence is boring.” Referencing good evidence does not mean that you should write about every fact relating to your topic; instead, only use the evidence that supports your argument. Immerwahr goes even further and says that the evidence must provide an “intellectual pathway that the reader must follow to be convinced of the thesis.” Thus, the formula is not  argument+supporting evidence=good history writing . Each piece of evidence should ideally relate to what comes before and what comes next.

4. Avoid Generalizations

Penning puts it well: “For the most part, historians don’t care about whether dictatorship always leads to corruption, or if government intervention helps or hinders the economy.  So students writing papers for historians shouldn’t care either.  Comparison is becoming an increasingly important part of the discipline, but generally historians are interested in specific cases.  Do talk about whether Mussolini’s dictatorship led to corruption, or how much the New Deal helped or hurt Depression-era America.  For almost anything you write at Northwestern, you won’t have the evidence to say anything broader than that, whether it’s true or not.  If you want to talk about universal rules of dictatorship, you’d probably like political science or sociology better.”

5. Conclude Well

In a history paper, your last paragraph should just restate your argument and your evidence, albeit in a different way, right? Wrong. Writing a solid conclusion may be the most overlooked aspect of good history writing. Professor Stanley suggests, “use your conclusion to make one final, elegant point, or point out an irony, or direct the reader to look at the implications of your argument for the next historical period, or suggest some additional avenues for exploration.” Summary isn’t bad, of course, but provide your reader with something interesting to leave him or her feeling good about your paper!

6. No Passive Voice!

Along with having a good argument, any history professor will tell you not to use the passive voice in your history writing. Using the active voice is a good practice in general in your writing, but history seeks to be precise with agency—that is, it seeks to discover what happened and who did it. The passive voice often overlooks this precision. Take, for example, the following sentence written in passive voice: “President Bob was killed on Tuesday.” This sentence says nothing about who killed Bob, which may be essential to your historical argument. The following sentence in active voice reveals more information: “Senator Joe killed President Bob on Tuesday.” In editing your history paper, keep a close look out for passive verbs.

7. Avoid Excessive Use of "To Be" Verbs

Do you find yourself using “was” and “were” too much in your history paper? There’s nothing grammatically wrong with using these past tense forms of “to be,” but your writing may be weak if you do. Instead, use stronger verbs that more descriptively capture what you are trying to say. You could say, “In Boston in 1776, the colonists were angry with British taxation policy.” It’s better to say, “In Boston in 1776, the colonists revolted against British taxation policy.” “Revolted” is stronger and describes more accurately what happened than “were angry.”

8. Past Tense

This should be self-explanatory. In your history paper, your task is to talk about something that happened in the past, so talk about it as if it happened in the past.

9. Wordiness

Have you ever struggled to reach those 6 pages and make up for it by repeating some phrases and adding unnecessary words to make your sentences a little bit longer? History professors know the temptation, and you won’t fool them. Professor Stanley warns, “If you find yourself adding words because you’re worried about making the minimum, that’s a bad sign. You need a new idea to add to your analysis; you don’t need wordier or repetitive sentences.” Instead of saying, “At the end of the eighteenth century, the people who identified themselves as colonists sought to rebel against the British rule of government in 1776,” say, “The colonists rebelled against the British in 1776.”

10. Write Out What Century You Are Referring To

This last history essential may seem small, but not incorporating it into your writing won’t make a good impression on your professor or TA. Always write out the century. Don’t say “the 18 th  century.” Instead say, “the eighteenth century.” Moreover use the following grammatical convention when you want to talk about the early, mid, or late part of a century: “the mid-eighteenth century” or “the late-eighteenth century.”

Exercise: Finding Mistakes in a Sample Passage

Practice: diagnosing mistakes.

With practice, you can incorporate these ten essentials of good history writing into your own writing. In the meantime, review the following writing excerpt and see if you can diagnose the mistakes it is making.

Sample Excerpt: Suburban Development

Suburbs were established extensively in the United States in the 20 th  century. Suburban expansion was result of rich people wanting to move away from inner cities for new work opportunities, the development of rail lines, the automobile, and new jobs away from inner cities. Suburbs now make up a large part of metropolitan areas.

In the early 1900s, rich people who previously lived in inner cities sought out to move to the suburbs because they thought through the ramifications of potentially losing their jobs if they stayed in the inner cities. Paul Johnson said, “I think it’s really fascinating that in 1925 people moved from downtown Chicago to new suburbs like Naperville and Wilmette.”[1] In addition, “the automobile clearly helped people who had previously lived in inner cities commute to work everyday from their suburban homes.”[2] Cars were manufactured and driven very often from suburbs to the cities. One can assume from all of this that economic decisions and transportation opportunities helped people move to the suburbs.

In conclusion, the suburb was the development of several factors. There were rich people wanting to move away from the city, new railroads were constructed that extended into the outer periphery of the city in places that we now can suburbs, automobile production was greatly expanded, and new jobs rose up in cities for these rich people. It is clear that suburbs have led to the democratization of the United States .

Commentary on the Sample Excerpt

Suburbs were established extensively in the United States in the 20 th  century. (Passive voice. “Were established” is passive. Hypothetically, this sentence could say, “Business and government leaders established…” In addition, “20 th  century” should be twentieth century.) Suburban expansion was result of rich people wanting to move away from inner cities for new work opportunities, the development of rail lines, the automobile, and new jobs away from inner cities. (Argumentation. This sentence, intended to be the thesis statement, merely lists a variety of factors that led to the rise of suburbs; it does not contain a coherent argument. A revised thesis statement could be the following: “New economic opportunities in city peripheries, coupled with new transportation developments, sparked the growth of suburbs.”) Suburbs now make up a large part of metropolitan areas. (Argumentation. This sentence is slightly out of place; if it were intended to be the argument, it would not suffice as you can’t really argue with it.)

In the early 1900s, rich people who previously lived in inner cities sought out to move to the suburbs because they thought through the ramifications of potentially losing their jobs if they stayed in the inner cities. (Wordiness. This sentence is too wordy; here is a more condensed version:  “In the early 1900s, wealthy people moved to suburbs because they feared losing their jobs in the inner cities.”) Paul Johnson said, “I think it’s really fascinating that in 1925 people moved from downtown Chicago to new suburbs like Naperville and Wilmette.” (Evidence. Who is Paul Johnson, and how does this quote relate to the overall point?) In addition, “the automobile clearly helped people who had previously lived in inner cities commute to work everyday from their suburban homes.” (Evidence. This quote seems to introduce a new idea—one about automobiles—that seems out of place; also, it’s not clear if this quote comes from a different source.) Cars were manufactured and driven very often from suburbs to the cities. (Passive Voice. Here’s a corrected version: “Companies such as Ford and Oldsmobile manufactured cars, and suburban dwellers drove these cars very often.”) One can assume from all of this that economic decisions and transportation opportunities help people move to the suburbs. (Past tense. This sentences breaks out of the past tense.)

In conclusion, the rise of the suburb was the development of several factors. (Past tense of “to be.” Pick a stronger verb than “was” that is more descriptive.) There were rich people wanting to move away from the city, new railroads were constructed that extended into the outer periphery of the city in places that we now can suburbs, automobile production was greatly expanded, and new jobs rose up in cities for these rich people. (Conclusion. This conclusion merely restates the introduction paragraph; in addition, the passive voice appears several times.) It is clear that suburbs have led to the democratization of the United States. (Generalization.)

(Counter-argument: In general, this excerpt did not address any counter-arguments, thus weakening its already weak argument.)

-Developed by Adam Dominik for The Writing Place at Northwestern University.

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Writing is history, the strange career of the history essay, must students write essays, the writing/thinking study, what does this mean.

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Must History Students Write History Essays?

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Lendol Calder, Robert Williams, Must History Students Write History Essays?, Journal of American History , Volume 107, Issue 4, March 2021, Pages 926–941, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaa464

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“Since childhood, I wrote a lot of fiction, a lot of stories, but I most loved writing essays.” —Jill Lepore quoted in Maia R. Silber, “Jill Lepore: A Historian's History,” Harvard Crimson , March 6, 2014

“Undergraduate students are not interested in becoming professional historians and one should not teach undergraduates as if they were trying to learn the techniques of professional historical inquiry.” —Hayden White quoted in Ewa Domanska, “A Conversation with Hayden White,” Rethinking History , 12 (March 2008), 12–13

“For in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.” —C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy , vol. V: The Chronicles of Narnia (New York, 1975), 32

The authors of this essay went to college thirty-four years apart. One of us attended a large state university in the late 1970s; the other graduated recently from a small, private liberal arts college. Despite the differences in our ages and the type of schools we attended, both of us can testify that in the college history courses we took, the gold standard for advancing and assessing our achievement was the same: the history essay. For us and our peers, studying history meant writing history essays—loads and loads of them, fall and spring. Some were hurriedly scribbled responses to blue book prompts that typically began: “Write an essay explaining/ analyzing/critiquing/defending/etc.” Others were longer, more carefully prepared compositions, or “papers” as we called them, in which we analyzed primary documents; reviewed books, articles, or films; and took positions on historical questions, supporting our views (sometimes) with evidence and “the moves that matter in academic writing,” as the subtitle of a popular composition textbook puts it. Essays were not the only game in history town, of course. We also wrote minute papers and short-answer paragraphs, annotated bibliographies, and lengthy term papers. In certain instances, large classes impelled our instructors to curtail the number and length of essay assignments. But it remains true that in both our experiences, whether in the 1970s or 2010s, whether at a state university or a liberal arts college, when the situation allowed, all of our professors, as if by a common homing instinct evolved over eons of undergraduate teaching, equated seriousness and rigor in history education with the writing of formal essays. 1

We now pose an admittedly transgressive question we want to take up in this article: Must undergraduate students actually write essays to learn historical thinking?

Essays are pieces of writing that offer the author's argument on a subject. History essays oblige students to express their point of view on a historical question or topic, setting forth in a linear manner an evidence-based argument supporting their position, making use of conventional rhetorical moves of persuasion in prose characterized by “serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length.” As course work, history essays occupy a middle ground between the unenterprising five-paragraph theme and the lengthier and more exhaustive term-length research paper. Essay assignments vary from instructor to instructor as to length, form, and audience. But little variance exists in the status of the essay: as we discovered as undergraduates, professors consider it to be the history assessment par excellence. The reverence accorded to the essay is remarkable given the loss of faith in other elements of traditional history instruction. Lecturing is now suspect. Textbooks are widely disparaged. “Coverage” of historical material is out of favor. All for good reasons. Alone among the oldfangled rites of the history classroom the essay escapes criticism, which returns us to the foundational question: Do undergraduates really need to labor at writing essays to learn to think historically? 2

History professors seem to think so. In November 2017 the chair of a high school history department sparked a lively conversation on the American Historical Association's online member forum when he reported his surprise at learning he was the only “dinosaur” in his department still assigning essays. When the chair asked his colleagues why they had done away with essay assignments, the reply he got was that essay writing had “limited utility” for students who overwhelmingly would not be going on to college to major in history. “The history essay is dead,” one teacher informed him. Addressing fellow American Historical Association members, the chair wondered if college professors agreed. Unanimously and unequivocally, they did not. Among the thirty-five historians who responded to the department chair's query, the vote was 35:0 in favor of the proposition that long-form essay writing is crucial to learning how to think historically. “History essays are most definitely not dead,” one professor wrote. “Rather, they are the coin of the realm at the collegiate level.” Many historians echoed the plea of a professor at a Colorado university who wrote: “Please, for the love of all that is holy, require your history students to write essays, and encourage your colleagues to do the same. Nothing forces students to use historical thinking skills like … writing.” In a final post to the member forum, the high school department chair thanked the professors for their comments and registered his agreement. “The reason I have any skill at critical thinking, analysis, or argumentation,” he avowed, “is strictly [from being made to write] essays.” Then, in three words, he summarized what appears to be the party line among historians concerning the value of essay writing for developing historical thinking: “Writing is history,” the chair concluded. 3

