What a History essay should look like
“The purpose of a history essay is to support a contestable argument through the analysis of historical evidence.”
Definition of terms:
“Contestable argument”: the essay makes a claim about the history of an event or trend that is not only factually accurate but also draws conclusions, evaluates relative importance, assigns causation, or otherwise goes beyond simple recitation of facts in such a way that a deeper understanding/interpretation of the past is presented. This interpretation is contestable because another author, using the same evidence, could formulate a different, or even antithetical, interpretation without making factually inaccurate statements.
“Analysis”: technically analysis means the close reading of information to come to a better understanding of the specifics of that particular piece of information, but when used in History the term normally also implies the synthesis of this particular piece of information with other information in such a way that supports the contestable argument made in the thesis statement. As any piece of information can be used to support a multitude of different interpretations, it is incumbent on the author to explain clearly how this piece of information, in conjunction with the other information presented, strengthens the claims made in the thesis. The author may also attempt to explain how a piece of information supports their contestable argument more strongly than it does other arguments, or how a piece of information that might point toward another argument is either weak, irrelevant, or superseded by other information. However, an argument solely by negation is usually not sufficient to satisfy the evidentiary requirements of a History essay.
“Historical evidence”: facts are not necessarily evidence, but evidence is necessarily factual. The mere recitation of historical information is not sufficient to qualify as historical evidence; this information must be analyzed in such a way that clearly links the contestable argument and the information being presented. The more explicit the link the better so as to maintain the relationship between the evidence and this particular argument. The author must therefore select not only factually accurate information but must strive to select the best information to support the argument among the multitude of information available. This information should contain a mixture of both primary sources (sources created at the time by those with direct or indirect knowledge of the event but with limited hindsight, or by those directly involved in the event at a later date) and secondary sources (sources created after the fact by those not directly involved), but with a preference for primary sources as the main focus of analysis with secondary sources providing context or supplementary analysis/argumentation (unless the essay is historiographical in nature, in which case secondary sources will be the primary focus).
Note: In order to avoid overly lengthy and confusing body paragraphs, most of the information required to place the argument and evidence in historical context should be presented in the introductory paragraph where explicit analysis is not necessary.
Structural considerations
Although the particular style and structure of the essay is in the hands of the author, there are some conventions of the form that serve the purpose of clearly presenting the argument and evidence.
1) The argument should be presented in a thesis statement that comes at the end of the introductory paragraph. The introduction should set the historical and historiographical context of the essay, including the definition of any contested concepts and the criteria for evaluating relative importance or values as necessary for the argument. The particular form of the thesis is less important than its ability to clearly present the argument to be contested, although some indication of the structure and topics of the essay is preferable.
2) Each of the body paragraphs should begin with a topic sentence that links the evidence of the paragraph to the thesis statement; this will require that the topic sentence presents a sub-argument about the topic that elaborates on the thesis statement. Generally the body paragraph should contain three main pieces of evidence to be analyzed, and the paragraph should be of whatever length is necessary to adequately analyze that evidence. All evidence bearing on the same topic should be contained in the same paragraph.
The essay should be limited to three body paragraphs unless the particular nature of the question implies a different number (usually two in the case of compare and contrast prompts for in-class writing). Three body paragraphs are preferable both for time and space constraints and for the sake of the argument. Most arguments will require at least three supporting topics in order to be sufficiently supported and most students will have a hard enough time maintaining a coherent synthesis over these three topics that any more than three topics should be strongly discouraged.
3) The concluding paragraph should contain no new evidence that is required for the argument. It should briefly summarize the main points of the argument and attempt to link the essay’s argument to larger historical trends or later events.