US history essay

Writing historical essays

Writing is an art that is learnt. Do not expect to write a good essay for the very first time .Essay writing is about effort, discipline and a positive attitude development. Historical essay writing is an academic form of writing that requires maximum discipline and effort for you to write a good paper. Students expect to get a good grade without attending class lecturers. This does not always work with essay writing. It is up to the student to listen to the professor; do a lot of consultation and write US history essays. The following is just a guide to help you do everything right after attending lecturers.

Elements of historical writing

Just like other academic papers, historical essay has the introduction, the body and the conclusion. The introduction contains a hook and a thesis statement. In your body paragraphs, ideas have to be followed by strong evidence. Let’s look keenly at what a good thesis should be like.

Thesis

Good historical essay writing is based on a thesis. A thesis is the argument you use to develop your historical essay. It is important for students to understand a question assigned to them before crafting a thesis. This is so because most students rush to form a thesis that is very different from what the examiner expects. Take time to come up with a valid thesis: your own point of view.

Evidence

Your thesis and evidence should go hand in hand. These two elements are interdependent and should support each other. The thesis you come up with will determine the type of evidence you produce to the readers. A strong thesis leads to presentation of strong evidence. This can be done by use of historical facts presented in a reasonable and systematic manner. If your thesis is weak, do not expect to convince your readers with your evidence.

Preparing an historical essay

Understand the historical question being asked

Read through the question and instructions several times. Internalize the question and understand what the examiner needs. Look at the keywords and write your essay around them.

Read extensively

Read the materials you will use to develop your content for the essay. While reading note down important points that you think are strong enough and will be able to give you ideas on a thesis statement. Get the right documents to use to avoid being irrelevant.

Prepare your first draft

As you do your research, prepare your first draft. Note down points that you will use in your US history regents thematic essay. Your first draft will give you a guide on points that you have already touched on. From your first draft check if your thesis is strong enough to produce solid evidence. Look at the points you have touched on in your body paragraph. If there are some gaps that are emerging take to the second draft. Address all the issues you think should be included.

Things to pay attention to when writing a US history essay

• Organize your ideas accordingly. Your points should connect with your evidence.
• Structure your paragraphs well. Your introduction should contain a thesis, hook and a leading statement. Your body paragraphs should begin with a topic sentence, supporting sentence and a concluding sentence. Evidence should be clearly presented.
• Use transitions to link your paragraphs
• A conclusion should contain a restate of thesis statement, summary of your points and a comment.