With respect to the claim that “writing is history,” the senior author of this article confesses to be an ultraorthodox “old believer.” I earned my first stripes as a teacher while tutoring in the University of Chicago's academic writing program, the Little Red Schoolhouse—an experience that taught me, like the high school history department chair, how to think, analyze, and argue persuasively. Grateful for those lessons, when I became an assistant professor no one had to convince me that essay writing is an essential component of quality history courses. Agreeing with C. V. Wedgewood that “if history is educational … it must be an education in thinking and not merely in remembering,” the pedagogy that emerged in my early praxis was a simple application of the transitive property: if writing is thinking, and if thinking is history, then writing is history. It was a reasonable, if lightly considered, belief conforming to logic and my personal experience. 4

Students perceived another logic. Upon receiving a syllabus, they often reminded me that they had registered for a course in history, not English composition. To such complaints, I replied that essay writing is to history students what soil and sunlight are to growing plants. Bada bing! When the power of metaphor failed to impress, I clinched my case quoting the recommendation of Yale University's William Graham Sumner that every student during their time in college should be made to write up “one bit of history from the ultimate sources, in order to convince himself what history is not.” Not certain. Not objective. Not simply “what happened.” Not easy; in fact, very difficult. Yet not impossible. Over time, my belief in the importance of writing for learning history morphed, or perhaps I should say ossified, into a principle I deemed incontrovertible, into a moral commitment that only callous or foolish persons would refuse to accept. The term for that kind of belief is … dogma . 5

Two kinds of people inhabit the world, thought G. K. Chesterton; “those who accept dogma and know it, and those who accept dogma and don't know it.” I was the latter kind. If doubters and nonbelievers in essay writing existed, I never met any. “Writing is history” was an understanding shared by everyone I knew. Its plausibility was reinforced by influential pedagogical currents in the 1990s and 2000s, such as writing across the curriculum, the National Writing Project, and writing in the discipline. Today, I teach in a department where essay writing is a preferred tool for learning and assessment. My colleagues and I talk often about pedagogy. But I do not recall us ever discussing why we place so much value on the history essay. The value is simply assumed—“writing is history.” Striving to outdo them all, I have required students in the introductory course to write as much as an essay per week. 6

My belief in the dogma of essay writing was shaken only once, briefly. In the early 2000s I was collecting data on student learning in my U.S. history survey course. In a study eventually published in this journal, I measured what happened to student learning when I cut back on “coverage” of historical information to make room for “uncovering” habits of thinking used by historians when making sense of the past. To determine how the course affected students' historical sensemaking across six competencies of historical thinking, I conducted think-aloud protocols with a sample of students before and after the course, comparing the results. One discovery brought me up short: a student's terrific performance in the study did not always correlate with a high grade earned in the course. In some cases, students who were star performers in the think-aloud verbalizations, who showed high levels of competency when making sense of historical documents using problem-solving heuristics such as questioning, sourcing, and corroborating, who were impressive historical sensemakers, earned much lower grades in the course ( C 's, and in one case, an F ) than A students who showed less historical competency in the post-course think-aloud verbalizations. “What's up with that?” I wondered. 7

A student researcher helping with the project suggested an explanation. Elena (not her real name) pointed out that while my research study measured gains in historical thinking through verbalized think-aloud sessions, in the course itself I assessed historical thinking primarily by means of essay writing. “Essay writing can trip you up,” Elena observed, and the wry tone of her voice indicated she knew of what she spoke. Elena was one of the best students I have ever taught. Smart, inquisitive, and impressively well read, this brilliant student nevertheless struggled mightily to express her thoughts in writing. Elena was like many students for whom the task of writing essays feels about as easy and straightforward as being asked to remove your own appendix with a ballpoint pen. Elena earned good grades in my courses, but only because she was willing to revise, revise, revise, and because I was willing (maybe too willing) to edit her drafts for clarity and coherence.

Elena's knowing explanation for the difference between a student's performance when thinking out loud and the grade they earned in my course set me wondering. If a primary goal of my introductory history course is to learn some essential concepts and competencies of historical thinking, was it reasonable of me to measure student performance of this outcome with essays, an assessment tool that requires its own complex and distinct set of competencies—which I was not formally teaching?

No, I concluded, it was not reasonable.

But being a firm old believer, I was not about to give up on history essays. So deeply ingrained in my thinking was the “writing is history” dogma that it did not occur to me to question my faith and consider other forms of assessment. Instead, I resolved to stop outsourcing the teaching of writing to first-year composition courses and the reading/writing center of the university. Henceforward, my introductory course would demystify not only historical thinking but also the nuts and bolts of essay writing.

My intentions may have been admirable, but my historical mindfulness needed work. “Everything has a history,” we say. Yet somehow it never occurred to this historian that the undergraduate essay has a past and that my ignorance of its history mattered for decisions I faced as a teacher. Under the influence of dogma I had sleepwalked into the error of naturalizing the history essay, regarding it as something outside of time, almost thinking of it as the genuine expression of the thinking mind itself, as if intellectual activity must produce essays the way rose bushes produce flowers.

Of course, none of this is true. It may be that writing is necessary for the learning of history. But essays are merely one kind of writing. Consider a list of writing assignments suggested for English schoolboys by an eighteenth-century pedagogic text, The Scholar's Instructor . In addition to the main coursework of paraphrasing, imitating, and memorizing, pupils were also recommended to write “Colloquies, Essays, Fables, Characters, Themes, Epistles, Orations, Declarations, &c.” Somehow, out of the dozen or so rhetorical genres assigned to students three centuries ago, the essay alone survives as the benchmark for furthering and measuring student achievement in history. How did that happen? 8

Reading the work of two scholars who have tried to answer this question—Peter Womack, a professor of literature at the University of East Anglia, and the historian Adrian Jones of La Trobe University in Australia—provides effective immunization against naturalizing the essay. Everyone knows that the essay (from a common French word, essais , meaning “attempts” or “tests”) was invented by Michel de Montaigne when the wealthy magistrate retired in 1571 to the tower library of his family castle to take the measure of his own mind and try to sketch with words the self he discovered. What happened after that in terms of the literary history of the essay is well documented, but less attention has been given to the essay's pedagogical history, including how this form of literature colonized humanities classrooms across the English-speaking world. Womack's and Jones's explorations are brief, provocative, and the only accounts we have of the college essay's past, making them required reading for all who assign essays. But be warned, ye old believers. The politics surrounding the elevation of the academic essay meant that it was not intended to give voice to the voiceless, lift the humble, smash the patriarchy, or speak truth to power. Little in the story of how the essay gained its authority inspires confidence in this assignment's usefulness for advancing learning, equity, and inclusiveness among today's diverse undergraduates. 9

To begin, there is the problem of the essay's undemocratic credentials. It will not surprise historians to learn that the student essay developed as a culturally specific form of communication with an original warrant in a particular institutional context. That context, Womack finds, was the nineteenth-century social matrix promoting the amateurism of the English gentleman. Gentlemen in the late Georgian and Victorian eras were not educated to do anything in particular except be droll and astute spectators of life and the human condition. That is why Joseph Addison and Samuel Johnson, two founders and exemplars of the modern essay, named their publications the Spectator and the Rambler , respectively. The essay form promoted in these daily papers flaunted the independence of the gentleman—a man who, on the one hand, did not have to work for money or, on the other hand, did not care to submit to the disciplining protocols and heuristics of professional writers. Abjuring both a specific practical function and the accustomed conventions of literature, the essay was the perfect form to express the detached impartiality of the educated man, as opposed to the self-interested efficacy of the trained worker or professional writer. Useless in business, the professions, and academic scholarship, the essay was eminently suited for the production of genteel members of an idealized bourgeois public sphere, where social harmony was the product of a shared discourse that was elegant yet plainspoken, informal yet respectful of design, morally serious but with a twinkle in the eye, informed but not pedantic. The purpose of the essay, Womack maintains, was “to express the cultivated response of a man of taste.” 10

The essay became the “default genre” for student writing in English colleges and universities thanks to what Jones calls “the nineteenth-century shotgun wedding of the essay to the public external examination.” The essay's nonspecific general form made it ideal for college entrance examinations, which, beginning in the 1850s, were administered to applicants from a variety of schools, educational backgrounds, and qualifications for writing. As generations of British university-bound students crammed for the General Certificate of Education ( Gce ) Ordinary Level exams, thus did the writing of essays become normalized by the falsehood that essays are a kind of writing every person can do. The importance of getting ready for the Gce exams meant that British public schools widely adopted the essay, while tutors at Oxford University and Cambridge University found the weekly essay assignment useful for impressing on young scholars “the moves that matter” for conversing like gentlemen. With university backing, the essay became a factory for producing gentlemen at ease with a wide variety of subjects and capable of treating topics of the day with casual grace. The only problem, as indicated in the epigraph from C. S. Lewis that begins this article, was that once undergraduates had to write essays, their tutors had to read them. 11

Womack and Jones establish that the modern student essay is a legacy of the prestige once given to the genteel model of the educated man. Today, though, when “exhibit the good taste of an English gentleman” is not a learning outcome found on many course syllabi, the gendered class origins of the essay sit uncomfortably with a half-hearted push to universal higher education, and we wonder whether the essay is an assignment that has passed its use-by date. Womack and Jones, mindful of the genetic fallacy, hope it may be possible to democratize the essay, a possibility we will consider later. Meanwhile, their trailblazing histories expose other problems with the academic essay going well beyond its elitist origins.

Thinking about the close alignment between the college essay's original purpose and its Victorian social context, one cannot help noticing how different things are today, when a nearly complete disconnect exists between the essay and the social worlds of students and college graduates. People today grow up in a world devoid of essays, giving students no exposure to their forms and protocols. New forms of communication dominate the popular culture of the young, such as online social media, sound-bite political culture, gaming, and niche forms of mass media, further walling students off from models of the kind of elevated prose writing college teachers expect. Jones notes: “Even poetry has its pubs and slams and its section in a bookshop. Oddly, the extended essay is still the preferred sign of proficiency in an advanced-level history education, but it is the literary form least lauded, least noticed, least imitated in the media and in worlds of work beyond academe.” The essay's nullity for most people's nine-to-five lives is especially concerning. Ask a history professor “why study history?” and you will hear many answers, but one of them will likely be because the skills acquired in studying history are highly relevant to a wide variety of careers. Yet Womack and Jones point out that essay writing is a metalanguage unknown and unusable in the professions for which students go to college to prepare. This is not a recent development but followed on the heels of the essay being dragooned into service for the exam system. The young men (and, eventually, women) who sought credentials as technicians, magistrates, and teachers had to play a role—that of the genteel essayist—not even remotely connected to the careers they would take up. It was (and still is), says Womack, a concealed game of pretend. Reflecting on this mythology, Womack acknowledges that the history of the undergraduate essay reveals it to be “compromised, fraudulent, a bit ridiculous, artificial, readerless, elitist, and designed to address a public sphere which no longer exists.” In his droll telling, the bourgeois public sphere of mannered, reasoning individuals has given way to a hodgepodge of domestic and professional private spheres, such that “getting students to ‘write’ (to construct themselves as articulate subjects within an imaginary public sphere) is a futile and constraining exercise in nostalgia, as if one should teach young people the art of classical parliamentary oratory, or the table manners of Edwardian Belgravia.” 12

For Adrian Jones, the most troubling aspect of the essay assignment lies elsewhere. Jones notices a recurrent friction in every period of the essay's development, a scrimmage between those who see the essay as a heuristic for self-discovery and knowledge creation and others who want to put the essay to work as a technology for the display of knowledge and the mastery of academic forms. In the academic face-off between the essay as a means of discovery and the essay as a diagnostic tool of assessment, the mastery or assessment agenda has generally prevailed. It did so in the beginning when Montaigne's “wild” essays that broke all the rules and bore similarities to the kinds of writing people post on social media today were domesticated, methodized, and weaponized for assessment in European universities. The mastery agenda prevailed again in the mid-nineteenth century when the Addisonian essay was naturalized for British students by the exam system. And it won out again in the 1990s when writing-to-learn movements in Great Britain, Australia, and the United States foundered upon an entrenched pedagogy in higher education in place since the medieval ages: the lecturer-centric and coverage-oriented models for education. 13

But it is not always the case that the time-honored mastery agenda of higher education utterly prevails. Sometimes, Jones implies, the resolution of the conflict occurs in a dialectical fashion that, contra Georg Hegel, makes everything worse. Today, with an eye toward Montaigne, teachers frown on “wildness” in student essays. Yet instructors still take from Montaigne the hope that students will make use of their freedom to use the essay to explore the self, to express roughhewn ideas, and to create deep personal understandings. Then again, with an eye toward scholasticism, college teachers disdain the methodical stuffiness of the five-paragraph essay. Even so, they insist on reading essays that adhere to standard conventions of academic writing. In short, the centuries-old clash of conceptualizations between freedom and form in the essay often results in the expectation that student writing will display both. As Jones puts it, essay writers “must be eloquent and terse, earnest and cut-and-dried.” They are expected to be interesting but also disinterested, to express their unique selves but in the coded signs of academic practice. The key tension, he says, is between “the content and classification (mastery) agendas of higher education” and students' “capacities to respond in speech and in writing in ways that have to reconcile that disinterestedness with also having to try to be, and to become, more expressive and more interesting.” 14

It is a tough assignment. To write and think like a medieval scholastic while at the same time channeling one's inner Montaigne—how many old believers can pull it off ourselves?

