How to Write a History Essay

You can’t do without a history essay. Plus, this type of work is often assigned in history departments. If you’re seriously preparing to graduate from school and enter a cool university, you’ve probably already started practicing writing a history essay. Check with our article to see if you’ve got everything covered. 

Essay… How much is in this word

History essay reflects the student’s knowledge of the subject, the ability to think independently, draw conclusions, draw parallels, structure, and design the work following the requirements. Some history homework help provides a full coordination with essay. The history essay assumes that the author of the work writes his personal opinion on the topic and makes attempts to prove it, not allowing uncompromising judgments in his analysis.

Classification of history essays

It is possible to distinguish two types of such works:

  • Quotation-based reasoning. For example, “Peter’s reign was a continuation of John’s reign” (K. D. Kavelin).
  • This type of history essay is considered easy. The student mostly needs to relate the quotation to the activity of a historical person or time and express their attitude toward the problem.

How to write a history essay

What you need to do to get a good grade:

  • Consider at least two major events in the proposed period: reform, uprising, regime change, adoption of documents, etc.
  • Analyze the activities of at least two significant individuals: the tsar (emperor), a high church rank, a minister, a leader of the boyars, the army or conspirators, etc.
  • Describe how the events shown in the history essay influenced the further development of the country.
  • Express your own opinion on the historical significance of the period in question.
  • Any evaluative judgment of the student should nevertheless be based on authoritative authors, corresponding to the generally accepted opinion of the moment.
  • Even though the essay assumes certain artistry, liberality, it is necessary to use scientific terminology. After all, we are talking about an academic paper.

The structure should also be clear:

  • Introduction (here you can use an epigraph).
  • The main part.
  • Conclusion.

How history essays are graded

Points are awarded for:

  • Correctly finding key historical processes and figures, describing specific actions. If the topic concerns the October Revolution in Russia, write about the Revolution of 17, the transition from one social order to another, Lenin and Trotsky.
  • Identification of cause-and-effect relationships. From A and B follows C.
  • Your assessment of the facts. That’s up to you.
  • Proper use of terminology. Simply put, don’t confuse evolution with revolution.
  • The absence of factual errors. We cannot mix up names, dates, documents, etc.
  • Coherence, logic, and readability. No commentary. If a student can’t do that, what did he do all those years in school?

In the first part, indicate the importance of the chosen theme of the work and confirm it with two key events. The second part, reveals the role of famous personalities. In the third part, you can proceed to the cause-and-effect connections. And in the conclusion, express your own opinion, but not too freely.

Robyn Matthews started writing about technology when she was far too young and hasn't stopped. She spends most of his time obsessing over computer software and hardware, and loves talking about herself in third person.