Avoiding Common Mistake in Historical Essays 

• AVOID THESE
  • @@Throughout history@@
  • We could only see about 5,000 in recorded history and in that 5,000 years A LOT has changed and re-change and re-change, so it doesn’t make sense for you to make the assumption of the 5,000 years stays the same
  • EX: Throughout history, the people of Vietnam have always the fear of war and nuclear weapons. (well, guess what, backkkk in 5000 years there isn’t even a nuclear weapon, so it doesn’t make sense for you to use it)
  • It makes an assumption about how people how behave now, and how people behaved in the past. People have different beliefs and different perspectives.
  • If so, then it won’t be called history.
  • YOU could say, in the post-war era or in the late 20th century
  • @@It was inevitable@@
  • It was unavoidable
  • Think about history if anything would’ve happened and NO ONE could change anything
  • EX: An apple is falling down and what if you catch it? its no longer the “inevitable”
  • Choice works too, choice matters
  • in the USS Maine, the US chose to believe in Yellow Journalism and started a war with Spain over choosing to stop and evaluate the situation. The choice is there. It just doesn’t magically happen.
  • @@and that’s why [blah country] is so great today@@
  • temptation for this phrase
  • Gotta be CAREFUL using this it would work in some cases but not all
  • Is the most relevant to end the essay?
  • Ending essays in historical essays need to be specific so they could SUM up the whole thing
  • What great are you meaning? Cultural great? Economic great?
• What can you do?
  • BE SPECIFIC
  • EMPHASIZE CHOICES
  • END WITH A RELEVANT CONCLUSION
  • Don’t introduce new info in your conclusion

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