Jones's clash-of-conceptualizations thesis clarifies the contradictions posed by essay assignments, oddities that go largely unnoticed by instructors even as students must, miserably, deal with them. Students think teachers' expectations for the essay are “picky,” Jones reports; also, “too reflective” with a payoff that is years beyond their reach. Jones observes that students perceive the charge to write an essay as “reckless” and “a conceit” because they are painfully aware that they do not know very much and simply are not up to the job—not only that, it will not help them obtain or hold a job. So how do they deal with the contradictions of the essay? The immediate result of the nineteenth-century elevation of the college essay was a wave of plagiarism, Womack points out. It makes sense. Since the essay asks students to pretend to be something they are not (genteel, detached, disinterested), while teachers pretend the essay is something it most certainly is not (natural, universal, nondiscriminatory), many students find the line between writing an essay and plagiarizing an essay easy to ignore. 15

Despite all the reasons they give to doubt the essay's suitability for our time, Womack and Jones cannot bring themselves to quit on the college essay assignment. Nothing better demonstrates the hold that the essay has on the imagination of academics in the humanities today than the fact that neither of these brilliant dissidents can bring themselves to admit the force of their own arguments against essays and raise the white flag. Womack concludes his article by declaring that the essay—which asserts the reality of a public sphere where disinterested parties meet to work toward truths many can agree on—is one of the few weapons humanists have in the fight against neoliberal, anti-intellectual conservatives intent on trashing everything the essay stands for. This is noble, but not persuasive. It strikes us as rather like urging passengers on the sinking Titanic to hold fast to their ornate deck chairs, when what the situation really calls for is an alternative means of preservation, such as lifeboats. 16

Jones goes a step farther. Echoing Womack's call to make the essay more democratic, and worried that giving up on the essay will only further disempower marginalized students, he pins the preservation of the essay to the abandonment of “coverage.” Anticipating the argument made elsewhere in this Textbooks and Teaching forum by Kelly King-O'Brien, Gordon Mantler, Nan Mullenneaux, and Kristen Neuschel, Jones recommends that history instructors “re-focus academic attention on the student essay as the key driver of a history education in particular, and of a humanities education in general.” The way to do this, he argues, is to adopt an “uncoverage” approach to history teaching, which is to say that instructors must abandon the impossible goal of covering all important information about the past and instead demystify historical thinking for students. In terms of historical study, “the methods behind the expertise [of the historian], not just the results of the expertise, become the explicit focus of the class.” But teachers should also “uncover” how to write essays, thus giving students access to the metalanguage academics love so much. This recommendation returns us to the question we raise in this article: If students are taught how to write essays, will essay writing help them learn to think like historians? 17

The history of the history essay raises unsettling thoughts. Does the history essay actually signify rigor, intellectual advancement, and quality history instruction? Or are history essays outdated hazing rituals that unfairly discriminate against students who come to college from less advantaged backgrounds with little prior training in this undeniably odd form of writing? David Pace had such students in mind when, addressing fellow historians in Perspectives on History , he warned that in a time of widening social inequality, “[history instructors] need to rethink some of the most basic strategies that underlie our teaching. It is no longer adequate to perpetuate a practice simply because that was the way we were taught.” Most history professors will say they learned history by writing history. Does it, though, necessarily follow that students—particularly those in introductory courses—must do the same? 18

Questioning the value of essay writing will seem absurd to old believers who think that “writing is history.” But on what basis do we think so? It is worth noting that the posts in the American Historical Association member forum discussion on writing and history were characterized by solid convictions and a lack of any evidence to support those convictions beyond personal experience. Perhaps an online discussion list is not the place to expect careful arguments in support of a position. Yet the absence of a single reference to scholarly inquiry on the question, the general tone of “everybody knows this is so,” and the dogmatic character of the professors' responses raise doubts that deserve to be turned into questions. 19

Do students who write history essays really become better historical thinkers than students who do not? Might it be possible for students to learn historical thinking without having to write traditional college essays? Or is formal essay writing as indispensable as historians seem to think it is?

Between 2017 and 2019 the stars at our college aligned so that we could put these questions to a test.

As happens so often, necessity was the mother of scholarly invention. Faculty members of the Augustana College history department were working out course offerings for the academic years 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 when it became clear that someone was going to have to teach an unusually high number of sections of the introductory U.S. history course. The senior author of this article drew the short straw. Sulking about it, I pondered what it would be like to read and give feedback on essays not to thirty students at a time, the typical class size for a section of the course, but to ninety students in a term. Reluctantly, I concluded it was an impossibility. Being an old believer in the “writing is history” creed, this was not an easy decision. But the situation compelled me to design a course that, for the first time in my career, assigned no essays. As I deleted a section of the old syllabus labeled “Why So Many Essays?” I felt guilty about letting students down. But then an idea occurred to me that held out the possibility for redemption. What if the students in some sections of the course continued to learn history from within the iron cage of essay writing, while I allowed students in other sections a more free-range exploration of the past and never asked them to write a single history essay at all? This would lighten my workload even as it created the possibility for a randomized control trial in the wild, so to speak, revealing the difference that essay writing makes for learning historical sensemaking. Thus, my problem became an opportunity.

Our research design was simple. Over a two-year period, I taught eight sections of the same course, “Rethinking U.S. History: 1877 to Present.” Students in three of the eight sections wrote the usual essays I had always required. These are “sensemaking” essays in which I provide students eight to fifteen primary historical documents of varying types relating to a topic and direct them to write an essay that makes sense of the evidence. I teach students to construct their own historical questions, look for corroborating and contextualizing connections, source documents, make evidence-based arguments, and recognize limits to what can be known. They also learn some of the ins and outs of essay writing: how to write an introduction, where to put the main point, how to write “naysayers” and alternate points of view into the text, and other rhetorical moves. In this iteration of the course, students in the three sections with essay assignments wrote five 1,500-word essays in a fourteen-week semester. Meanwhile, in the alternate world that was the other five sections of “Rethinking U.S. History: 1877 to Present,” students wrote no essays at all. They received the same instruction in questioning, connecting, sourcing, arguing, and recognizing limits to knowledge as the students in the writing sections. They completed the same in-class exercises, did the same prewriting preparations, and participated in the same small-group discussions. They listened to the same lectures, read the same texts, took the same quizzes, and worked to make sense of the same historical documents using the media of oral think-aloud sessions, Socratic questioning, arguments, formal debates, and conversation. Other than the presence or absence of essay writing, all eight sections of the course examined the same content and experienced the same methods of instruction. The only difference between the two versions of the course was that in three of the sections, students did the course work done by students in the other sections and they wrote formal essays. 20

The question we sought to answer was this: In terms of historical thinking, would the students in the writing-intensive sections outperform the students who wrote no essays?

To answer that question, we needed a valid and reliable way to measure levels of competency for historical thinking. The History Assessments of Thinking ( Hats ) developed by the Stanford History Education Group ( Sheg ) met our need well. Lendol Calder had been using Hats in class for formative assessment for several years and was familiar with how they work. The junior author of this essay, Robert Williams, had been using Sheg lessons and assessments in his clinical experiences and student teaching at the high school level, so he too was familiar with Hats . Hats are tasks that ask students to answer questions about historical sources and to explain the reasoning behind their answers in a few sentences. Each Hat assesses student ability at one or more core heuristics of historical thinking, such as the relationship between claim and evidence, or how time and place influence events, or the need to assess the reliability and the relevance of testimony. Scoring of Hats uses a three-point rubric indicating degrees of ability on the competency being measured. “Basic” means the student's answer is unsound and bears no relation to the competency. Basic answers receive zero points. “Emergent” answers earn one point and indicate that the student shows some inklings of the heuristic in question but lacks a deep understanding. “Proficient” answers receive two points to indicate that the student effectively and correctly used the associated thinking skill. Validity studies of Hats show that these assessments measure historical thinking processes better than other forms of assessment. 21

For our study, we selected five Hats that measure key aspects of historical thinking taught in Calder's introductory course: sourcing, corroboration, and contextualization. The administration of one of the Hats occurred at the beginning of each term as a pretest. The students grappled with the remaining four Hats during the exam period following the end of the course.

Our data set consisted of 665 Hats completed by 131 students in the no-writing sections, and 325 Hats completed by sixty-five students in the sections that wrote essays. Analysis of the Hat data involved using the three-level rubric to score student responses to the five Hat tasks. First, we scored student responses by ourselves. Then we came together to share notes on each Hat response, working to achieve consensus about whether a response was proficient, emergent, or basic. Neither of us knew whether the student whose Hat we were evaluating had taken the writing-intensive course or the course that had no essay writing.

This bar chart shows levels of student proficiency, in percentage, at corroboration in sections of “Rethinking U.S. History: 1877 to Present” that required essay writing and sections of the course in which students wrote no essays. To measure the extent to which students would think about what other information they might seek out to help them evaluate the reliability of a document, we used three History Assessments of Thinking ( Hats ) developed by the Stanford History Education Group: “Migrant Mother” (question 2), “African American Workers” (question 2), and “Japanese Internment” (question 2). We used a three-point rubric to score responses: “Basic” (zero points) indicates the answer to the question reveals no awareness of and/or ability in the competency being measured; “Emergent” (one point) describes an answer that reveals partial understanding; and “Proficient” designates an answer demonstrating full understanding. To our surprise, students in the no-writing sections outperformed those in the writing-intensive courses—32 percent in the proficient category, as compared to 24 percent. Source : “Beyond the Bubble,” n.d., Stanford History Education Group , https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-assessments .

Some of the Hat tasks assessed “corroboration,” a heuristic used by historians to improve the acceptability of knowledge claims about the past. Because primary historical evidence is never an exact, unproblematic reflection of the past, historians look for connections among the evidence, comparing and contrasting claims, perspectives, and arguments across multiple sources, seeking strong confirmation of claims already supported by some initial evidence. The Hats in our study measured to what extent students would think about what other information they might seek out to help them evaluate the reliability of a document. To our surprise, in terms of corroboration, students in the no-writing sections outperformed those in the writing-intensive courses—32 percent in the proficient category, as compared to 24 percent.

Other Hat tasks tested for “contextualization,” measuring to what extent students think to consider how the context surrounding the creation of a source of information affects its reliability as historical evidence. In terms of contextualization, once again students in the no-writing sections outperformed those in the sections that required essay writing, though the differences here were slighter than with corroboration: 41 percent to 39 percent in the proficient category.

