HN

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