Help - A Level - Politics and History

Hi, i was just wandering if anyone who studied/studies these subjects knows how to write an essay... is there a certain structure to follow?
I haven't started sixth form yet but i'm worried i won't know how to write essays the way they want me to as i'm so used to writing essays for english Lit which is analysis heavy.

I took History and achieved an A*, however at the very beginning the essay structure will be new and more challenging. This is not something you need to worry about, they will go through it in the first week, and most people will get lower marks than they’re used to.

However, if you are doing Edexcel, this is the structure we followed.

There are multiple types of questions you will come across in history: significance, causation. First you will need to identify what the question is asking for. This is a skill in itself.

For instance: Questions that ask you to determine the significance of one factor against others ( that you will decide on) and questions that ask you what was the main cause. For both of these types of question, you will usually need 3 factors. The one in the question, and 2 others that you decide upon yourself.

You also will need to decide on “criteria”. This is something new to A-level that you may not have looked at at GCSE. This is a way of measuring each factor. For instance, in your intro, you will come up with 2 ways of measuring the significance of a factor. For example, long term/short term impact ( you will be told what these are), large scale, large scope. If your factor meets these criteria, you will deem it significant.

With causation, the same applies, but you will need different criteria. For example, whether the factor was a “trigger cause” or a “root cause”

This would be an overall structure for Edexcel:

Intro: introduce named factor, and 2 other factors. Write what your criteria is. Determine your conclusion in your intro.

P1) first factor, outline and describe with evidence. Then evaluate and introduce a counterargument. Then dispute this counterargument by bringing in your criteria and your best piece of evidence.
P2)repeat with second factor
P3) repeat with third factor

Conclusion:
Reiterate the argument, avoid using “I think”. Don’t bring in any new evidence, but bring in your criteria, outlining that your chosen factor “agrees with your criteria”, and despite the other arguments having some validity, measured against criteria, your argument is the most valid.

thank you
i was also wandering is it worth remembering all the information i need to know on every like topic as quick as possible and... how do you know like what to write an essay on do you just pick a topic and make up a type of question or?

Are you doing Edexcel? You do not make up the questions, they are given to you on the paper.

For Edexcel we had 3 papers and coursework. For papers 1 and 3, you choose 3 questions. For each question there is an option of 2 different questions.Paper 2 has 4 questions and you choose 2. You have to work out what the question type is yourself and write your answer accordingly.

Don’t try and remember every bit of information, pick out only some stats. It is important you start learning the content early on, but don’t panic! You haven’t even started Year 12 yet, you aren’t expected to know much yet.

Are you doing Edexcel? If so what are you doing?