This bar chart shows levels of student proficiency, in percentage, at contextualization in sections of “Rethinking U.S. History: 1877 to Present” that required essay writing and sections of the course in which students wrote no essays. To measure students' ability to contextualize information, we used two History Assessments of Thinking ( Hats ) developed by the Stanford History Education Group: “The Case of the Clock” and “Migrant Mother” (question 3). We used a three-point rubric to score responses: “Basic” (zero points) indicates the answer to the question reveals no awareness of and/or ability in the competency being measured; “Emergent” (one point) describes an answer that reveals partial understanding; and “Proficient” designates an answer demonstrating full understanding. Students in the no-writing sections outperformed those in the sections that required essay writing, though the differences here were slighter than with corroboration: 41 percent to 39 percent in the proficient category. Source : “Beyond the Bubble,” n.d., Stanford History Education Group , https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-assessments .

Finally, another set of Hats gauged students' ability to source information, measuring the extent to which students think to consider who wrote or made a document, when it was made and for what purpose, and how such information might change how one interprets the source and how one might use it to make a claim about the past. Here we saw the strongest correlation in our study, this time favoring the writing-intensive sections. Thirty-eight percent of the students who wrote essays earned a rating of proficient at sourcing, as compared to 24 percent in the no-writing sections. Looking at this data more closely, we noted that the number of students rated basic was about the same for both types of courses. This suggests to us that there is a subset of students, slightly over one-third, who, for whatever reason, find the sourcing heuristic terribly hard to grasp. But there is another subset of students—we call them the B students—for whom writing essays seems to nudge them to higher levels of performance at sourcing. We noticed this interesting finding on all three of the Hats that assessed sourcing.

Our research found that history students in an introductory course who wrote five “sensemaking” history essays from primary documents proved to be no better at contextualizing information and corroborating documents than students who took the same course and wrote no essays. Indeed, at the end of the course the essay writers performed slightly worse at these competencies as measured on Hat tasks. When it came to sourcing documents, essay writing did seem to help students who already had an inkling about how to source information but had not yet mastered the heuristic. It did not appear to help other students learn how to source. These findings lead us to conclude that essay writing is no magic bullet for teaching historical thinking. The confident conviction expressed in the American Historical Association member forum that writing is indispensable for teaching historical thinking, a conviction we shared at the outset of our work, does not receive support from our study. 22

This bar chart shows levels of student proficiency, in percentage, at sourcing in sections of “Rethinking U.S. History: 1877 to Present” that required essay writing and sections of the course in which students wrote no essays. To measure students' ability to source information, we used three History Assessments of Thinking ( Hats ) developed by the Stanford History Education Group: “Migrant Mother” (question 1), “African American Workers” (question 1), and “Japanese Internment” (question 1). We used a three-point rubric to score responses: “Basic” (zero points) indicates the answer to the question reveals no awareness of and/or ability with the competency being measured; “Emergent” (one point) describes an answer that reveals partial understanding; and “Proficient” designates an answer demonstrating full understanding. Here we saw the strongest correlation in our study, this time favoring the writing-intensive sections. Thirty-eight percent of the students who wrote essays earned a rating of proficient at sourcing, as compared to 24 percent in the no-writing sections. Source : “Beyond the Bubble,” n.d., Stanford History Education Group , https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-assessments .

Our findings run counter to what most historians believe about the relationship between essay writing and learning history. Naturally, we welcome skepticism about our results. A single study of anything cannot demonstrate much conclusively. Ours, though, is the first study to date that probes the connections between essay writing and historical thinking that grounds its claims not in personal experience and observations but in systematic empirical methods. We appeal for more studies to confirm, complicate, or deny our results, and to expand the scope of inquiry.

Two questions need further reflection. First, how might we explain the surprising results of our study, which shows that essay writing can sometimes depress historical thinking? In his history of the history essay, Adrian Jones observes that throughout higher education, the teaching agenda of professors is mismatched to the learning needs of students. This leaves students stuck in their misconceptions about what essays are for, thinking the essay is a platform to go on about what one knows instead of an engine for the creation of knowledge. Meanwhile, the coverage-mad professors refuse, or do not know how, to relinquish the keys to the kingdom of knowledge. Where this is the case, it should not surprise us that students will struggle to learn historical thinking when asked to do so through the medium of an unfamiliar metalanguage. Historical thinking and the writing of essays are two different skill sets. If they overlap, they are nevertheless different. Essay writing calls for competencies that have nothing to do with historical thinking, such as framing a good introduction, knowing where to locate a thesis, and how to overcome writer's block. It calls for competencies that complement historical thinking, without being the same, such as argumentation. If, in the words of Elena, “essays can trip you up,” surely it is because they impose such a heavy cognitive load that, for many students—including first-generation college students, low-income students, and underrepresented minorities—such work actually impedes their ability to learn to think historically. 23

Essay writing can be saved, Jones proposes, if history instructors who assign essays accept responsibility for teaching students how to write them. Otherwise, the assignments are not really engines for learning but merely sieves for sorting students based on the quality of their previous education. If professors will ditch their obsession with covering content and “uncover” for students what essays really are and how to write them, Jones believes it will be possible to reimagine essays so that they are no longer “a sum for the reiteration of knowledge” but rather “a heuristic and hermeneutic” for creating knowledge. This is similar to the argument made in this forum by King-O'Brien, Mantler, Mullenneaux, and Neuschel. 24

Jones's comforting belief, however, is exactly what our study calls into question. In Calder's introductory courses, essay writing is deliberately demystified, scaffolded, warranted, and re-enchanted. Calder's course preaches, teaches, models, and assesses essays as “a hermeneutic and heuristic.” Indeed, Jones commends Calder's “signature pedagogy” for introductory history courses as a model for how to teach essay writing and historical thinking. And still we found that students who wrote essays were no better at historical thinking than students who did not. How can this be explained? 25

Our study raises the assessment problem of validity that Calder stumbled across in his original think-aloud studies. Because written compositions rely on students' ability to articulate their thoughts in formal language, essay assignments conflate understanding with fluency. But sometimes students harbor deep understandings even though they write poorly. The reverse is true, as well: sometimes students who can write well on paper are boldly saying more than they really understand. Plato, who first observed this problem, wrote Meno to demonstrate the difference between knowledge and glib certainty. “The thorniest problem” of assessment, according to Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, calls for “differentiating between the quality of an insight and the quality of how the insight is expressed.” 26

And now a second question: If essay writing is not necessary for learning historical thinking, what does our study mean for history teaching and learning? Emboldened by what we have learned, we agree with Pace that it is time to think in fresh ways about effective pedagogical methods for history courses, especially introductory ones. At the very least, we should begin a serious reexamination of the view, so evident in the American Historical Association member forum, that “[essay] writing is history.” 27

In the digital age, with new, exciting forms of media and expression exploding all around us, and with new awareness of the need for greater inclusion and fairness in higher education, we should be experimenting with all manner of ways to narrate, interpret, and analyze the past. We agree with the prediction of T. Mills Kelly: “If we find ways to turn our students loose—to give them room to create history the ways they want rather than the ways we insist on—while still maintaining our standards and remaining true to our learning goals, our students will surprise us.” And with his warning: “We should be very worried that we are losing the rising generation of students because our approach to the past seems increasingly out of sync with their heavily intermediated lives.” Our findings open the door to experimentation with new kinds of assignments, in written and other forms, and new kinds of competencies in history instruction, beginning with the “quasi-oralities of texting, posting, and social networking” identified by Jones as congruent with the original “wild essays” of Montaigne. If instructors want to make forays into the digital world when seeking to help students learn historical thinking, our study suggests they can do so with the assurance that they are not harming students' ability to learn valuable heuristics of historical thinking, and may actually be making history instruction more accessible to students for whom essay writing is an unfamiliar—and arguably arbitrary—bar to entry. 28

No one should read us as saying “The history essay is dead! (or should be).” Rather, we are urging a reexamination of the taken-for-granted history essay from top to bottom instead of the continuation of business as usual. Defenders of the essay will need to spell out and demonstrate the precise connections they posit between writing and historical thinking and suggest effective measures for teaching a literary genre that hardly exists outside of highbrow circles. And they will need to substantively engage the question: Why believe that writing an essay produces better proficiency with questioning, sourcing, and other aspects of historical thinking than making a video, writing a blog, designing a Web site, or writing historical narrative?

With history enrollments dropping, the Titanic is sinking. Why hold so tightly to deck chairs, no matter how elegant (and, dare we say, gentlemanly)?

Robert Williams thank Augustana College for support from the Student-Faculty Partnership Grant Program; and the JAH Textbooks and Teaching editors for their gracious and incisive comments, questions, and editing that improved this article.

Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (New York, 2018).

William Holman, A Handbook to Literature (New Jersey, 2003), 193. In the judgement of a team of historians assembled by the American Historical Association to survey the state of history assessment at the secondary and college levels, the essay is the history assessment par excellence: “The Dbq (document-based question) in particular has often been regarded as a gold standard in history assessment because it is an authentic assessment, meaning it assesses students' ability to complete a task that replicates the work historians actually do.” See Lendol Calder and Tracy Steffes, “Measuring College Learning in History,” in Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century , ed. Richard Arum, Josipa Rokstra, and Amanda Cook (Hoboken, 2016), 72–73. Good entry points into the literature examining traditional methods of history instruction include David Pace, “The Amateur in the Operating Room: History and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,” American Historical Review , 109 (Oct. 2004), 1171–92; Joel Sipress and David Voelker, “The End of the History Survey Course: The Rise and Fall of the Coverage Model,” Journal of American History , 97 (March 2011), 1050–66; Bruce A. VanSledright, The Challenge of Rethinking History Education: On Practices, Theories, and Policy (New York, 2011); and Grant Wiggins, “Why Do High School History Teachers Lecture So Much?,” April 27, 2015, Teach for Thought , https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/why-do-high-school-teachers-lecture-so-much/ .

Nathaniel Erfurth, “On the High School History Essay,” online posting, Nov. 29, 2017, American Historical Association Member Forum discussion list, available at http://www.historians.org . Kenneth J. Orosz, “On the High School History Essay—Reply,” Nov. 30, 2017, online posting, ibid. Shelby M. Balik, “On the High School History Essay—Reply,” Dec. 1, 2017, online posting, ibid. Emphasis in original.

C. V. Wedgewood, Truth and Opinion: Historical Essays (London, 1960), 15.

William Graham Sumner, Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals (Boston, 1906), 636.

G. K. Chesterton, Fancies versus Fads (New York, 1923), 101. Danna B. Kelemen and D. Dwayne Cartmell II, “Teaching Students to Write: A Review of History, Movements and Methods,” n.d., Proceedings from the 2006 Meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists , https://agrilife.org/saas2/files/2011/02/Teaching.pdf . National Writing Project , https://www.nwp.org .

Lendol Calder, “Uncoverage: Toward a Signature Pedagogy for the History Survey,” Journal of American History , 92 (March 2006), 1358–70.

On The Scholar's Instructor and the recommended colloquies, essays, fables, characters, themes, epistles, orations, declarations, and other practices, see Ian Michael, The Teaching of English: From the Sixteenth Century to 1870 (Cambridge, Eng., 1987), 304.

On the history of the essay as a literary genre, see Milton J. Rosenberg et al., “Roundtable: The History of the Essay,” Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction , 2 (Fall 2000), 219–41; and John D'Agata, The Lost Origins of the Essay (Minneapolis, 2009).

Peter Womack, “What Are Essays For?,” English in Education , 27 (Summer 1993), 42–44.

Adrian Jones, “A History of the History Essay: Heritages, Habits, and Hindrances,” History Australia , 14 (March 2017), 127. On producing gentlemen at ease with a wide variety of subjects, see Womack, “What Are Essays For?,” 44–46.

Adrian Jones, “A (Theory and Pedagogy) Essay on the (History) Essay,” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education , 17 (April 2018), 224. Womack, “What Are Essays For?,” 47.

Jones, “History of the History Essay,” 119–23.

Ibid. , 123.

Ibid. , 120. Womack, “What Are Essays For?,” 46.

Jones, “History of the History Essay,” 47–48.

Kelly King-O'Brien et al., “Reimagining Writing in History Courses,” Journal of American History , 107 (March 2021), 942; Jones, “(Theory and Pedagogy) Essay on the (History) Essay,” 232.

David Pace, “The History Classroom in an Era of Crisis: A Change of Course Is Needed,” Perspectives on History , 55 (May 2017), 18.

