by Ann Davis

 

History essays often require students to expound on specific historical events and personalities and their societal impacts. Some pieces also need students to create a relationship between past and current events. Whichever prompt you will be given for the historical paper; it is best to illuminate all the points discussed. A comprehensive paper covers all the past events and the consequent results brought by these events. Revealing the consequences of specific personality actions or events indicates that you have a better comprehension of the topic. Let's go through some crucial things to do to achieve a perfect history essay.

Use the "Who,” "Why," and "What" Question Tags

History papers are usually detailed and require specific information about an event. If you aren't familiar with the events, you could easily find yourself asking, "Who can help do my essay well?" The good news is focusing on the "who," "why," and "what" question tags of an event will help ace the paper. As simple as they may appear, they help you gain more depth in the essay by uncovering crucial details of the historical event. They also make analyzing the discussion points easier. You can develop an article with the perfect flow from these question tags by breaking down your outline as follows:

• Who are the prominent personalities in the specific historical event?
• Who were the protagonists and antagonists?
• Who benefited or lost more from the event?
• Who is currently enjoying or at a disadvantage from the given event?
• Why did the historical moment occur?
• Why did the historical even garner support or opposition?
• What were the events leading to this particular historical moment?
• What is the impact currently being felt due to this historical moment?
• What are some of the lessons learned, both hard and good?

These questions will help guide you in finding relevant points for the essay. From the question tags, you can also relate a bridge between the historical moment you should discuss and the current occurrences, if there are any. Therefore, carefully assess the essay prompt to formulate relevant questions to help develop an informative paper.

Conduct a More Organized Research

The research stage is usually tasking. So, it's best to distinguish the research material into primary and secondary sources for better organization. The primary sources offer a comprehensive description of historical events or personalities. Secondary sources are articles written by renowned scholars that analyze these events and characters. Therefore, you should be more aware of these two key elements when conducting your research.
Breaking down your research will help you find more information without confusing yourself. Getting mixed up in a history paper is relatively easy due to the dates and many names you will encounter, thus the need to be organized during your research.
Noteworthy, reliable primary sources make up a good history paper. Fortunately, students can now access reliable primary sources from online libraries and websites. Credible secondary sources also hold value, hence the need to evaluate their credibility before using them. Some points to take note of when verifying the credibility of secondary sources include:

• The author's educational background.
• Are there any other published materials under the author's name?
• Who published the work?
• Year of publication.

Create an Outline

One reason a history student would wonder, "Should I pay someone to write my paper?" is not knowing how to organize a history paper and the points to include in it. The secret to a well-structured piece with relevant details is developing an outline before writing it. An outline gives you a roadmap on how the essay will appear and how the arguments will be placed. It keeps you grounded on the relevant points generated during the research stage. It also helps you identify the sources pertinent to the paper.
The outline should concisely summarize the information to be discussed in the introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs. It is best to make the outline after researching and gathering relevant referencing materials. In the outline, indicate where every scholarly source will be placed. It will make the essay writing process more manageable.

Add a Strong Thesis Statement

The thesis statement usually falls under your introduction and gives the reader a brief overview of critical points that will appear in the body segment of the essay. A historical paper's thesis statement briefly illustrates the paper's discussion and is backed up with solid arguments in the subsequent body paragraphs. The ideas that will be made in the body should abide by the thesis statement. Deviating from it may leave your reader needing clarification.

Open and Close the Essay Nicely

The intro and conclusion are often underestimated, yet they carry much weight. The introduction is the first part of the paper the reader interacts with, while the conclusion offers the last opportunity for the writer to make their case and make everything clear for the reader. These two segments need to take a simple yet detailed approach. Therefore, you should pay considerable attention to these sections when writing the essay.
A good intro can contain a brief, engaging, and relevant story, fact, or quote. Background information about the topic should also be provided to put the reader into context. The thesis statement should close the intro and create a smooth transition to the body of the paper. On the other hand, the conclusion should briefly highlight everything discussed in the paper and why the assertions made were significant.

Closedown

History essays are among the most complex papers students write. They are usually detailed and require one to pay close attention to details. Historical events often have dates and names attached to them, and getting such minor information wrong may affect the entire paper. Therefore, to avoid such mistakes, review all your primary sources to identify the historical moment's chronological events. Secondary sources also provide an elaboration for better understanding and thus should be incorporated into the research. Finally, use the "what," "why," and "who" question tags to ensure all your points are placed well.