What is the point of an essay?
Over the past few years, I’ve asked A-Level students this
question repeatedly before beginning to tackle exam skills, and received a variety
of answers. They range from the plausible but vague (“to make a point”), to the
bland or directionless (“to answer a question”, “to show what I know about…”)
to the outright mercenary (“to pass exams”).
In fact, there is only one point to an essay. To make and test
an argument.
The clue is in the name, even if we don’t know it. Etymologically,
the noun “essay”, originating from the French essai, means “trial, attempt,
endeavour”, as well as “short, discursive literary composition”. “Essay” also
exists as a verb, meaning “to put to proof, test the mettle of”.
Given that this is the case, the most important part of any
essay must be the thesis.
What is a
thesis?
These are a host of good descriptions of what a “thesis” in
History writing is, especially on university websites aimed at undergraduate
students (see for example: here, here, and here).
A thesis can be described as a short, succinct statement of an
argument which is to be proved over the course of an essay. This should be just
about the first and the last thing an essay does: to state, and then having
proved it, to restate an argument.
Knowing this allows us to map out, and crucially,
demonstrate to students, virtually anything else that an essay has to do. Over
the course of this post, I’ll explore what I’ve found to be the most important,
including:
- planning an essay
- writing an introduction
- starting paragraphs analytically
- giving “balanced” analysis (without undermining your argument)
To help the discussion, I’ll follow my ideas through using
this essay question as a basis:
To what extent was the Russian Revolution of 1917 a
result of war?
Planning
an Essay
Before beginning an essay, students have to know what they’re
arguing and why. It’s actually quite common to see descriptions of a thesis state
the opposite – that you can’t know what you’re arguing until you’ve written
your analysis. And when it comes to conducting and writing up original primary
research at university level, this is often true: if you don’t know what your evidence
is going to tell you, you of course won’t know exactly what your overall
argument is going to be until you’ve completed your analysis.
Yet with A-Level History, where we’re dealing with the “known
known” of evidence which has already been established and learned, students can
and must be able to articulate their central argument before beginning to
write.
With any essay question, it’s tempting to construct a “balanced”
argument establishing two “sides”. Yet one of the most unhelpful pieces of
advice I’ve seen given to A-Level students is to plan their answer as a
two-column table, along the lines of “agree” and “disagree”. Doing so tends to
push students towards a narrative approach, in which they give a jumbled litany
of points in support of a position and to challenge it without clearly stating a
thesis, or overall argument. Returning to our essay question, take this
approach, for example:
|
Result of War |
Not Result of War |
|
WWI increased
inflation and protest Military
disasters caused discontent Tsar took
personal command of army, so was blamed for defeats Strikes
peaked in early 1917 |
Tsar had
failed to reform seriously before WWI Socialists campaigned
for revolution Workers had long
been discontented Growing
peasant unrest from 1904-5 |
This approach, which appears to be indirectly encouraged by
exam board mark schemes (which list points supporting and opposing a position
in their indicative content), actually gives students no effective outline for
an argument.
Instead, a good plan will help students develop a thesis.
That thesis will state a position in relation to the question before testing
that position by considering a range of broad areas of consideration, or factors.
This means, in order to construct a thesis, students will
first need to know what factors they’re discussing. These will bring together
their strongest pieces of evidence in relation to the question, grouping them
into a limited number of coherent groups and linking them together to
demonstrate how these relate to not just the question, but also to one another.
For example:
At this point, it’s possible for students to construct the outline of a thesis by weighing up the importance of these factors in relation to the question. For our essay question here, this means the importance of each factor to causing the 1917 revolution. A spectrum, with degrees of importance or relevance, tends to work better than a two-column for/against binary, as it allows a relative weighting of all factors (provided they don’t get shoved to either of the extremes or left in the middle).
In the case of this question, we obviously have to refer to "war" as one of our big areas, or factors, for discussion, but there are other relevant factors, including government mistakes and political opposition.