American Historical Association Members Forum discussion list, available at http://www.historians.org .

For a fuller description of the design of Lendol Calder's introductory U.S. history course, see Calder, “Uncoverage,” 1363–67.

Mark Smith, Joel Breakstone, and Sam Wineburg, “History Assessments of Thinking: A Validity Study,” Cognition and Instruction , 37 (no. 1, 2019), 118–44. Over one hundred History Assessments of Thinking ( Hats ) are available at “Beyond the Bubble,” n.d., Stanford History Education Group , https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-assessments .

Jones, “(Theory and Pedagogy) Essay on the (History) Essay,” 229–30. For data on how race and social background of students predicts their grades in introductory history courses, and how a grade of D , F , or W in an introductory history course is frequently a prelude to academic disaster, see Drew Koch, “Many Thousands Failed: A Wakeup Call to History Educators,” Perspectives on History , 55 (May 2017), 19–20; and Bridget Ford et al., “Beyond Big Data: Teaching Introductory U.S. History in the Age of Student Success,” Journal of American History , 106 (March 2020), 989–1011.

Jones, “(Theory and Pedagogy) Essay on the (History) Essay,” 230–32. King-O'Brien et al., “Reimagining Writing in History Courses.”

Jones, “(Theory and Pedagogy) Essay on the (History) Essay,” 232; Jones, “History of the History Essay,” 131.

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design (Alexandria, 1998), 98–114. On Plato's Meno as exemplifying “thoughtless mastery,” the problem of failing to distinguish between fluency and understanding, see Grant Wiggins, “Toward Assessment Worthy of the Liberal Arts,” 1990, Aahe Assessment Forum, https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/SAUM/articles/wiggins_appendix.pdf .

T. Mills Kelly, Teaching History in the Digital Age (Ann Arbor, 2013), 124, 3. Jones, “History of the History Essay,” 118–19.

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How to Write a History Essay

Last Updated: December 27, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Emily Listmann, MA . Emily Listmann is a private tutor in San Carlos, California. She has worked as a Social Studies Teacher, Curriculum Coordinator, and an SAT Prep Teacher. She received her MA in Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 2014. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 243,008 times.

Writing a history essay requires you to include a lot of details and historical information within a given number of words or required pages. It's important to provide all the needed information, but also to present it in a cohesive, intelligent way. Know how to write a history essay that demonstrates your writing skills and your understanding of the material.

Preparing to Write Your Essay

• The key words will often need to be defined at the start of your essay, and will serve as its boundaries. [2] X Research source
• For example, if the question was "To what extent was the First World War a Total War?", the key terms are "First World War", and "Total War".
• Do this before you begin conducting your research to ensure that your reading is closely focussed to the question and you don't waste time.

• Explain: provide an explanation of why something happened or didn't happen.
• Interpret: analyse information within a larger framework to contextualise it.
• Evaluate: present and support a value-judgement.
• Argue: take a clear position on a debate and justify it. [3] X Research source

• Your thesis statement should clearly address the essay prompt and provide supporting arguments. These supporting arguments will become body paragraphs in your essay, where you’ll elaborate and provide concrete evidence. [4] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• Your argument may change or become more nuanced as your write your essay, but having a clear thesis statement which you can refer back to is very helpful.
• For example, your summary could be something like "The First World War was a 'total war' because civilian populations were mobilized both in the battlefield and on the home front".

• Pick out some key quotes that make your argument precisely and persuasively. [5] X Research source
• When writing your plan, you should already be thinking about how your essay will flow, and how each point will connect together.

Doing Your Research

• Primary source material refers to any texts, films, pictures, or any other kind of evidence that was produced in the historical period, or by someone who participated in the events of the period, that you are writing about.
• Secondary material is the work by historians or other writers analysing events in the past. The body of historical work on a period or event is known as the historiography.
• It is not unusual to write a literature review or historiographical essay which does not directly draw on primary material.
• Typically a research essay would need significant primary material.

• Start with the core texts in your reading list or course bibliography. Your teacher will have carefully selected these so you should start there.
• Look in footnotes and bibliographies. When you are reading be sure to pay attention to the footnotes and bibliographies which can guide you to further sources a give you a clear picture of the important texts.
• Use the library. If you have access to a library at your school or college, be sure to make the most of it. Search online catalogues and speak to librarians.
• Access online journal databases. If you are in college it is likely that you will have access to academic journals online. These are an excellent and easy to navigate resources.
• Use online sources with discretion. Try using free scholarly databases, like Google Scholar, which offer quality academic sources, but avoid using the non-trustworthy websites that come up when you simply search your topic online.
• Avoid using crowd-sourced sites like Wikipedia as sources. However, you can look at the sources cited on a Wikipedia page and use them instead, if they seem credible.

• Who is the author? Is it written by an academic with a position at a University? Search for the author online.
• Who is the publisher? Is the book published by an established academic press? Look in the cover to check the publisher, if it is published by a University Press that is a good sign.
• If it's an article, where is published? If you are using an article check that it has been published in an academic journal. [8] X Research source
• If the article is online, what is the URL? Government sources with .gov addresses are good sources, as are .edu sites.

• Ask yourself why the author is making this argument. Evaluate the text by placing it into a broader intellectual context. Is it part of a certain tradition in historiography? Is it a response to a particular idea?
• Consider where there are weaknesses and limitations to the argument. Always keep a critical mindset and try to identify areas where you think the argument is overly stretched or the evidence doesn't match the author's claims. [9] X Research source

• Label all your notes with the page numbers and precise bibliographic information on the source.
• If you have a quote but can't remember where you found it, imagine trying to skip back through everything you have read to find that one line.
• If you use something and don't reference it fully you risk plagiarism. [10] X Research source

Writing the Introduction

• For example you could start by saying "In the First World War new technologies and the mass mobilization of populations meant that the war was not fought solely by standing armies".
• This first sentences introduces the topic of your essay in a broad way which you can start focus to in on more.

• This will lead to an outline of the structure of your essay and your argument.
• Here you will explain the particular approach you have taken to the essay.
• For example, if you are using case studies you should explain this and give a brief overview of which case studies you will be using and why.

Writing the Essay

• Try to include a sentence that concludes each paragraph and links it to the next paragraph.
• When you are organising your essay think of each paragraph as addressing one element of the essay question.
• Keeping a close focus like this will also help you avoid drifting away from the topic of the essay and will encourage you to write in precise and concise prose.
• Don't forget to write in the past tense when referring to something that has already happened.

• Don't drop a quote from a primary source into your prose without introducing it and discussing it, and try to avoid long quotations. Use only the quotes that best illustrate your point.
• If you are referring to a secondary source, you can usually summarise in your own words rather than quoting directly.
• Be sure to fully cite anything you refer to, including if you do not quote it directly.

• Think about the first and last sentence in every paragraph and how they connect to the previous and next paragraph.
• Try to avoid beginning paragraphs with simple phrases that make your essay appear more like a list. For example, limit your use of words like: "Additionally", "Moreover", "Furthermore".
• Give an indication of where your essay is going and how you are building on what you have already said. [15] X Research source

• Briefly outline the implications of your argument and it's significance in relation to the historiography, but avoid grand sweeping statements. [16] X Research source
• A conclusion also provides the opportunity to point to areas beyond the scope of your essay where the research could be developed in the future.

Proofreading and Evaluating Your Essay

• Try to cut down any overly long sentences or run-on sentences. Instead, try to write clear and accurate prose and avoid unnecessary words.
• Concentrate on developing a clear, simple and highly readable prose style first before you think about developing your writing further. [17] X Research source
• Reading your essay out load can help you get a clearer picture of awkward phrasing and overly long sentences. [18] X Research source

• When you read through your essay look at each paragraph and ask yourself, "what point this paragraph is making".
• You might have produced a nice piece of narrative writing, but if you are not directly answering the question it is not going to help your grade.

• A bibliography will typically have primary sources first, followed by secondary sources. [19] X Research source
• Double and triple check that you have included all the necessary references in the text. If you forgot to include a reference you risk being reported for plagiarism.

Sample Essay

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.historytoday.com/robert-pearce/how-write-good-history-essay
• ↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/writing-a-good-history-paper
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/thesis_statement_tips.html
• ↑ http://history.rutgers.edu/component/content/article?id=106:writing-historical-essays-a-guide-for-undergraduates
• ↑ https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=344285&p=2580599
• ↑ http://www.hamilton.edu/documents/writing-center/WritingGoodHistoryPaper.pdf
• ↑ http://www.bowdoin.edu/writing-guides/
• ↑ https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/hppi/publications/Writing-History-Essays.pdf

About This Article

To write a history essay, read the essay question carefully and use source materials to research the topic, taking thorough notes as you go. Next, formulate a thesis statement that summarizes your key argument in 1-2 concise sentences and create a structured outline to help you stay on topic. Open with a strong introduction that introduces your thesis, present your argument, and back it up with sourced material. Then, end with a succinct conclusion that restates and summarizes your position! For more tips on creating a thesis statement, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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The Personal Study Dealing With Significance

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History courses at A-Level contain a personal study that ranges from 2,500- 4,000 words in length, depending upon the exam board. Many of these deal with the theme of significance.

Here are some tips for your personal study as recommended by the National Archives:

• Choose a valid historical issue that interests you and that is not too narrow or too general
• The wording of your investigation question is absolutely central to a successful study. The exam board AQA stresses that it should always be in the form of a question like 'how far' or 'to what extent?' This approach will allow you to show the examiner your ability to evaluate, analyse and conclude. It will also help you to focus on concepts rather than narrative description
• Make sure there is enough primary and secondary material to allow you to study in depth - textbooks, biographies, diaries, documentaries, films, historical sites, letters, maps, paintings, novels, newspapers and museum displays
• Show you can select, interpret and evaluate sources (primary and secondary)
• Present a consistently analytical response to the question posed by the study
• Offer interpretations of events and reveal the context in which ideas are produced
• Show awareness of the main debates of the issues involved
• If you have chosen to write about a figure in history, always consider their social and political context and assess your person's historical significance
• Organise your material to produce a well-structured piece of work
• Focus on communicating ideas well to present a cohesive argument
• Draw your own conclusions supported by evidence
• Produce a study with a bibliography listing all sources, books and articles you used. Add appendices and footnotes where appropriate
• Study previous examples of good practice if your teacher has them
• Seek the advice of your teacher, within reason. The object of the exercise is to show that you can work independently

Significance

As part of an enquiry based personal study, you may be asked to examine the significance of a person, period or event in history. This is not always as easy as it sounds because you have to ask yourself, significant compared to what? In whose opinion? How is it measured? The fact is that a personal study is PERSONAL. This means it should be about your response to the question. How does it make you feel? What story does it tell you? What do you conclude from looking at the evidence and opinions of historians? The study should be about your opinions and feelings. You can refer to other people's interpretations, but you should use this as an opportunity to show off your own arguments. Remember, significance is a constructed theme. It is ascribed to events and people by others, or sometimes by themselves through propaganda. Ideas about significance can change from person to person, over time and with different evidence.

Getting a personal study right when dealing with significance is not as easy as it sounds. In order to weigh up how significant something was, perhaps it may be useful to go back to basics. The 5 Rs are a good set of questions to use as a starting point in order to determine significance; however, they should not be used as a tick-box exercise or an essay plan! Your study will need to be much more fluid than that and delve into the context of the time and the wider context, as well as other issues particular to the question that may affect the significance of the person or event. However, the 5 Rs might help you to decide upon which questions or topics lend themselves well to the theme of significance.

What to look for

• Importance - to the people living at the time
• Profundity - how deeply were people's lives affected?
• Quantity - how many lives were affected?
• Durability - for how long were people's lives affected?
• Relevance - the extent to which the event has contributed to an increased understanding of present life?

Example: World War I:

• Who was affected by the war?
• How were people's lives changed during it?
• How many died or lost key relatives?
• Why is it important to remember? (lives lost)
• Why is it important to study?
• Resulting in Change

What do I have to do?

