Writing an essay requires you to develop your own theme, organize your own evidence, and draw your own conclusions. Your instructor will usually provide you with a topic and may also give you the sources from which you are to draw your evidence. Many of the research and writing skills needed for this kind of assignment are similar to those needed for a longer research paper.

Here are some guidelines for writing short essays:

• Think carefully about the assignment. Be sure you understand it. Ask your instructor about any aspect of the assignment that is unclear to you.
• Determine how much time you have to complete the assignment, and plan your work accordingly.
• Determine which sources you will need to carry out the assignment.
• Take careful notes from your sources. Pay special attention to material that relates directly to the assignment.
• Examine your notes carefully, and compose a theme (a principal idea or conclusion) that you will support in your paper. Remember, your theme must directly address the question asked or topic assigned.
• Create a writing outline for your paper.
• Write an introductory paragraph that states your theme and briefly introduces the evidence you will give to support your theme.
• Write a separate paragraph (or group of paragraphs) for each of the main points you make about your theme.
• Use transitional sentences to link your paragraphs so that each follows clearly from the one before it.
• In your conclusion, briefly restate your theme and the most important evidence used to support it.
• Revise and proofread your essay.
• If your assignment includes documentation and a bibliography, make sure you know the rules for preparing them.

If any of the points made above is unclear, see the relevant headings in the Table of Topics under HOW TO RESEARCH A HISTORY TOPIC and HOW TO WRITE A HISTORY PAPER.