Integrating Writing

Integrating Writing For example, an essay discussing Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 might close with a couple of sentences about how he consolidated and strengthened his power in . Start by providing a little context, then address the question, articulate your contention and indicate what direction your essay will take. Once you have finalised a plan for your essay, commence your draft. The student may move from the text to questions to freewriting or brainstorming to drafting, then go back to the text and so on, deepening her analysis by asking questions. She may use a range of visually rich, active-learning methods to generate ideas, get her thoughts in order and fill gaps. As she figuring out the story she’s trying to tell, her early drafts will most likely be incomplete, overwritten or hard for the reader to follow. That can make trying to communicate who you are as well as who you hope to become a daunting task. You might worry about sounding generic or not sounding like yourself or not sounding “smart” or “wise” enough. One of many students’ and parents’ biggest fears is the sheer anonymity of the process. You may also find our page on writing for history to be useful. In history writing, the active voice is preferable to the passive voice. Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing. Find out how to structure themain body of an essay in the next section. When travelling long distance, there may be only one choice of bus or train per day, which may be at an unsuitable time. The car, however, allows people to travel at any time they wish, and to almost any destination they choose. The process work we’re advocating here is multistaged, iterative, messy work. In the active voice, the subject completes the action (e.g. “Hitler initiated the Beer Hall putsch to seize control of the Bavarian government”). In the passive voice, the action is completed by the subject (“The Beer Hall putsch was initiated by Hitler to seize control of the Bavarian government”). The active voice also helps prevent sentences from becoming long, wordy and unclear. Every essay should be proofread, edited and, if necessary, re-drafted before being submitted for assessment. Essays should ideally be completed a few days before their due date, then put aside for a day or two before proofreading. Referencing not only acknowledges the work of others, but it also gives authority to your writing and provides the teacher or assessor with an insight into your research. More information on referencing a piece of history writing can be found here. Your conclusion need not be as long or as developed as your body paragraphs. You should avoid introducing new information or evidence in the conclusion. One effective way to do this is with a brief summary of ‘what happened next’. This will refresh or build your existing understanding of the topic and provide a basis for further questions or investigation. Start constructing a plan as soon as you have received your essay question and given it some thought. An essay question will set some kind of task or challenge. Once most of your research is complete and you have a strong contention, start jotting down a possible essay structure. This need not be complicated, a few lines or dot points is ample. As you locate information, ask yourself if it is relevant or useful for addressing the question. Be creative with your research, looking in a variety of places. Most will start by reading an overview of the topic or issue, usually in some reliable secondary sources. At some point in your research, you should begin thinking about a contention for your essay. Remember, you should be able to express it briefly as if addressing the essay question in a single sentence, or summing up in a debate. Your research should take shape from here, guided by the essay question and your own planning. Identify terms or concepts you do not know and find out what they mean. It might ask you to explain the causes and/or effects of a particular event or situation. It might ask if you agree or disagree with a statement. It might ask you to describe and analyse the causes and/or effects of a particular action or event. Or it might ask you to evaluate the relative significance of a person, group or event.