You must produce a piece of work no longer than 3000 words in length. The question must focus on significance and must allow you to demonstrate the following understandings:

• Historical significance can be measured by using appropriate criteria.
• Historical significance can be measured across time or over time.
• Other people's claims about historical significance are provisional and negotiable.

Your question must also allow you to demonstrate the following skills:

• Propose a title question that defines the study;
• Explain and analyse the significance of an individual, event, idea or site;
• Use criteria to organise an answer and to determine significance;
• Measure significance either across time, or over time, or by reference to both dimensions - by comparing and combining them;
• Explain, analyse, and reach and support judgements about, significance that may include explanations of ideas, actions or events, critical use or primary and/or secondary source material as evidence and /or critical evaluation of historians' interpretations.

Historical significance (and what it is not)

It is important that you have understanding of how 'significance' is being used. It might help by thinking of 'historical significance' rather than just significance. 'Historical significance' involves a broad judgement about an individual, event, idea or site. Traditional causation questions e.g. 'Was Charles' leadership the most important reason he lost the Civil War?' should be avoided. This type of question usually ends up with the candidate explaining the role of Charles, then writing about the role of other factors, and then comparing their importance and reaching a conclusion. Such a question, and its answer, will fail to take you beyond the explanation work they were doing at AS level.  It does not address historical significance. By asking a question about the causation of a particular event the scope is limited by placing the focus on a particular outcome e.g. losing the Civil War. Questions are more likely to provide you with an opportunity to judge historical significance if the question is not limited to a particular outcome. A question such as 'How significant was Charles I's defeat in the Civil War?' is much broader and allows you to consider the importance of the defeat at the time and immediately afterwards, but also whether it has any longer term importance.

Significance questions need a clear context and a timeframe - how big a period of time does an event need to be placed in?  The Tudor Rebellions look quite big in the context of the 16th century but if you put it in the timeframe 1400-1700, the rebellions are book-ended by the Wars of the Roses and the Civil War which puts a different perspective on the significance of the rebellions - therefore it is clear from this example, that when examining the significance of any event, the timeframe needs to be very clear.

Correcting some misconceptions about significance:

• Significance is not the same as relevance to today, although this may be part of it.
• Significance is much more than just importance.
• It is more than just causes or consequences. Some individuals or events are significant because of their consequences. Others may not have had major consequences but they can still be significant.
• Significance is a value given to individuals, events, ideas and sites. It is not a quality intrinsic to the individual, event, idea or site. It is provisional and negotiable. Historians and others will come to different judgements about it.
• Significance should not be confused with fame or rank.
• It is not necessarily to do with size e.g. large sites are not significant simply because of their size.
• Significance can be negative or positive BUT: interpretations of significance should not be affected by moral judgement e.g. Cromwell is not significant because he put the inhabitants of Drogheda to the sword, Hitler cannot be significant because of the Holocaust. These claims confuse significance with greatness or being infamous.   

How to measure significance

Claims made about significance need to be based on more than assertion. You should be encouraged to demonstrate the significance of individuals, events, ideas or sites. This involves:

Recognising that significance can be considered in at least two dimensions - across time (impact at the time) and over time (impact on the longer-term course of events);

Using criteria against which to measure significance in each dimension - extent of immediate impact (across time) and relationship to prior and subsequent events (over time) i.e. did any other events or people bear a relationship? Did anything happen as a consequence?

Criteria for measuring significance might be :

• Nature of the individual, event, idea or site
• How typical/how unique?
• How expected/how unexpected?
• How reported/how received?
• How iconic or symbolic?
• Width of impact (could be materially, or ideas, action...)
• How many people, groups or institutions were affected?
• Were rich/poor, men/women, old/young affected in the same way?
• Were different parts of the country affected in the same way?
• How wide, geographically, was the impact?
• Depth of impact (could be materially, or ideas, actions...)
• How deeply were people's beliefs and attitudes affected?
• For how long were people affected?
• How important was it to people at the time?
• How far it was it remarked on by people at the time?
• How powerful was the impact?
• What kind of reaction was caused?
• Nature of the impact
• How far was it beneficial?
• Relevance for historians
• The extent to which the impact increases historians' understanding of the period
• What does it reveal about the period?
• Why have different judgements about its significance been made by different ages, and/or historians? What criteria or values influenced their judgements? 

Criteria for measuring significance over time :

• How much of a change occurred between what went before and what came after (event etc. seen as a turning point)?
• How much continuity occurred between what went before and what came after (event etc. seen as part of a trend)?
• How is the amount of change/continuity affected by variations to the time scale (event etc. seen as a ‘false dawn')? 

Other criteria:

• It has been remembered at some stage in history within the collective memory of a group or groups;
• It has had a resonance. People make analogies with it; it is possible to connect it with experiences, beliefs or situations across time and space.
• Try a visual graph to help you plan your answer or plot a timeline or flow diagram of all of the things that came out of the person/event/discovery/period like the one attached below.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do both judgements (across time and over time) agree about the significance I can attach to the individual, event, idea or site?
• If so, how do I combine these similarities within a single account?
• Do the judgements (across time and over time) disagree about the significance I can attach to the individual, event, idea or site? In which case, how do I account for this?
• Do the results of the person/event/circumstances resonate across a long period of time? If not, does this affect significance?

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How to Write a Good History Essay. A Sequence of Actions and Useful Tips

Before you start writing your history essay, there is quite a lot of work that has to be done in order to gain success.

You may ask: what is history essay? What is the difference between it and other kinds of essays? Well, the main goal of a history essay is to measure your progress in learning history and test your range of skills (such as analysis, logic, planning, research, and writing), it is necessary to prepare yourself very well.

Your plan of action may look like this. First of all, you will have to explore the topic. If you are going to write about a certain historical event, think of its causes and premises, and analyze what its impact on history was. In case you are writing about a person, find out why and how he or she came to power and how they influenced society and historical situations.

The next step is to make research and collect all the available information about the person or event, and also find evidence.

Finally, you will have to compose a well-organized response.

During the research, make notes and excerpts of the most notable data, write out the important dates and personalities. And of course, write down all your thoughts and findings.

It all may seem complicated at first sight, but in fact, it is not so scary! To complete this task successfully and compose a good history essay, simply follow several easy steps provided below.

Detailed Writing Instruction for Students to Follow

If you want to successfully complete your essay, it would be better to organize the writing process. You will complete the assignment faster and more efficient if you divide the whole work into several sections or steps.

• Introduction

Writing a good and strong introduction part is important because this is the first thing your reader will see. It gives the first impression of your essay and induces people to reading (or not reading) it.

To make the introduction catchy and interesting, express the contention and address the main question of the essay. Be confident and clear as this is the moment when you define the direction your whole essay will take. And remember that introduction is not the right place for rambling! The best of all is, to begin with, a brief context summary, then go to addressing the question and express the content. Finally, mark the direction your essay about history will take.

Its quality depends on how clear you divided the whole essay into sections in the previous part. As long as you have provided a readable and understandable scheme, your readers will know exactly what to expect.

The body of your essay must give a clear vision of what question you are considering. In this section, you can develop your idea and support it with the evidence you have found. Use certain facts and quotations for that. When being judicial and analytical, they will help you to easily support your point of view and argument.

As long as your essay has a limited size, don’t be too precise. It is allowed to summarize the most essential background information, for example, instead of giving a precise list of all the issues that matter.

It is also good to keep in mind that each paragraph of your essay’s body must tell about only one issue. Don’t make a mess out of your paper!

It is not only essential to start your essay well. How you will end it also matters. A properly-written conclusion is the one that restates the whole paper’s content and gives a logical completion of the issue or question discussed above. Your conclusion must leave to chance for further discussion or arguments on the case. It’s time, to sum up, give a verdict.

That is why it is strongly forbidden to provide any new evidence or information here, as well as start a new discussion, etc.

After you finish writing, give yourself some time and put the paper away for a while. When you turn back to it will be easier to take a fresh look at it and find any mistakes or things to improve. Of course, remember to proofread your writing and check it for any grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. All these tips will help you to learn how to write a history essay.

• LEARN How-To's

Home » Student Resources » Historical Essay: What is it?

Historical Essay: What is it?

A history essay starts with an argument or position you first form in your thesis statement, and that you then add to and support with evidence arranged in the body of the essay. Your conclusion then needs to respond directly to your thesis statement.

• Social Sciences

What is a historical essay?

A history essay is not exactly the same as a regular essay. The parts are similar: It has an “ introduction ” which includes your “ thesis statement “, which is then supported by evidence you collect and put together in the “ body ” of the essay. You also need to sum things up in a “ conclusion ” that responds directly to your thesis statement.

While planning, researching, thinking about and writing your history essay, there are a few tips to remember (See tabs above).

History needs time

Historians like you need consider the “chronology” of events in time. In other words, you need to know what time period you are talking about, and you need to  make that clear to your reader . How long ago you are talking about? What came before and after the events you are describing? When was this all happening? What do you call that time period?

The pictures above (by RECITUS.qc.ca) are from a film on how to prepare for an exam by Timelining the different time “periods”.

History needs historical contexts

The “context” for your essay means what else is going on at the time. You should be clear about that in your introduction and keep it in mind throughout the essay. For example, what were the economic, political, social, territorial and cultural changes that were happening? How was the world was changing then? What major events surround the time you are writing?

The pictures above (by RECITUS.qc.ca) are from a film on how to prepare for an exam by Timeline-ing the different time “periods”.

Historians use documents

Try to use different “primary source” original documents from the time period. And when you use “secondary sources” written by other historians that you find in books, newspapers, on websites, etc., make sure you indicate that these are secondary sources. In both cases, make sure the reader understands who wrote those documents, and their point of view.

The above documents (photographs, posters, newspapers) were taken from three excellent websites that offer primary source documents:

• Library and Archives Canada
• McCord Museum, Montreal History Museum
• Google Newspaper Archives

Note that in some cases (like on Exams!) you may be given document files, from which you must get your information and decide on the topics of your essay. Remember to pay attention to headings for these historical documents, and consider closely which parts of the original document has been chosen for you.

Historians think like historians

Historians examine the causes and the consequences of events. This is more precise than just the context; these are the reasons why something happened, and the things that happened afterwards because of it.

Historians also try to determine what has changed and what has stayed the same, and again, they try to explain why.

And like you, they state their opinion. You can do the same in your essay, and you can state why your opinion differs or is the same as other writers.

When you are writing a history essay, try to remember these strategies. Another good source for strategies is The Historial Thinking Project at  http://historicalthinking.ca/

The above image (s) were taken from the McCord online exhibit entitled Urban Life through Two Lenses, specifically from the photographic pairing entitled “ View of the Montreal Habour ” (Public Domain)

• Historical Thinking Project
• McCord Museum

Related How To's

Historical Essay: Conclusion

Historical Essay: The Body

Historical Essay: Introduction

Historical Essay: Thesis Statement

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IB History: Writing Effective Paper 3 Essays

In the International Baccalaureate (IB) History course, Paper 3 assesses the "Aspects of the History of the Americas" for HL students. Writing effective essays for Paper 3 requires a combination of historical knowledge, critical analysis, and strong essay-writing skills. Here's a guide on how to write compelling Paper 3 essays:

 1. Understanding the Assessment Criteria:

1. command terms:.

   - Analyze, evaluate, and compare historical events.

   - Clearly understand the meaning of each command term and tailor your response accordingly.

2. Historical Concepts:

   - Demonstrate an understanding of key historical concepts such as causation, consequence, continuity, and change.

3. Synthesis:

   - Integrate information from different sources and demonstrate the ability to synthesize knowledge.

 2. Essay Structure:

1. introduction:.

   - Provide a clear thesis statement that outlines the main argument of your essay.

   - Offer a brief overview of the historical context.

2. Body Paragraphs:

   - Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that relates to your thesis.

   - Provide evidence, examples, and historical facts to support your arguments.

   - Analyze and interpret the significance of the evidence.

3. Counterarguments:

   - Address potential counterarguments to your thesis.

   - Either refute counterarguments or incorporate them into your analysis to show a nuanced understanding.

4. Use of Historical Perspectives:

   - Integrate different historical perspectives into your analysis.

