WRITING AN IB HISTORY ESSAY

INTRODUCTIONS

Do NOT start your introduction with the following:

• A statement like “when I was younger, I only learned certain things about the American Revolution…”

• A statement like “everyone has bias…”• A quote• A funny introduction• An animated description of an event• A question

If you do not know how to start your paper, just start with a fact that relates to the topic of the paper.

BE SPECIFIC

Be careful with talking about “people.” For example, if you are talking about different colonists, then make it clear. This is highly important when referring to Zinn and Nash

• Ex: working class colonists vs. rich colonists

Give DATES & DESCRIPTIONS (brief…just enough to support your argument)

• Do NOT just say “The Stamp Act was enacted to help the British raise funds to pay for their war debt. This was an economic cause of the revolution.”

HISTORIAN PERSPECTIVESDo NOT just quote the historians and think that counts as showing perspectives.

You must:

• Show AWARENESS of historian perspectives:• Ex: Howard Zinn is a progressive historian who views history

through the lens of the people. In the text he argues that the Revolution was caused by the manipulation of the poor by the rich….

• Show AWARENESS of DIFFERENT historian perspectives:• Ex: While Zinn and Nash focus on conflict among the colonists,

Zinn argues that the poor colonists were manipulated by the rich while Nash argues that the working class were demanding their political rights. While they both look at the American Revolution with a social perspective, they differ in their explanations.

HISTORIAN PERSPECTIVES CONT.

• EVALUATE the DIFFERENT APPROACHES • Think OPVL!

• Ex: Zinn is valuable because he offers a progressive perspective on historical events; however, this is also a limitation because it is a very biased perspective.

This doesn’t just apply to historians like Zinn and Nash. You can apply all of these to PRIMARY SOURCES.

• Ex: different perspectives of the Boston Massacre

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WRITE A NARRATIVE?

“The Stamp Act was introduced by the British to raise revenue from the colonies” (Brinkley, 10). The colonists did not like the Stamp Act. “In response to the Stamp Act the colonists said that they were not represented by Parliament” (Brinkley 10). The tax was really not that bad. “It was more obnoxious than anything else” (Brinkley 10).

• Too many quotes from the text.

• Not enough commentary by the writer.

• It doesn’t just have to be quotes to be a narrative. Paraphrasing the whole reading is also writing a narrative

ANALYSISDo NOT restate the quote

• “Economic difficulties, coupled with the growing crisis in England, produced a growing resentment of wealth, challenges to the elite’s conception of the proper conduct of politics, and the gradual hammering out of artisan and laboring class interests.”

• WEAK ANALYSIS: There were severe economic problems in the colonies. As a result, the working class began to resent the wealthy and demand political rights. This is a political cause.

• BETTER ANALYSIS: The economic crisis in the colonies provided the foundation for a larger conflict. The economic crisis caused a political shift in the colonies as members of the working class began demanding their political rights. This transformation in the colonies is the real cause of the American Revolution.

ANALYSIS CONT.

Quotes by historians DO NOT count as analysis. It is not you talking.

DO NOT be subordinate to the historians. Use the historians to SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENTS, not in place of your arguments.

CITATIONS

Make sure you provide a citation for EVERYTHING you paraphrase and quote

MISCELLANEOUS

Social causes DOES NOT mean social revolution.

DEFINE your terms. Ex: liberal, social revolution, equality

When we ask you to focus on social, political, or economic causes, we DO NOT want you to focus on all three. Rather, we want you to privilege one (THE CAUSE) but say how the other ones factor into it/are not the main cause.