knowing
your
argument
What is your answer to the prompt? What are the two to three main reasons that you think that this answer is right?
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Once you know this, you can start to build your introduction.
lay out context
Focus
on the "Problem"
give a
clear
thesis
Length: 3-5 sentences, but could be more or less
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To do: Context -- A standard way, but by no means the only to start an academic introduction, is to sketch out the historical context that surrounds the subject of your paper. What time period? Who are critical figures? Where are the important places? Are there important terms that need defining.
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Length: 3-5 sentences, but could be more or less
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To do: Explain the "Problem" -- This is where you focus your paper. There is an issue you are confronting: your prompt. Your professor has asked you a question. The middle of your intro is where you begin to address it. Think about your answer to the question, and the 2-3 main parts of that answer. Quickly give some summary of your interpretation of the question.
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Length: 1-2 sentences
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To do: Thesis Statement -- Answer the question directly, with mention of the 2 to 3 reasons you believe best support your answer.
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introduction outline sample
sample question:
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in what ways did the american civil war
change the nation?
lay out context
Focus
on the "Problem"
give a
clear
thesis
PART I: Context
The American Civil War occurred between 1861 and 1865. In these years the Union fought the Confederate States of America bitterly - causing widespread damage, and millions of casualties across the Northern and Southern sides. Armies and navies of previously unseen sizes in American history clashed on the heels of disputes over slavery, federalism, political economy, trade, and imperialism.
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Part II: Frame the problem
The war's effects, however, extended far beyond the early to mid 1860s. The changes appeared most clearly in the nation's economics, civil rights, and standing within the world. The end of the war, through the nineteenth century, helped produce a sharp increase in American economic production. The war's support for new technology and industries sparked the nation's growth in later decades. The end of the war also brought changes in the nation's civil rights. The Emancipation Proclamation and Fourteenth Amendment started a process of reform that produced conflicting results. The war's inability to leave a clear civil right's legacy allowed for simultaneous expansion, and limiting, of civil rights across the rest of the century. The American Civil War and changed the United States's standing within the community of nations. The political, economic, social, and tactical legacies of the war vastly changed the others viewed the nation.
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Part III: Thesis
The American Civil War changed the nation in various ways, which spanned post-war American economics, civil rights, and standing in the world.
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Introduction Writing
Stuck on your introduction?
Scroll below for some good strategies
for starting your academic paper in History
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knowing your argument
Before you start writing, especially your first paragraph, make sure your know what your argument is.
lay out context
The first few lines of your college level history paper should sketch out the objective facts of the historical period your paper is analyzing.
Focus on the "Problem"
The "problem" is the question you've been asked. Your introduction should present the issue it is trying to explain, or argue for or against.
give a clear thesis
A good thesis statement to a college level history paper makes sure give a direct answer to the question, with mention of the two to three main parts of the argument.