| History essay writing is somewhat tricky for one | | | | For example: you would never want to write what I |
| very important reason - history is really not about | | | | like to call the George Washington essay. This is an |
| dates and names and places. A good college history | | | | essay that simply recounts the first G.W.'s life and |
| essay should take the issues of a history class and | | | | times. We call this a biographical essay. Trust me: this |
| represent them in an interesting way. After all, | | | | is the last thing your instructor wants to see. |
| history is all about telling stories and telling them in | | | | Your job is to take the life of George Washington |
| new and interesting ways. | | | | and make it interesting. In other words, you need to |
| I always tell my writing students that a good college | | | | say something unique about the first president's |
| essay should be argumentative or persuasive in | | | | existence and make an argument or take a new |
| nature. The job of a college writer is to present an | | | | interpretation of the facts. |
| issue in a new and interesting way - not to simply | | | | Information on its own is very boring. The job of a |
| rehash information. | | | | good writer is to take everyday information and |
| This is the biggest mistake student writers make in | | | | transform it into something unique. Most beginning |
| history essay writing! | | | | writers struggle with this part of the essay writing |
| You should never approach a historical essay as | | | | process. It can be quite challenging to both present |
| though the "facts" are most important to the reader. | | | | accurate information and look at it in a new way. Of |
| Facts alone are worthless. The question lurking for | | | | course, every college writer needs to spend time in |
| your audience (especially your professor - an expert | | | | the writing process on every essay to get the best |
| in history writing) is, "what do the facts mean?" | | | | results. |