Four Ways to Improve Your History Essays Right This Second
Hello amigos,
Since I am finishing out 2022 with “top” things - as in my top three history book picks, I figured I would offer something I teach my own students who are learning how to write history essays - I call them the Dr. Harris Writing Tips #s 1-4. And I promise that if you follow them (listen up history students…) you will immediately write better history essays. I mean right now. Here you go…
#4 Always write history in the past tense. Because…history happened in the past. Teddy Roosevelt is not presently doing anything, so use past tense verbs to describe his or any other historical actor’s actions.
#3 Avoid using “impact” as a verb. Use “affect” instead. Not to be a grammar freak or anything, but impact is not a transitive verb, meaning…it does not take a direct object. For example, prohibition didn’t “impact” anyone…but it sure did affect a lot of people.
#2 Avoid ending sentences with prepositions. Why? Because it is just sloppy and sounds weird.
#1 Avoid the passive voice like the plague. This is for sure my most valuable tip. The thing is, when you use the passive voice, you deny the historical actor(s) their agency. When writing history, this sort of thing is really, really important to determine. For example, if you wrote: “The slaves were freed” you wouldn’t be explaining who freed them. Was it Lincoln? Congress? The U.S. Army? The enslaved people themselves? It sure would be helpful to know. So - simply make the person or people doing the action the subject of the sentence, followed by an active verb. Like this: Lincoln freed the slaves. Or…The enslaved people freed themselves. Do you see how that makes things much more clear? Now make sure to provide evidence (to be discussed in a future post) that supports your assertion and you are all set.
Now…follow these four pretty straight forward tips and you will instantly write better history essays. HUZZAH! HUZZAH!!!
With compliments,
Keith