How to write a Higher History Essay

1. How to write a Higher History Essay

2. What are we looking for • A higher history essay is marked out of 20 • 4 Marks are for Structure • 6 Marks are for Knowledge • 10 Marks are for argument

3. What does this mean • You will not pass your essay unless you bring in some kind of argument throughout.

4. How do I argue? • You must explain your knowledge point and how it relates to the question • Was that act a success? • Were there limitations? • How did this effect the wider situation? • How did this increase tension? • You must understand what the question is actually asking in order to produce a good flowing argument

5. Phrases that highlight argument • Many historians would argue…….. • Modern historians would argue…… • Critics would argue …….. • Many commentators would argue……. • Politicians at the time…… • It is clear from the evidence that …………

6. Summing up • We need to make a judgement on the importance of each factor. • Was this factor the most important factor? • How important in the grand scheme were each of the factors. • We need to have a small concluding sentence on each paragraph.

7. Example of summing up • It is clear that the introduction of the NHS was a success as many historians would argue that it was the ‘envy of the world’ and the impact of the NHS was significant therefore the Labour government were successful in tackling the problem of disease.

8. Introduction/conclusion • You need to set the background to the topic with some background knowledge then introduce the different factors which you will need to discuss. Take a fresh sentence each factor to say what the factor is (try not to just list them in comma’s)

9. Your conclusion should sum up your overall argument. • What was your key factor and explain why this is more important • Bring in the other factors and how they added to the argument • Try to give a good conclusion to leave the marker in no doubt this is a good essay.