The position of each factor on the spectrum allows students
to consider how they’ll state its importance in relation to the question, using
modifiers (such as “fundamentally”, “greatly”, “somewhat”, etc.).
Writing
an Introduction
Armed with the outline of a thesis, students can now begin
writing. Their purpose is to persuade their reader of their thesis (i.e. their central
argument in relation to the question).
My advice is always that I’ll read their introduction first,
then their conclusion, before starting to read their main paragraphs. Why?
Because this is where I’ll find their thesis, stated for the first time and
then restated in summary.
A good introduction is often described as “short” and “snappy”,
but this tells us little about what it has to do. To serve its purpose, an
introduction really has to state the thesis (a “thesis statement”) before
telling the reader how that thesis will be tested and proven, using the given
factors.
What I’ve found is that students are often very keen to start
by telling a story, giving some nice context which they hope will help “set the
scene”. This doesn’t, unfortunately, make for a good (or, indeed, short and
snappy) introduction and can fail to state any argument clearly. Consider this:
In February 1917, the Romanov dynasty, which had ruled
Russia for over 300 years, was overthrown in a sudden and astonishingly
successful revolution. Russia was plunged into chaos, as the Provisional
Government attempted to control the country while soviets and radical
Bolsheviks sought to wrest power from it. By October 1917, the revolution would
enter a new phase as the Bolsheviks and their allies seized power and sought to
run their own government, leading in turn to the new Soviet state. All of this
happened in the context of the First World War, which Russia was struggling to
fight and had greatly weakened Tsarist rule in the first place.
Far too long, without stating any thesis, this introduction does
nothing to help students prove or test an argument.
Students are much better avoiding any “scene setting”
context and starting off with their thesis statement as a clear statement of
their argument, before setting out their factors to be discussed and explaining
briefly how each one will contribute to their argument. For example:
The Russian Revolution was, above all, a result of the
First World War, which had greatly weakened Tsarist authority by leading to
protests at home and military humiliation at the front. While war was crucial
to revolution, however, government mistakes, including poor decision making
during the war itself from the Tsar, were also highly important, while
political opposition from liberals and especially socialists contributed to
revolutionary unrest.
Here, in much fewer words, we have a statement of an overall
argument, alongside the factors used to test and demonstrate that argument. This
introduction tells us three things we have to know before we can read the rest
of the essay:
- the thesis
- the factors to be discussed
- the importance of the factors to the question and argument
It’s also worth noting that the thesis here is complex,
combining several ideas in relation to one another (something only possible if students
take time to think about their factors and their relationship to the question
and one another.
A conclusion, by wrapping up the argument, has to do much
the same. Even if it’s shorter than the introduction, a conclusion must most
importantly give the same thesis.
Starting
Paragraphs
Each paragraph of an essay should focus on just one factor
(and if an essay is to be written in about 45 minutes, there really isn’t time
for more than 3 good-length paragraphs; so 3 factors is ample).
The first sentence is crucial. A trap students tend to fall
into is to begin telling a story about the factor they’re going to discuss. For
example:
The First World War, which began in the summer of 1914,
had spread across Europe, drawing Russia into a number of problems by 1917.
Here, we have no clear idea about the relationship between
war and revolution, so this sentence doesn’t help move the argument forward.
By contrast, a better first sentence will lead with
analysis, demonstrating how the factor is going to contribute to the overall
thesis. For example:
The First World War was a crucial cause of revolution, as
it prompted a wave of unrest in major cities including Petrograd which would
explode in anti-Tsarist protests in February 1917.
Not only does this first sentence clearly support the
overall thesis, it gives the reader a clear sense of what will follow in the
paragraph, setting out a line of analysis which can be followed for the
following sentences.
A good first sentence, or a “topic sentence”, should
therefore:
- give a factor
- give its importance to the question
- explain briefly that importance (using a conjunction to explain, such as “as”, “because”, or “due to”)
Giving “Balance”
(Without Undermining Your Argument)
Where in all of this does “balance” fit in?
I’m always concerned when students portray balance as “giving
both sides of the argument”. This isn’t because there is only one side; rather,
seeking to give “both sides” can side-track the argument students are trying to
make themselves.
