Most college professors assign history essays to assess and evaluate their students’ progress in history. History essays test a wide range of skills such as understanding historical events, interpretation, planning, research, writing, and proofreading. While writing a good essay is not a walk in the park, it’s not impossible. Writing is a skill. And like all other skills, it takes time and effort to develop and improve them. In this article, we are going to share with you a few effective tips that you can use to write a good history essay.
- Go through the question
This is a simple thing to do. However, most students start working on their essays without studying the question. And this usually leads to a waste of time and loss of marks. To write a good essay, you have to go through the question. You might be required to describe and analyze events or agree/disagree with a particular statement. You should go through the question multiple times. As you do this, underline or highlight the keywords. The keywords will help you know what you should concentrate on. Never start working on an essay without going through the question.
- Come up with a plan
Before you start writing your essay, you need to come up with a solid plan. As the popular saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. Coming up with a schedule and following it to the end will not only enable you to complete your essay on time but also get good grades. One of the most important aspects of writing a good essay is effective time management. A schedule is an important time management tool that will help you know what you should be doing at any point in time. Without a schedule, it’s easy to procrastinate and lose track.
- Research extensively
After understanding the question and coming up with a plan, you need to start researching extensively. Researching enables you to gather important information that you’ll present to your professor. You can visit the school library to find books, journals, and encyclopedias that are relevant to the topic. You can also use your computer, tablet, or phone to conduct online research. Whichever method you choose, always ensure that you use reputable sources of information. As you research, record important points in your notebook together with the source. Doing this and seeking help from the best essay writing services will help you avoid plagiarism.
- Create your outline
An outline is a guide that helps you cover the most important points in your essay. It helps you stay on track from the start to the end. After researching and coming up with key points, you need to create your outline. Your outline needs to follow the structure of your essay. Most essays have an intro, body, and conclusion. Highlight all the points that you’ll discuss in each section. This will make the writing process easy. The more time you spend on your outline, the less time you’ll spend writing and editing.
- Come up with a thesis statement
A thesis statement is the main idea of your essay. It is the focal point of your writing. Therefore, it should answer the question. As its name suggests, it’s made up of a single sentence. It should be simple and clear. Readers don’t want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out why they should read your essay. Your thesis statement should be strong and convincing. If you are having a hard time coming up with a good thesis statement, you should consider seeking help online.
- Write full paragraphs
Most college students fall into the trap of writing many short paragraphs in their history essays. All your paragraphs should be 100 -200 words long. Every paragraph should focus on one issue or topic. And it should explore that topic thoroughly. A solid paragraph should have an opening sentence, some analysis, and a couple of quotations.
- Add references
You’ll get good grades on your history paper if you reference it appropriately. Every idea or argument should be supported by reliable sources. Referencing helps you avoid plagiarism because it enables you to acknowledge other peoples’ works and provide your tutor an insight into your research process. Plagiarism is the act of presenting other peoples’ ideas as your own. And it has big consequences including loss of marks, paper cancellation, and suspension. You can easily avoid it by referencing your paper and running your paper on a reputable online plagiarism checker such as Grammarly or Copyscape.
- Proofread your paper
You should never submit your paper without proofreading it. Proofreading helps you spot and eliminate spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. You need to allocate ample time to proofreading. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing valuable marks. As you go through your paper, think of ways that you can improve the clarity, tone, and structure of your paper. If you cannot proofread your paper, you should consider handing it over to a capable team online to help you.
Conclusion
History essays play an important role in assessing and evaluating your progress in class. While writing a good essay is not easy, it is doable. By following the tips that we’ve discussed in this article, you’ll not only complete your essay on time but also get good grades.