   - Discuss how the perspectives of different groups or individuals shape historical events.

5. Conclusion:

   - Summarize your main arguments and restate your thesis.

   - Provide a brief reflection on the broader historical significance of your analysis.

 3. Historical Context and Background:

1. demonstrate contextual knowledge:.

   - Begin your essay by providing the necessary historical context.

   - Show an understanding of the broader historical forces at play during the period in question.

2. Chronological Organization:

   - Organize your essay chronologically if it makes sense for the topic.

   - Chronological organization helps demonstrate an understanding of the temporal development of events.

 4. Analysis and Evaluation:

1. cause-and-effect relationships:.

   - Analyze the cause-and-effect relationships between historical events.

   - Examine the short-term and long-term consequences of key actions.

2. Historical Significance:

   - Evaluate the historical significance of events, individuals, or developments.

   - Discuss the impact of the chosen topic on the broader course of history.

3. Causal Links and Comparisons:

   - Establish clear causal links between events.

   - Make effective comparisons to highlight similarities and differences.

 5. Use of Evidence:

1. primary and secondary sources:.

   - Integrate evidence from both primary and secondary sources.

   - Critically evaluate the reliability and bias of your sources.

2. Quantitative Data:

   - Incorporate relevant quantitative data when applicable.

   - Use statistics and figures to strengthen your arguments.

 6. Writing Style:

1. clarity and cohesion:.

   - Write in a clear and concise manner.

   - Ensure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next.

2. Avoid Repetition:

   - Avoid unnecessary repetition of ideas.

   - Use varied sentence structures to maintain reader engagement.

3. Historical Terminology:

   - Demonstrate a command of historical terminology.

   - Use specific terms and concepts relevant to the time period.

 7. Revision and Proofreading:

1. review your essay:.

   - Take time to review and revise your essay.

   - Check for coherence, consistency, and clarity.

2. Seek Feedback:

   - Share your essay with peers or teachers for feedback.

   - Consider their suggestions for improvement.

By following these guidelines, you can craft well-structured, insightful, and historically grounded essays for the IB History Paper 3. Remember to practice regularly and engage with a variety of historical sources to enhance your analytical and writing skills.

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Writing in History: Effects of writing instruction on historical reasoning and text quality

Journal of Writing Research

This study aims at gaining more insight in effective writing instruction to promote historical reasoning. In an experimental study, two types of instructions were compared; a general writing instruction and a discipline-based writing instruction. In addition, the effects of these instructions for students with a different initial writing ability were explored. Participants were 42 students (11th-grade), who followed a unit on the development of Dutch democracy and had to write an argumentative letter in which they argued the historical significance of a self-selected event or person. Students received a short writing instruction, based on the principle of learning from text models, in two versions: a general writing instruction or a discipline-based writing instruction. Analyses focused on historical reasoning and global text quality. Results showed a positive effect of discipline-based instruction on the quality of historical reasoning, but no effects were found on text quality. No...

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Johan Van Driel

Writing in history places high demands on students and is a skill that requires explicit instruction. Therefore, teachers need to be able to teach this in an effective way. In this study, the writing-instruction was designed by a teacher, instead of researchers, as part of a professional development program in the Netherlands. The lessons combined writing and historical reasoning instruction, based on principles of effective writing instruction, including strategy-instruction, modeling, prewriting, and peer-interaction. The effects of these lessons were investigated in a small-scale pilot study, which consisted of a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design, in which eighty-nine 11th grade students participated (39 in the treatment condition and 50 in the comparison condition). Dependent measures included text quality, writing process measures, students’ knowledge of writing and their self-efficacy. Students in the treatment condition wrote longer and higher quality texts, spent ...

Reading and Writing

Johan van Driel

Journal of Literacy Research

Susan De La Paz

Mark K Felton

In this paper, we report on our own modest professional development efforts that accompanied a U.S. history curriculum intervention project for 8 graders. We identify one specific studentlearning goal located at the intersection of historical thinking and literacy: the disciplinary use of evidence in writing historical argument. In recognition of the challenges associated with such a goal, we created a one-year professional development experience to support teachers’ understanding of the intended outcomes and facility with the curriculum. The professional development course aimed to develop teachers’ conceptual understandings of history, historical thinking and writing, and student learning. We offered opportunities to analyze students’ essays and to practice specific strategies that promote historical thinking and writing. We share what teachers noticed in their students’ writing over the course of one year, including their increased attention to features of historical thinking and...

European Journal of Applied Linguistics

The concept of historical significance is seen as a key concept of historical reasoning. Assigning significance is based on criteria and related to the identity of who assigns significance. However, little is known about reasoning-, reading-, and writing processes when students attribute significance. The aim of this study is to investigate how students and experienced history teachers with a master’s degree reason, read, and write about historical significance while thinking aloud. We analyzed the think-aloud protocols of twelve 10th-grade students and four history teachers on reasoning, reading, and writing processes. While thinking aloud, participants read two contrasting accounts after which they wrote an argumentative text about the historical significance of Christopher Columbus. Analysis of participants’ think-aloud protocols and their written texts showed that students did not recognize historical accounts as perspectives—influenced by the historical context. In contrast, te...

Hungarian educational research journal

Yosanne Vella

Revista Brasileira de História

Helenice Rocha

Journal of Curriculum Studies

Caroline Coffin

George Newell

A study compared the effects of two writing tasks (short answer exercises and analytic essay writing) with no writing on high school students&#39; understanding of concepts from prose passages. Baseline data on typical patterns of instruction and students&#39; approaches to writing were obtained using observation and case studies in two history classes, one with advanced students, the other with average ability students. Once the sense of context had been established, 22 students from both classes participated in a structured study that included reading history textbook passages and completing writing tasks related to information in the passages, or doing no writing at all. Several learning measures were used, including a measure of concept knowledge. Results from the observational stage indicated that the teachers&#39; intention of implementing writing as learning was co-opted by an academic approach that required certainty and correctness. This approach overlooked students&#39; ne...

Reading & Writing Quarterly

Eric Claravall

Historical reasoning, as a disciplinary literacy, aims to develop higher-order thinking in addition to depth of historical knowledge beyond the textbook and memorization of facts. It teaches students to use information across multiple sources to contextualize and corroborate historical accounts, constructing an informed yet critical interpretation of events. Studies on the use of multiple sources to develop historical reasoning among students with learning differences (ld) are scarce. This qualitative study seeks to explore and describe how twelve 7th grade students in a special education classroom used multiple historical sources when writing argumentative/expository essays. The 96 total essays that students wrote throughout the academic year are the primary data source for this paper. Data memos, lesson plans, and interview transcripts were used to triangulate the findings found in the essays. Based on a thematic analysis, three major themes emerged: (1) students with ld demonstrated discipline-specific cognitive processes (e.g., sourcing, corroboration, contextualization) when using multiple historical sources in their essays; (2) students with ld leveraged the use of multiple historical sources in writing essays, mediated by a range of interests toward multiple source use; and (3) high-quality instruction characterized by scaffolding (i.e., gradual release of responsibility) for reading and writing fostered students with ld’s understanding of historical events and historical reasoning using multiple sources. This paper offers implications or policy, research, and practice related to multiple source use among students with ld.

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How to write an introduction for a history essay

Every essay needs to begin with an introductory paragraph. It needs to be the first paragraph the marker reads.

While your introduction paragraph might be the first of the paragraphs you write, this is not the only way to do it.

You can choose to write your introduction after you have written the rest of your essay.

This way, you will know what you have argued, and this might make writing the introduction easier.

Either approach is fine. If you do write your introduction first, ensure that you go back and refine it once you have completed your essay. 

What is an ‘introduction paragraph’?

An introductory paragraph is a single paragraph at the start of your essay that prepares your reader for the argument you are going to make in your body paragraphs .

It should provide all of the necessary historical information about your topic and clearly state your argument so that by the end of the paragraph, the marker knows how you are going to structure the rest of your essay.

In general, you should never use quotes from sources in your introduction.

Introduction paragraph structure

While your introduction paragraph does not have to be as long as your body paragraphs , it does have a specific purpose, which you must fulfil.

A well-written introduction paragraph has the following four-part structure (summarised by the acronym BHES).

B – Background sentences

H – Hypothesis

E – Elaboration sentences

S - Signpost sentence

Each of these elements are explained in further detail, with examples, below:

1. Background sentences

The first two or three sentences of your introduction should provide a general introduction to the historical topic which your essay is about. This is done so that when you state your hypothesis , your reader understands the specific point you are arguing about.

Background sentences explain the important historical period, dates, people, places, events and concepts that will be mentioned later in your essay. This information should be drawn from your background research . 

Example background sentences:

Middle Ages (Year 8 Level)

Castles were an important component of Medieval Britain from the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 until they were phased out in the 15 th and 16 th centuries. Initially introduced as wooden motte and bailey structures on geographical strongpoints, they were rapidly replaced by stone fortresses which incorporated sophisticated defensive designs to improve the defenders’ chances of surviving prolonged sieges.

WWI (Year 9 Level)

The First World War began in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The subsequent declarations of war from most of Europe drew other countries into the conflict, including Australia. The Australian Imperial Force joined the war as part of Britain’s armed forces and were dispatched to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe.

Civil Rights (Year 10 Level)

The 1967 Referendum sought to amend the Australian Constitution in order to change the legal standing of the indigenous people in Australia. The fact that 90% of Australians voted in favour of the proposed amendments has been attributed to a series of significant events and people who were dedicated to the referendum’s success.

Ancient Rome (Year 11/12 Level)  

In the late second century BC, the Roman novus homo Gaius Marius became one of the most influential men in the Roman Republic. Marius gained this authority through his victory in the Jugurthine War, with his defeat of Jugurtha in 106 BC, and his triumph over the invading Germanic tribes in 101 BC, when he crushed the Teutones at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC) and the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae (101 BC). Marius also gained great fame through his election to the consulship seven times.

2. Hypothesis

Once you have provided historical context for your essay in your background sentences, you need to state your hypothesis .

A hypothesis is a single sentence that clearly states the argument that your essay will be proving in your body paragraphs .

A good hypothesis contains both the argument and the reasons in support of your argument. 

Example hypotheses:

Medieval castles were designed with features that nullified the superior numbers of besieging armies but were ultimately made obsolete by the development of gunpowder artillery.

Australian soldiers’ opinion of the First World War changed from naïve enthusiasm to pessimistic realism as a result of the harsh realities of modern industrial warfare.

The success of the 1967 Referendum was a direct result of the efforts of First Nations leaders such as Charles Perkins, Faith Bandler and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

Gaius Marius was the most one of the most significant personalities in the 1 st century BC due to his effect on the political, military and social structures of the Roman state.

3. Elaboration sentences

Once you have stated your argument in your hypothesis , you need to provide particular information about how you’re going to prove your argument.

Your elaboration sentences should be one or two sentences that provide specific details about how you’re going to cover the argument in your three body paragraphs.

You might also briefly summarise two or three of your main points.

Finally, explain any important key words, phrases or concepts that you’ve used in your hypothesis, you’ll need to do this in your elaboration sentences.

Example elaboration sentences:

By the height of the Middle Ages, feudal lords were investing significant sums of money by incorporating concentric walls and guard towers to maximise their defensive potential. These developments were so successful that many medieval armies avoided sieges in the late period.

Following Britain's official declaration of war on Germany, young Australian men voluntarily enlisted into the army, which was further encouraged by government propaganda about the moral justifications for the conflict. However, following the initial engagements on the Gallipoli peninsula, enthusiasm declined.

The political activity of key indigenous figures and the formation of activism organisations focused on indigenous resulted in a wider spread of messages to the general Australian public. The generation of powerful images and speeches has been frequently cited by modern historians as crucial to the referendum results.

While Marius is best known for his military reforms, it is the subsequent impacts of this reform on the way other Romans approached the attainment of magistracies and how public expectations of military leaders changed that had the longest impacts on the late republican period.

4. Signpost sentence

The final sentence of your introduction should prepare the reader for the topic of your first body paragraph. The main purpose of this sentence is to provide cohesion between your introductory paragraph and you first body paragraph .

