Argumentative Writing in History
In high school and secondary school, history essay writing is argumentative. In the early years of high school, students are usually supplied with questions that require them to use historical facts and information to support a thesis. Most questions require students to rank or to rate historical persons, events, or ideas and come to a conclusion based on those rankings or ratings. In order to successfully do this, students need to be able to:
- deconstruct questions to determine what the question requires them to do
- develop a set of logical criteria and a rating or ranking system they can apply to the evidence
- use research skills to determine what evidence exists about the topic of their question
- come inductively to a thesis
- write a well-structured and logical deductive essay
This mini-unit takes students through the historical process required for essay writing, explains the expecations around logical analysis of evidence and the resultant creation of a thesis, and offers some tips and tricks for essay writing, all to help students be successful in answering historical questions.
This package covers all aspects of essay writing from logical analysis to developing a thesis to writing style.
This Power Point presentation concentrates on the logic necessary for analytical, argumentative writing but abriefly looks at key points of essay structure.
This handout allows students to practice identifying logic errors and fallacies as well as good thesis writing techniques.
This Power Point pressentation walks students through the process of historical essay writing from choosing a question to creating the essay.
This essay by Bertrand Russell is a superb example of essay writing style. Students should pay particular attention to the flow of the piece.