Firstly, it’s worth noting that, if students give a range of
factors, they are going to have to reach some kind of “balance” (i.e. relative weighting)
between those factors. So there’s balance built into any multi-factor essay
approach.
At the same time, the best essays tend to build a degree of “balance”
into each paragraph. When done effectively, this can be used to test and
demonstrate the limitations of each factor’s importance to the question and
thesis. But there’s still the pitfall here of side-tracking the overall
argument.
Consider, for example, this paragraph, continuing from the
initial topic sentence given above:
The First World War was a crucial cause of revolution, as
it prompted a wave of unrest in major cities including Petrograd which would
explode in anti-Tsarist protests in February 1917. By November 1916, major
strikes were already underway in Petrograd, which socialist activists on the
ground were beginning to describe as a “revolution”. These were prompted by
rising food prices and shortages, a result of the railway network being virtually
monopolised by the military and food supplies being diverted to soldiers.
Moreover, fuel shortages meant that the temperature in Petrograd apartments was
falling to an average of 9 degrees Celsius during the winter of 1916-17,
something that further immiserated the population. Workers, especially women,
were able to discuss and spread discontent towards the regime when queuing for
food. The sight of discontented workers would soon influence soldiers
garrisoned in the capital city, many of whom were workers forcefully drafted
onto the military as punishment for strikes after war broke out in 1914. This
would prove crucial, as it inspired many military units, notably including the
Volynsky Regiment who, after being ordered to fire on protesting workers in
February 1917, mutinied and murdered their officers, joining the revolution on 27th
February. This deprived the Tsar of military support against protests and
effectively guaranteed the collapse of the regime.
This detailed paragraph gives precise evidence to support
the topic statement and overall thesis, demonstrating how this evidence supports
the case for the war being “a crucial cause of revolution” by prompting “a wave
of unrest in major cities”. By way of balance, students might be tempted to add on the end of their paragraph:
On the other hand, government decisions were arguably
more important than war itself, as the Tsar failed to realise that repression
of protests using the military only alienated soldiers and workers more.
Yet ending the paragraph here leaves it at a loose end,
appearing to undermine the argument being made about the importance of war and
invalidate the previous sentences.
If students are to give balance, therefore, they will need
to subsequently reverse that balance by demonstrating why it doesn’t,
in fact, undermine the argument being raised about the factor. This can be done
effectively by using a conjunction to change the direction of the statement,
such as “although”, “while”, or “however”. One example of this might be:
On the other hand, government decisions were arguably
more important than war itself, as the Tsar failed to realise that repression
of protests using the military only alienated soldiers and workers more. However,
by the start of 1917, it was obvious that the strength of protests, and degree
of military sympathy, meant that the Tsar was no longer able to prevent protests
erupting into revolution in any case.
More effective, however, is to reverse the balance before
it’s actually been made. By placing the conjunction “although” of “while” at
the start of a balance sentence, students can indicate from the off that they
are going to raise a potential limitation to their argument that nevertheless does
not undermine it altogether. For example:
Although government decisions clearly contributed to these
protests, as repression using the military further only alienated soldiers and
workers more, it was already clear by the beginning of 1917 that the strength
of protests and degree of military sympathy meant the Tsar was no longer able
to prevent protests erupting into revolution in any case.
Summing
Up
Establishing a strong thesis is make or break for an essay. Put
simply, good essays have them, bad essays don’t.
In that case, what should we emphasise to our students to help
them establish their strong theses?
Here are a few choice points.
- Plan your answer carefully, around a limited set of factors or areas of focus
- Find and explain links between factors
- Work out, prior to writing, what you are going to argue using these factors – this is your thesis
- State your thesis clearly in your introduction and conclusion – these hold your essay together
- Use clear topic sentences, which support your thesis, to start each paragraph
- Select evidence carefully – less evidence can be more, provided it is precise and supports your thesis
- Give balance, but be careful to reverse it again, so you don’t undermine your thesis
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