EAL Booster: Writing skills

EAL Booster: Writing skills

Good writing skills are essential because most of your exams will be
written ones. Good writing skills include the use of a wide vocabulary,
good spelling, grammar and punctuation, clear and logical sentence
structure, and clear and well organised paragraphs.
The vocabulary used in the field of history may be hard to understand.
The vocabulary that appears in primary sources may also at times be
old-fashioned or out of date. Due to this, you may need to use glossaries
or dictionaries not only to understand the information you are learning
and the questions you are asked, but also to be able to express your
thoughts when answering a question. Try to build up your vocabulary.
You can find most of the key words you need to learn through the
chapters and in the glossary at the end of this book.
Good spelling is also crucial. It is not enough to simply learn specific
vocabulary – you must also master the spelling of the terms you learn.
When you are reading, try to pay careful attention to the words, focus
not only on the meaning of the words but on their spelling as well.
Correct conventions are also needed to give order and logic to your
writing. This means good grammar and punctuation. If you make this
kind of mistake the examiner may misunderstand what you are saying
which will negatively colour his or her judgment of your work. Learn the
rules of punctuation because punctuation shows the reader where your
ideas begin and end inside each paragraph.
Be careful with grammar:
● Match your subject and your verb. Always be sure that the subject
and the verb match and agree with each other. For example, always
remember to place a verb in the singular form if its subject is in the
singular form.
● Do not change the verb tense within any given paragraph. Stay in
the same verb tense during complex or compound sentences.
● Write in full sentences. Always use a subject and a predicate.

Pre-writing
A good piece of writing starts in the mind of the author. Before the pen
hits the page, think what the main idea should be and the important
details you need to support that idea. It is a good idea to make a note of
these ideas to keep track of them.

Writing a paragraph
A sentence is a single idea. A paragraph is a collection of one or more
sentences in which the ideas are closely related. They give your writing
order and logic. When writing a paragraph you should make sure that:
● Each paragraph contains one main idea. The rest of the paragraph
is used to illustrate further or support this first main idea with
interesting explanations or examples and relevant details.
● Do not write extremely long paragraphs. Explain your idea carefully but
do not wander much from the main point, or you may tire your reader.
● Use the new words that you have learned but keep your language
simple and write in a clear and logical manner.
● Mix short and long sentences to make your writing livelier.

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 EAL Booster: Writing skills

● Read your work aloud to yourself, not only to listen to mistakes or

wording that does not sound quite right, but also to make sure that
your writing has a lively, varied rhythm.

How to record historical information

● Avoid judging, praising, or condemning historical characters unless
you are told to do so.
● Ordering events: History focuses on changes over time, so it is
therefore important to make your ideas flow in a chronological
order, always connecting causes and effects. You may also use
specific expressions such as the following:

Ordering events
At first Initially Firstly To begin In the first At the beginning During the In the
with place of the
By Before Then After the… In addition On top of this Not only… Furthermore
to this but also
● Expressing cause and effect: Structure your answers with cause
and effect – write what caused the event, what happened during
the event, and what consequences the event had. You may also use
specific expressions such as:

Expressing cause and effect

Thus Consequently Because As a result of This means Due to the Therefore This caused
that fact that
● Making comparisons: When explaining your arguments you may
need to find the similarities between two facts or events.

Making comparisons
Compared In comparison Similarly In the same Likewise
with with way
● Presenting alternatives and contrasting ideas: When developing
your arguments you may need to find out the differences between
two facts or events and be able to produce alternatives to those
differences. You may use specific expressions such as the following:

Contrasting ideas
Instead Although As for While In spite of However…yet… Still Nevertheless
On the other hand On the contrary Whereas Despite the fact that… While it is true that…
● There are other expressions you may need when explaining
historical arguments.

