How to Write an Essay for History Class

As a student, knowing how to write a strong history essay about the Compromise of 1850, women's suffrage or the Vietnam War can influence your final semester grade in history. The most basic thing to remember about writing a history essay writing is to directly answer the question that you have been assigned. Break your essay into three parts: an introduction with a thesis statement, a middle series of paragraphs that supports your thesis and a conclusion that summarizes your points and supports your thesis.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Research your assigned topic by visiting your school or city library and checking out any books or magazines that contain pertinent, historic information. Familiarize yourself with your history instructor's requirements for the essay, such as the length, number of sources that must be used, whether those sources should be footnoted and the essay's due date.

2. Compose an introductory paragraph of no more than seven or eight sentences that contains a thesis statement and foreshadows supporting content later in the paper. Use non-flowery, declarative sentences, with an active voice, to convey an authoritative tone and demonstrate to your instructor that you have mastered the historic material in your essay and addressed the assigned topic.

3. Focus on the history essay's midsection by writing paragraphs that each begin with a topic sentence that links back to your thesis. Keep your paragraphs in the range of seven to eight sentences. Fill each paragraph with historic references that support each topic sentence. Consider footnoting any historic references obtained from books or magazines, using MLA guidelines.

4. Finish the essay by writing a summary paragraph that should include references to all of the historic material you've included and how that ties back to your thesis statement. Proofread the history essay for typos and grammar errors, then turn in an edited, clean version to your instructor.

References

• Silvapages: How to Write a History Essay

Resources

• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Formatting and Style Guide