How to write a history essay

For tripos and other university exams

Yours truly after finishing exams last year

One of the things I am very grateful about the path I took into the humanities from the sciences at university is that I was taught how to write essays from scratch. In many cases, there is an assumption among humanities subjects that the experience garnered from A-Levels gives you the requisite knowledge to write essays in the way university examiners want you to. This assumption is not always fair to make given the tediously formulaic way schools often teach A-Levels. The Cambridge (as well as equivalents found at other universities) supervision system is meant to teach these skills through trial and error. However, whether you “crack” the university essay can be largely dependent on the supervisor you get. I have been lucky enough to have had some brilliant supervisors over my time here who have explained essay-writing in detail, but others may reach their third year still uncertain of what makes a “good” essay. Cambridge mark schemes are often vague and quite opaque and departments can be reluctant to give too much away, lest exams lose their spontaneity and become the formulaic travesties of GCSEs and A-Levels.

Having gone through the trials and tribulations of finals and come through mostly unscathed, I thought I would collate the advice that I have given friends who have asked for it here. The list here is not in any precise order, but generally-speaking the points towards the top are more important. I have tried to avoid standard essay-writing advice, such as “answer the question” or “plan your essay”. While these points are important, they are taught at both A-Level and GCSE and there is little utility for repetition here (incidentally another piece of A-Level/GCSE essay advice). These points are geared toward history essays but many of them will apply generally across humanities essays. Hopefully this will prove moderately useful to those readers who have upcoming exams.

1. Don’t fence sit. Pick a side and go hard or go home

When it comes to answering an essay question, examiners are well aware that there may be nuance/complications to questions. Indeed, they will likely be reading dozens of essays which argue from various perspectives. An essay which does not stand clearly on either side will blend into this beige mush of various points in the examiner’s mind. By contrast, an essay which argues itself forcefully is much more likely to stand out and receive a higher mark. Even if one clearly takes a side in an essay, it is still possible to demonstrate that one is aware of the nuances of the question. This can be done by considering and arguing against potential counterpoints to your argument.

Equally, the vocabulary you use when making an argument should be quite forthright. Try to avoid terms such as “on balance” , “perhaps” , “probably”. These all give the impression of indecision and make the overall argument less clear.

2. Don’t take the question at face value

Another way to make your argument more memorable and display critical thinking skills is to highlight problems with the question itself/reject the question altogether. Sometimes, this is just not possible or easy to do but other times the question will scream out for it. Taking the example of the question “In what sense, and for what reasons, did biogeography become a “big science” in the nineteenth century?” from one of my exams last year; the question takes at face value that biogeography did become a “big science”. This is disputable and disputing it can make for a much more interesting essay than simply playing into the question.

3. Only selectively use material from your previous essays

Given the switch to remote, open book exams for many subjects over the past few years, universities have been at pains to say that pre-preparing content will not be a successful strategy within exams. Some have even fearmongered over “self-plagiarism” claiming that reusing content from supervision essays in exams amounts to academic misconduct under university guidelines. As far as the letter of the law is concerned (in Cambridge at least), self-plagiarism only applies to pieces of work/exams which have been submitted formally as part of your degree (or previous degree) or published. Coursework cannot be reused without credit but supervision essays can be.

However, as much as it might be tempting to reuse an entire supervision essay for a closely related question, this is inadvisable. Generally, pre-prepared content will tend not to have the tight focus on the question at hand that examiners expect and thus will be marked down. Instead, a better strategy is to be selective with the content that is used. A significant chunk of any history essay will be spent providing some historical exposition. This will remain largely the same regardless of the wording of the question. If you are to reuse content, limit yourself to this and leave time to adapt it if necessary.

4. Go off-piste but make sure you don’t get lost

Unlike A-Level and GCSE, there is no syllabus to learn for university exams. Examiners will expect you to have read beyond the lecture material. One way of making an essay more memorable for an examiner is to include wider reading which you have picked up on and others are unlikely to mention. However, this should be cautioned with a reminder to make sure the content you are including actually strengthens your overall argument. The temptation to include knowledge you are passionate about can, sometimes, be too strong for your own good. Equally, keep the exposition for such knowledge limited to what you would do for any other piece of historical evidence. It’s easy to wax lyrical about things which you are passionate about, but exams are meant to test your analytical skills, not how well you can memorise detail.

5. Focus on the introduction and conclusion

Examiners are pressed for time. They will tend to spend a disproportionate time reading the introduction and conclusion to understand your argument. Thus, you should also spend a disproportionate amount of time on the introduction and conclusion. The introduction is especially important as first impressions can make or break an essay.

6. Make it clear in the introduction why your essay matters

Include a short literature review in your introduction, explaining how your essay relates to the historiography of the topic you are writing about. By the end of the introduction, examiners should not only know where you stand but have the feeling that reading the essay is worthwhile.

7. Make sure to signpost your essay

This is very much a skill which is hammered home in philosophy essay-writing, but unfortunately less so in historical essays. It is certainly tedious, but handholding examiners through your argument by ensuring the relevance of each paragraph and its order is made clear significantly improves readability.

8. Don’t be afraid of using pictures

Pictures can be an elegant and efficient way of explicating a point, while making your essay memorable. With the advent of open-book, typed exams, it is now possible to attach pictures and diagrams to your essay. Something as simple as an annotated map may help economise on time and word count. Equally, it can be a good way to integrate primary source analysis into your essay. While revising, build up a bank of images you come across in readings and lecture material in a single document, keeping track of the sources. Pictures will, of course, need to be adequately cited, described, and their relevance made clear.

9. Make paragraphs short

Try to cap your paragraphs at 150 words max. Short paragraphs go a long to improving readability.

10. Include dates

Including birth and death years for people mentioned in your essay alongside dates for key events helps make the chronology of your essay clear. It’s a very basic thing which is very easy to miss out on when essays are so analytic, but examiners will appreciate it.