Giving additional
Changing topic Emphasising Summing up
information
In other words Turning to Mainly In conclusion In brief
That is As regards Mostly In summary To conclude
To put it more simply With regard to Usually To sum up So
As far as… is concerned Unfortunately Overall To round off
Moving on to Most often On the whole In short
By contrast In short

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 EAL Booster: Writing skills

Writing an essay
History is about cause, effect, and changes over time, so the structure of
your answers and essays should follow a chronological order.
1. Write a good opening paragraph to impress the examiner and grab
his or her attention as a reader. Introduce what your answer is going
to be about and, if necessary, state your stance on the question.

Careful! Don’t
use the personal
pronoun “I” in your essay. Always
use the pronoun “one” if you are
describing your position on the
question.

2. Write as many paragraphs as you need in order to develop your

arguments, but always be sure that you have at least four or five.
Present your ideas in detail and support them with evidence and
examples. Try to group similar points together.
3. Link paragraphs together in order to help your answer flow logically.
There are two ways you can do this: you can link paragraphs either
by linking ideas, which means that two paragraphs are linked when
the second one is the next part of an expected chain of thoughts; or
you can use linking phrases such as the following.

Linking phrases
For example, However But Next Then First
Similarly In contrast In the On the Finally
same way other hand
4. Write a good concluding paragraph summing up your main points
and explaining the consequences of the historical changes that you
wrote about in your essay. Try to use some of the same words you
used in your opening paragraph in the conclusion to make your
essay more cohesive and tie it together in the mind of the reader.
5. Go back. Always read over your whole essay. Check for spelling,
grammar, and punctuation errors as well as any problems with the
flow of the writing.

Writing a critical essay

When asked to use your critical thinking skills and interpret historical sources
you must identify an historical problem, analyze the evidence provided in
the source, and then write a critical analysis of the evidence presented.
1. Analyze the source. You must be aware that documents sometimes
include biased descriptions, interpretations, or opinions about
events. You must analyze the source you have in order to find out
if it is accurate or if it reveals the author’s bias.
2. Set the events and the author’s interpretations or opinions in context
and decide if the source is useful or not in understanding the event
or the historical period. Remember that you have to evaluate both
what is included in the source and what is left out. Sometimes, a
document that does not give accurate information of an event may
still be useful as a source, as it shows the author’s bias or intention.

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 EAL Booster: Writing skills

3. After coming to your conclusions about the event described in

the source, write the essay, explaining your interpretation and
presenting specific evidence and examples to support your ideas.
4. Use the “Writing an essay” section of this study guide to improve
your critical essay organisation.

Writing a biography
A biography tells about the story of someone’s life. When writing a
biography you have to use historical information about the subject’s life.
Avoid judging, praising, or condemning the character.
● Write in the third person.
● Include relevant information. For example, a politician’s biography
should contain a reference to some of the policies he developed,
while a soldier’s biography should contain a reference to some of
the battles in which he fought.
● List the events in the order in which they happened. Start the
biography with the character’s birth and continue until his or her
death. Include information about what the character meant to a
movement, a cause, the development of an historical event, etc.
● The biography should include names, dates, and the major
accomplishments of the person’s life.
● The biography can include the circumstances that surrounded the
person: his or her family, friends, and the circumstances that shaped
his or her life.
● Write about the ways in which the person changed the things around
him or her. Every person has an impact on the those around him, and
historical characters are important because they have an even larger
impact on the lives of others.
● Use the “Writing an essay” section of this study guide to improve
your biography’s organisation.

Timeline
History lessons and primary and secondary sources may not always
introduce the events in the order in which they happened. You
should identify the key events of any historical period and order them
chronologically before learning them. By doing that you will be able to
explain the period or event, answer the questions, and write essays in a
logical manner.
The first thing you should do is identify the main facts or events and the
date they took place. Then, you have to list them in the order in which
they took place.
If you need a more visual way to present the events or facts, you can
draw a timeline. Draw a straight line down the center of your paper.
Mark the centre of the line and other small marks at equal distances to
mark the passage of time, whether it be days, months, years or centuries.
Write the corresponding fact or event under each line marked, above or
below the centre dividing the line.
Have a look at the revision timelines included on your CD-ROM for
some examples.

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