Writing level 3 essays
An initial guide
Key principles
The key principles of essay writing still apply:
Understanding the topic
 Plan your response
 Structure your response
 Check your work

Level 3 essays
There are two essay standards – a significant
decision and a significant situation in history.
 Each essay standard offers a choice of SIX
essay topics.
 Each essay topic is divided into two parts,
related to the two main assessment criteria for
historical content.
 The quality of your structure is also an
assessment issue – you must have a clear
introduction, a series of structured, sequenced
paragraphs and a clear conclusion.

As a general rule, the first part of the
essay topic is descriptive. It will generally
begin with words such as “Describe …”
or “Explain …”
 The second part of the essay topic is
evaluative (i.e. making a judgment about
the decision or situation). It will begin
with words such as “Evaluate . . “, or
“Assess . . . “ or “To what extent . . .”

Introductions







Getting started is often the hardest part of an essay. Here are a
few simple guidelines:
Your FIRST sentence should be a general one that aims to
capture the reader’s attention and convince him/her that you
understand the main focus of the essay.
Your next sentence(s) should re-state the first part of the essay
topic in your own words as much as possible.
Another sentence should state your argument to be followed in
the second part of the essay
Keep it short (3-4 sentences at most, but more than 1-2 lines!).
Avoid using ideas and evidence from your plan to prevent
repetition.
Use third person writing style (meaning avoid the use of pronouns
such as “I” and “you”).
Some useful starting phrases are: “This essay will
consider/describe/examine …” and “It will be argued that …”.
Here is an example
“One of Elizabeth’s first
significant decisions when
she first succeeded to the
English throne in 1558 was
the future form of the English
Church. There were a number
of factors to be considered in
explaining why she decided to
create a moderate protestant
church. It will be argued that
though the majority of
ordinary people did not object
to her decision, many people
within the governing class,
both Catholic and Protestant,
did not find the new church
acceptable to them.”
(80 words)
Initial general sentence
introduces the focus of the
essay topic.
This sentence re-states the
first part of the topic.
This sentence introduces
the argument to be
followed in the second part
of the essay.
Structured and sequenced paragraphs





A properly written paragraph contains the
following structure:
The first sentence contains the MAIN IDEA
derived from your plan.
The second sentence often builds upon or
elaborates upon this key idea.
Other sentences in the paragraph will contain
accurate and sufficient historical EVIDENCE to
support the main idea
A final sentence may act as a LINK to the main
idea to be stated in the NEXT paragraph
Structured paragraphs
“One important factor that
influenced Elizabeth’s decision
about religion was the views of
the existing English bishops.
These bishops had been
appointed by Mary and were
strong Catholics. It is unlikely
that they would be happy to
administer a church with any
elements of Protestantism. Thus
if Elizabeth were to choose
Protestantism for England, these
men would have to be removed
and replaced by existing or
returning English Protestants.
Identifying who would need to be
replaced, and who would replace
them, was a key consideration in
the decision to create a
Protestant church.”
(93 words)
Initial topic sentence
introduces the main idea of
this paragraph.
Next sentence elaborates on
this key idea.
Further sentences provide
additional explanation or
factual information to
expand upon the key idea in
more detail.
Last sentence can set the
scene for the next’s
paragraph’s main idea.
The sequence of paragraphs may be
suggested by the nature of the essay
topic. There may be different factors to
be explained or a CHRONOLOGICAL
approach may be required if a sequence
of events to is be described.
 When writing an ARGUMENT, it may be
best to state your most obvious or
powerful reason/argument first.

Writing an argument
An argument is a form of writing where you explain an aspect of
history by developing a line of reasoning about an historical
issue. It involves making a number of explanatory points about
the historical issue which helps explain how, why or so what to
a reader. The key to writing a good argument is:





Establish what your line of argument (or main ideas) might
be
Introduce each main idea in a new paragraph
Expand on that main idea to show depth of understanding
Use selected historical facts to support your main idea
Conclude the paragraph with a summary point, or make a
link to the next point
Presenting an argument
“The extent of the Elizabethan
Settlement’s acceptability to the
English people depends to a
large extent on the social class
people belonged to. For the great
majority of non-elite, the details
of the new Church of England
were of little importance to them,
although Elizabeth was
concerned to ensure that the
forms of worship were similar to
what they had always
experienced. However, within the
governing class, the nature of the
Elizabethan Settlement mattered
a great deal. Sincere Catholics
and Protestants were concerned
about different aspects of the
Settlement, and this was to create
trouble for Elizabeth in the
future”.
(98 words)
Main argument introduced in
the first sentence that directly
addresses the second part of
the question.
Expansion of argument
through defining extent of
acceptability of Settlement.
Development of argument that
defines extent of acceptability.
“Signposting” of how the
remainder of coverage of the
second part of the topic will
proceed.
Conclusion
The purpose of a conclusion is to
summarise the key ideas and link them
back to the focus of the essay. A
conclusion should be relatively short (3-4
sentences) and not overly repetitive in
stating ideas, but should attempt to make
some broad interpretative statement about
the historical importance of the essay
focus in relation to the period.
Conclusion
“Thus is can be seen that
Elizabeth faced a difficult
decision in relation to religion.
There were many factors that she
had to weigh up before decided
to adopt Protestantism,
assessing the potential benefits
against the possible risks in
doing so. Although the actual
decision was a compromise
between a Protestant Church with
Catholic rituals, it did not satisfy
many Catholic and Protestant
extremists. This decision would
create opposition from both
extremes, and force her to defend
her new church against attempts
by godly Protestants to reform it
and extremist Catholics to
destroy it.”
(94 words)
Broad opening statement
Summary comment about the
first part of the essay topic.
Reinforcement of main
argument in relation to
second part of the topic.
Final sentence rounds off
essay and makes brief
statement about historical
significance of decision’s
consequences.