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
PERSPECTIVES
Do 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
ANALYSIS
Do 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.