Important info:
For the essays you should try and write 5 pages, double-spaced essay each. If you need to write more, that’s fine, but an answer that is too short will usually not receive a good grade.
When writing the essay itself start with an introductory paragraph that explains the general themes and/or your theme for the essay. For example let us say you have an essay question: “Why are the ancient Romans important?”
First you need to introduce the overall point you want to make. “The Romans are important because they left legacies that include physical objects and intangible things which lasts to this day.” Or it could be “The ancient Romans are important because their history is a cautionary tale of how Republics are lost and Empires collapse.” First you need to explain what you plan to do in the rest of the essay.
Then write the body of the essay (divided into paragraphs) that explain with concrete details the points you want to make (as explained in the introductory paragraph). For example, if you go with the legacy answer, you should NOT just say “The Romans left important legacies such as their infrastructure and Roman language. Their infrastructure included things like aqueducts. Their language Latin has become Italian.” You need to write something like:
“Roman legacies in infrastructure include things such as aqueducts, sewers, and roads. The aqueducts brought clean water from distant locations into city centers so that ordinary citizens did not have to worry about contaminated water. The sewers, the most famous is the Cloaca Maxima “the great sewer,” also made sure that effluent was flushed out of the city to keep the city clean and healthy. The roads, such as the Via Appia and the Via Flaminia, were paved with the center slightly raised so that rain and mud would not hinder travel and these roads had milestones on them to mark the distance from Rome. They were often built in as straight a line as possible with bridges where necessary. These roads strategically connected Rome to all corners of the empire such that people came to say ‘all roads lead to Rome.’ While these infrastructure were lost after the fall of the Roman Empire, a steady supply of clean water, a sewer system, and a road network came to be considered the minimum necessary infrastructure for modern ‘civilized’ life.”
Then you need another paragraph that discusses another physical legacy. Maybe the architecture such as the coliseum, the circus maximum, the Pantheon, or the Roman bath.
Then you write a paragraph on an intangible legacy. Maybe the Roman Republic’s political system of mixing Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy.
Then you write another paragraph on a different intangible legacy. If you want to say language, explain that from Latin you got the Latin Alphabet which we use in the West. And that from Latin came Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian.
Finally finish with a concluding paragraph that summarizes your points. “Roman legacies include tangible and intangible things such as infrastructure, architecture, political system, and language. These four have left lasting impressions on later generations, and some of them are still in use today. This is why the ancient Romans are important.”
Concrete details that support your overall thesis/big picture/big point is what you need to do when you write history essays. One detail is usually not enough for a history essay, and the more details you have, the more persuasive your essay is going to be.
TEST:
Answer 2 of the following:
1) Describe the long distance trade that existed in the 15th century between Asia, Europe, and Africa and how that linked to the Atlantic Triangle Trade. Also describe the Atlantic Triangle Trade.
2) Discuss how trade impacted Africa and Southeast Asia. Pick 1 from the following in Africa (Ethiopia, Kongo) and pick 1 more from the following in Southeast Asia (Ayutthaya Thailand, Indonesia/Dutch East India Company).
3) Compare and contrast Mughal rule with Qing rule. Explain with details.
4) Explain the policies of the Ottoman Empire in its expansion phase and its stable phase.
5) Explain the Tokugawa system, how did it manage to maintain peace for over 220 years?
