Help with History competition

when it comes to history essays, it really depends on setting yourself a question or an argument

so say I wanted to write an essay on Lenin and how he was an authoritarian figure, I would start by saying explicitly that I do believe he was in my introduction, but also introduce an opposite point, such as: Trotsky was also equal in strength to Lenin.

The first paragraph is your argument for and then your second paragraph is against. If you have any other additional arguments you'd give that a paragraph as well but your first paragraph after your intro should always be your longest.

In your closing paragraph you should restate the points made in your introduction a bit more strongly and conclude with your thoughts.

Some tips:
Don't use "in this essay I will.." please don't
Try and use editors such as the one built into Microsoft word if necessary to make your essay come out cleaner if it's typed
And don't be afraid to quote sources!