Let’s be honest: the academic essay as a genre can feel clunky and counterintuitive for anyone, whether you’re an uninitiated first-year or a seasoned fourth-year. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by an essay, you’re certainly not alone. We know writing a History essay can be a handful, which is why we have collaborated with Elizabeth Elliott, fourth-year History Honours student and History Writing Centre Peer Tutor, to bring you some useful tips to help you ace your next writing assignment.
Argument and Analysis
Forming An Interesting Thesis
Why should your reader care about your topic and argument? The audience needs to know why what you are arguing is important. What scholarship are you adding to? What have you observed, and why is it significant? Keeping in mind why your subject is important will help you to form a thesis rather than to simply identify a topic.
Sufficient Evidence
What needs to be probably true for someone to accept what you argue? I use the word probably because you should be selecting strong evidence to support your claims. What can we reasonably believe to be true? The quality of the evidence will vary depending on the sources you use.
Interpreting the Evidence
Seek to provide a balanced analysis. To do this, give a fair interpretation of the evidence. Ask yourself: How would I argue against myself? Imagine what someone would say to you if they held the opposite position. This strategy will help you find weaknesses in your arguments, which you can then address. You can directly discuss and rebut these counter arguments in your paper unless it is distracting from the narrative flow of the paper.
Integrating Quotations
You should aim to integrate your quotations in a way that you will not disrupt the flow of your essay with a quote that only loosely connects to the surrounding argument. The reader should not have to work to determine the significance of the quotation you choose. Why is it there? Quotations do not speak for themselves. How do these quotations constitute supportive evidence of your argument? Be selective with quotations. Incorporate what is essential and well-stated. Some details are better placed in your footnotes.
Variety of Sources
Inspect your footnotes. There are situations where reliance on one source is appropriate, such as when analyzing a primary source. However, a lack of variety in your footnotes in most papers will show an over-reliance on one source, which should be avoided. Aim to weave and synthesize many sources together and to extrapolate what you can from them. Use a variety of sources and gather the best evidence to support your arguments.
Writing and Style
Active Voice
Identify the subject of the sentence and ask yourself if it is clear who you are writing about. In passive sentences, the subject of the sentence is indeterminate. Ask yourself: Who did what to whom? It is important that we know who the historical actors are. Passive voice removes responsibility and agency of these actors because it makes them unknown. The word “by” in a sentence is often indicative of a passive sentence.
The tendency to write passive sentences often arises from a lack of confidence in your argument, and confidence is essential to strong writing. Passive voice creates a feeling of uncertainty, which is why reading a sentence with passive voice is not very persuasive. It is difficult to convince your reader if you appear uncertain about your ideas. If you have done your research and have found strong evidence to support your claims, then have confidence in your claims.
Persuasive sentences also sound persuasive, which is another reason why it is good to read your paper aloud. It is easier to write with confidence from the beginning than to go back and change passive sentences into active ones.
Examples
Passive voice example 1: An attempted invasion was thwarted in 1588.
Passive voice example 2: An attempted invasion by the Spanish was thwarted in 1588.
Active voice example: The Spanish Armada failed to reach England.
Cultural Sensitivity
Ask yourself: am I making an argument that is sensitive to the subject matter? Consider other peoples’ perspectives and values respectfully. Be conscientious about seeking to understand cultural contexts and perspectives that may be different from your own.
The History Writing Centre is a peer-to-peer tutoring service that operates on a drop-in basis. Office hours are Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 am to 1:30 pm. Check out the History Writing Centre webpage for more information on how to make your writing stronger.