Therefore, a signpost sentence indicates where you will begin proving the argument that you set out in your hypothesis and usually states the importance of the first point that you’re about to make. 

Example signpost sentences:

The early development of castles is best understood when examining their military purpose.

The naïve attitudes of those who volunteered in 1914 can be clearly seen in the personal letters and diaries that they themselves wrote.

The significance of these people is evident when examining the lack of political representation the indigenous people experience in the early half of the 20 th century.

The origin of Marius’ later achievements was his military reform in 107 BC, which occurred when he was first elected as consul.

Putting it all together

Once you have written all four parts of the BHES structure, you should have a completed introduction paragraph. In the examples above, we have shown each part separately. Below you will see the completed paragraphs so that you can appreciate what an introduction should look like.

Example introduction paragraphs: 

Castles were an important component of Medieval Britain from the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 until they were phased out in the 15th and 16th centuries. Initially introduced as wooden motte and bailey structures on geographical strongpoints, they were rapidly replaced by stone fortresses which incorporated sophisticated defensive designs to improve the defenders’ chances of surviving prolonged sieges. Medieval castles were designed with features that nullified the superior numbers of besieging armies, but were ultimately made obsolete by the development of gunpowder artillery. By the height of the Middle Ages, feudal lords were investing significant sums of money by incorporating concentric walls and guard towers to maximise their defensive potential. These developments were so successful that many medieval armies avoided sieges in the late period. The early development of castles is best understood when examining their military purpose.

The First World War began in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The subsequent declarations of war from most of Europe drew other countries into the conflict, including Australia. The Australian Imperial Force joined the war as part of Britain’s armed forces and were dispatched to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe. Australian soldiers’ opinion of the First World War changed from naïve enthusiasm to pessimistic realism as a result of the harsh realities of modern industrial warfare. Following Britain's official declaration of war on Germany, young Australian men voluntarily enlisted into the army, which was further encouraged by government propaganda about the moral justifications for the conflict. However, following the initial engagements on the Gallipoli peninsula, enthusiasm declined. The naïve attitudes of those who volunteered in 1914 can be clearly seen in the personal letters and diaries that they themselves wrote.

The 1967 Referendum sought to amend the Australian Constitution in order to change the legal standing of the indigenous people in Australia. The fact that 90% of Australians voted in favour of the proposed amendments has been attributed to a series of significant events and people who were dedicated to the referendum’s success. The success of the 1967 Referendum was a direct result of the efforts of First Nations leaders such as Charles Perkins, Faith Bandler and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. The political activity of key indigenous figures and the formation of activism organisations focused on indigenous resulted in a wider spread of messages to the general Australian public. The generation of powerful images and speeches has been frequently cited by modern historians as crucial to the referendum results. The significance of these people is evident when examining the lack of political representation the indigenous people experience in the early half of the 20th century.

In the late second century BC, the Roman novus homo Gaius Marius became one of the most influential men in the Roman Republic. Marius gained this authority through his victory in the Jugurthine War, with his defeat of Jugurtha in 106 BC, and his triumph over the invading Germanic tribes in 101 BC, when he crushed the Teutones at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC) and the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae (101 BC). Marius also gained great fame through his election to the consulship seven times. Gaius Marius was the most one of the most significant personalities in the 1st century BC due to his effect on the political, military and social structures of the Roman state. While Marius is best known for his military reforms, it is the subsequent impacts of this reform on the way other Romans approached the attainment of magistracies and how public expectations of military leaders changed that had the longest impacts on the late republican period. The origin of Marius’ later achievements was his military reform in 107 BC, which occurred when he was first elected as consul.

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Essay on Labour Day: History and Importance in English

• Updated on  
• Apr 6, 2024

Essay on Labour Day: Labour Day is a global event celebrated on May 1 to recognize the contributions and achievements of workers. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) organises events and raises awareness to improve labour conditions on this day. Labour Day was first organised in India on 1 May 1923. On this page, we will provide you with an essay on Labour Day and its related events.

Quick Read: Viksit Bharat Essay

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Labour day origin, importance of labour day , 100 words paragraph on labour day, essay on labour day in 500 words.

Labour Day, observed on May 1st globally, holds great importance as it honours the hard work and accomplishments of workers. Alongside this celebration, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) plays a crucial role in ensuring that workers are treated fairly and respectfully across the world. 

This organization works to protect workers’ rights, improve working conditions, and promote decent employment opportunities for people everywhere. Through its efforts, the ILO helps to create a safer and more equitable working environment for workers of all ages and backgrounds, making Labour Day a time to acknowledge both the achievements of workers and the ongoing work towards fair treatment and dignity in the workplace.

Also Read: Essay on National Youth Day

The late 19th century, when industrialization was drastically changing societies, was when Labour Day first emerged. During this period, workers were forced to work in harsh working conditions for long hours. Their wages were also minimal. In response to these injustices, labour unions and activists began organizing protests and strikes to demand better working conditions and rights for workers. 

Labour Day in the United States began because workers wanted a fairer work schedule. Back in 1886, workers protested for an 8-hour workday. In Chicago, things got violent during a protest called the Haymarket Affair. Both workers and police officers were hurt. But the workers didn’t give up. They kept fighting for better conditions. Finally, in 1894, the government made Labour Day a holiday to honour their hard work. Now, we celebrate Labour Day every year to remember their efforts.

Labour Day holds immense importance as it serves as a reminder of the struggles and sacrifices made by workers throughout history to secure basic rights and protections. It is a day to honour the resilience, dedication, and contributions of workers from all walks of life, including those in factories, offices, farms, and beyond.

Furthermore, Labour Day provides an opportunity to advocate for ongoing labour rights and social justice issues. It serves as a platform to address current challenges facing workers, such as income inequality, workplace safety, and job security. By raising awareness and mobilizing support, Labour Day helps to advance the cause of workers’ rights and promote a fair and equitable society for all.

Also Read: Essay on Chandrayaan 3

Labour Day shows how workers working together can make good things happen. It started as a protest day, and now it’s a big day celebrated worldwide for workers’ rights. We should remember the hard times workers faced, celebrate what they’ve achieved, and keep fighting for fairness for all workers. Let’s stand together for justice and equality on Labour Day and every day.

Ans: As a reminder of the hardships and sacrifices made by workers throughout history to obtain fundamental rights and protections, Labour Day is extremely significant. It is a day to honour the resilience, dedication, and contributions of workers from all walks of life, including those in factories, offices, farms, and beyond.

Ans: We celebrate Labour Day to honour the contributions of workers and to recognize the labour movement’s achievements in securing better working conditions, fair wages, and labour rights.

Ans: When writing about Labour Day, you are required to discuss its historical background, significance, the struggles and achievements of the labour movement, the importance of fair labour practices, and the current state of workers’ rights. You may also highlight the impact of labour on society and the economy, and emphasize the need for continued advocacy for workers’ rights.

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Eid-ul-Fitr 2024: Date, history, significance, and all you need to know about the Islamic festival and its celebrations

Eid-ul-fitr 2024: eid marks the end of the holy month of ramadan. also known as eid-al-fitr or meethi eid, know its date, history and significance..

Eid-ul-Fitr 2024: Eid-ul-Fitr is one of the grandest festivals of the Islamic religion. Also known as Eid-al-Fitr or Meethi Eid , the festival marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan - during which Muslims observe a Roza (fast) from dawn to dusk for a month and engage in religious activities and acts of spiritual reflection. It falls on the first date of the 10th Shawwal of the Islamic calendar. People celebrate Eid by ending their Roza, thanking Allah for offering them health and resistance during Ramadan, wearing new clothes, preparing grand feasts, meeting their loved ones, doing charity, and more. If you and your family celebrate Ramadan with your loved ones, you should learn its date, history, significance, and celebrations.

(Also Read | Family activities for Eid-ul-Fitr 2024: Fun and meaningful ways to celebrate together )

Eid-ul-fitr 2024 date: when is eid.

Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar. While it falls on the first date of the 10th Shawwal of the Islamic calendar, the dates vary because they depend on the sighting of the crescent moon. Therefore, Eid-ul-Fitr will also fall on different days across regions.

In Kerala, Eid will be celebrated a day before the rest of the country because the moon sighting adheres to the traditional Islamic calendar and waits for the actual sighting of the moon. It is the only state that decided the Eid dates as per the sighting of the moon in Saudi Arabia.

This year, the Eld-ul-Fitr is likely to be celebrated on Wednesday, April 10, or Thursday, April 11, because Ramadan began on March 11 and will end on April 10/11.

Eid-ul-Fitr 2024: History, Significance and Celebrations

Eid-ul-Fitr is a joyous occasion celebrated by Muslims across the globe. It is believed that the Holy Quran was first revealed to Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan. This history can be traced back to 624 AD. Muslims believe the month-long fasting during Ramadan brings prosperity, harmony, and peace. They refrain from any negative thoughts during this period. Come Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, people break their Roza with a delicious meal and get together with friends and family.

Eid-al-Fitr also marks the Prophet's triumph in the Battle of Badr. Meanwhile, Eid-al-Fitr means "Festival of breaking the fast". On this day, people wear new clothes, prepare delicacies, do charity and wish their family and friends Eid Mubarak. They break the Roza with a delicious meal. Meanwhile, the delectable dishes prepared during Eid are Biryani, Haleem, Nihari, kebabs and Seviyan. Additionally, children receive gifts and money from elders, called Eidi.

• Eid Celebration
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National Maritime Day 2024: History, Significance and Celebration

Published By : Nibandh Vinod

Trending Desk

Last Updated: April 05, 2024, 09:54 IST

Mumbai, India

The National Maritime Day is celebrated on April 5 annually. (Image: Shutterstock)

National Maritime Day was celebrated for the first time in 1964 to honour the inaugural voyage of the first Indian-owned ship SS Loyalty, on April 5, 1919.

National Maritime Day, celebrated annually in India on April 5, honours those who spend months at sea, contributing to India’s trade. It also commemorates the inaugural voyage of the first Indian-owned ship. This year, the Government of India will celebrate the National Maritime Day alongside the Merchant Navy Week from March 30 to April 5. The National Maritime Day offers an opportunity to emphasise the role of the maritime industry in India’s economic growth and highlights the sacrifice of seafarers who not only run the trade but also partake in national security by deterring pirate attacks.

History and Significance

The National Maritime Day was first celebrated in 1964 by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. This year will mark the 61st National Maritime Day. The day not only celebrates India’s maritime might, but also commemorates the inaugural voyage of the first Indian-owned ship, SS Loyalty from Mumbai to London on April 5, 1919.

The maiden voyage of SS Loyalty symbolised India’s aspiration of becoming a key stakeholder in the maritime sector. The SS Loyalty also put a dent in the monopoly of the British shipping companies.

The day serves as a platform to highlight issues affecting the maritime industry such as ocean pollution, lack of global cooperation to ensure safe voyages, and improving working conditions for ship and port workers.

How it is celebrated

The National Maritime Day celebrations are held across the country, but major ports such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Kandla, and Visakhapatnam see special government-supported events such as seminars, medical camps, and blood donation drives.

The National Maritime Day celebrations include observing the Merchant Navy Flag Day and the Wreath Laying Ceremony to honour the sailors who lost their lives in the First and Second world wars.

On National Maritime Day, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways presents the Sagar Samman Awards to those who display “exceptional and outstanding all-round and leadership” and “outstanding bravery” in the maritime sector.

The awards include the Sagar Samman Varuna Award, which is the highest category of award, the Sagar Samman Award for Excellence, and the Sagar Samman Award for Gallantry.

The best Indian ship-owning companies, maritime training institutes, and Indian Ports are also recognised with a number of awards.

India’s growth as an emerging maritime superpower

Today, India has become the 16th largest maritime country in the world, supported by about 200 non-major ports and 12 major ports.

As per a March 2024, press release by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “over the last 9 years, the number of seafarers has increased by 140 per cent.”

Additionally, the Indian seafarers “occupy 12 percent of international seafaring jobs”. By 2023, the ministry wants this figure to touch 20 per cent.

• National Maritime Day