The Student Room Group

U1 student, history paper and feeling loss of energy

Hi,

I'm a social work major but I have a history class as a complementary. I'm nervous because I have a paper due on the 31rd and I literally do not know where to begin. I've never written an academic history paper before. I'm seeing the TA on Wednesday to get help.

I'm starting to feel a bit tired. Loss of energy. It's my first university year as well...
Reply 1
Hi, I read History as my major, and my advice would always be just start off by reading some of your sources. Everyone on my course (including myself) always had that feeling of terror when our tutor would email us our essay question, a list of sources, and a deadline of a week's time. You just end up feeling like you don't know where to start and how are you ever going to understand let alone write something about the question.

So yeah, my tip is always just to get stuck in the reading. I'd always start my reading by writing out the question big on a piece of paper, so it's clear in my mind, and so i can always be thinking how my reading relates to the question (if it doesn't relate, why waste you time reading it). If your really stuck, try using a simple source to get into the period; i used to use wikipedia (though never ever referenced it obvs) or a kid's history book for a easy overview - my tutor caught me in my final year reading 'horrible history' books and thought i was nuts.

When it comes to the writing up of a paper/essay, i always followed the structure of Intro, then 3/4 paragraphs each arguing a point, and a conclusion. Keep the structure simple so you can put more energy into your argument. To plan it, start by working out what your answer is going to be to the question, and then ask yourself why you believe that, and see if your argument will fit into just 3 or 4 succinct statements - they will be the basis of your main paragraphs. Then gather the evidence for your paragraphs together somewhere so you know what you could or should say in each.

For intro, I set the scene (identify the time, place, parameters of your question), and I always at least suggested what my conclusion was (you come across confident and assertive by doing so). It can also be good to identify any issues in the historiography - is there issues with the sources or evidence (lack of sources, bias sources, too reliant on one important sources, are they translated and if so, what problems can that cause).

Then do your main points, one at a time. Be sure to back up with evidence and reference anything that isn't an established fact (ie. you don't need to reference that 'The capital of the UK is London' but you would need to reference or back up 'The capital of UK is London, and has been the de facto largest town and capital since the 610s.' as it is not widely known.

In your conclusion, always always always refer back to your main paragraph points in making your conclusion; if your main paragraphs don't end up quite demonstrating what you thought they would when you started writing your essay, that's fine and quite common; say that, and explain why you think that. But always ensure your conclusion is backed up by your main body of your essay/paper. You can also briefly mention how you could carry on looking into the question, or what additional sources might have been useful, as it shows you have really understood the question, and appreciate the limitations of your brief research into them.

Hope this helps :smile:
Thank you. I am doing it now, I have 1000 words on 2000. It's really a pain in the ass, I literally do not know what to write next because I feel like I've said everything in the first 1000 words... I'm stuck...:frown:

Quick Reply