A strong history essay makes an argument about the past, supports it with primary and secondary evidence, and cites every source in Chicago footnotes. Markers look for a clear thesis, critical use of sources and awareness of how historians have debated the question.
This guide covers how to plan and argue a history essay, how to handle primary sources and historiography, and how to format Chicago notes and bibliography entries for the sources historians use most, including archives and published documents.
What Makes a Strong History Essay
- A thesis that answers the question with a clear, arguable position.
- Paragraphs organised by argument, not by simple chronology.
- Primary sources analysed for context, purpose and reliability.
- Engagement with historians' interpretations.
- Precise, consistent Chicago footnotes and a bibliography.
Building an Argument, Not a Narrative
The most common weakness in history essays is telling the story instead of answering the question. Narrative has a place, but only to support analysis.
A useful test: if a paragraph could appear in a textbook without changes, it is probably describing rather than arguing.
Question: To what extent was economic hardship the main cause of the 1919 strikes?
Narrative thesis (weak): In 1919 there were many strikes for several reasons.
Analytical thesis (strong): Economic hardship made unrest likely, but the strikes of 1919 were driven above all by workers' expectations raised by wartime promises, which turned grievances into organised action.
Each body paragraph should advance part of that argument. Open with a topic sentence that makes a claim, support it with evidence, and explain how it answers the question.
Primary and Secondary Sources
| Primary sources | Secondary sources | |
|---|---|---|
| What they are | Evidence from the period: letters, speeches, newspapers, official records, diaries, images | Later interpretations by historians: books and journal articles |
| How to use them | Analyse, question and interpret | Engage with, compare and evaluate |
| Key questions | Who made it, when, why, for whom? | What does the historian argue, and on what evidence? |
Analysing a Primary Source
Ask who created the source, when and why, and for what audience. A government report, a strike leaflet and a private letter about the same event will each reflect their author's position. Saying so shows critical reading.
Using Historiography
Historiography is the study of how historians have interpreted a topic. Showing that you know the debate, and where your argument fits, lifts an essay from description to analysis.
- Identify the main interpretations and the historians associated with each.
- Explain what evidence or assumptions lead them to differ.
- State where you stand and why, using your own evidence.
Early accounts treated the strikes as the work of radical agitators, while later social historians stressed living standards and rents. More recent work, drawing on local union records, emphasises the gap between wartime promises and post-war reality, the interpretation this essay supports.3
Chicago Footnotes: The Essentials
History uses Chicago notes-bibliography. Put a superscript number at the end of the sentence or clause, after punctuation, and give the source in a footnote at the bottom of the page.
- The first note for a source gives full details.
- Later notes for the same source use a short form: surname, short title, page.
- Chicago discourages ibid. and prefers short notes; follow your department if it asks for ibid.
- Number notes consecutively through the essay.
- If several sources support one sentence, combine them in one note, separated by semicolons.
Footnote and Bibliography Formats
The examples follow the Chicago 17th edition patterns still widely taught; the 18th edition keeps the same core forms. Names and titles are illustrative.
Book, note: 1. Margaret Hale, Promises Broken: Labour and the Peace, 1918–1921 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016), 88.
Book, short note: 2. Hale, Promises Broken, 92.
Book, bibliography: Hale, Margaret. Promises Broken: Labour and the Peace, 1918–1921. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016.
Journal article, note: 3. David Osei, "Rents and Riots in Post-war Glasgow," Journal of Urban Labour History 48, no. 2 (2014): 315.
Journal article, bibliography: Osei, David. "Rents and Riots in Post-war Glasgow." Journal of Urban Labour History 48, no. 2 (2014): 301–24.
Chapter in an edited book, note: 4. Ruth Clarke, "Women and the Shop Floor," in Labour after the War, ed. Peter Mills (London: Routledge, 2019), 54.
Bibliography: Clarke, Ruth. "Women and the Shop Floor." In Labour after the War, edited by Peter Mills, 45–70. London: Routledge, 2019.
Citing Primary Sources
Published Documents and Collections
Document in a published collection, note: 5. James Reid to the Strike Committee, February 2, 1919, in Documents of the Labour Movement, ed. Anne Ward (London: Verso, 2001), 117.
Newspapers
Note: 6. "Thousands Gather in George Square," Evening Courier, January 31, 1919, 5.
Chicago allows newspaper articles to be cited in notes only, but many history departments want them in the bibliography as well. Follow your guide.
Archival Sources
Archival notes move from the specific item to the general location: the document, its date, the collection, any box or folder numbers, and the archive.
Note: 7. Minutes of the District Committee, March 4, 1919, Box 3, Folder 12, Clyde Workers' Papers, City Archives, Glasgow.
In the bibliography, archival material is usually listed by collection rather than by individual document. Record full archive details when you first consult a document; returning to an archive to recover a box number is slow and sometimes impossible.
Planning and Researching a History Essay
- Unpack the question: identify the key terms, time period and what "to what extent" or "how far" requires.
- Read the overview: start with a recent general account to understand the debate.
- Read the key historians: note their arguments and evidence.
- Find primary evidence: from your reading list, source collections or digitised archives.
- Draft a thesis: and test it against the evidence before you start writing.
- Outline by argument: each section a step in your case.
Quoting and Paraphrasing in History
History quotes more than many subjects, because the exact words of a primary source are evidence. Even so, quotations need analysis.
- Quote primary sources when wording, tone or language matters.
- Paraphrase historians' arguments in your own words, and cite them.
- Follow every quotation with analysis: what does it reveal, and how reliable is it?
- Use block quotations sparingly; Chicago generally sets about 100 words or more as a block.
History Essay Checklist
- The thesis answers the question directly.
- Paragraphs advance the argument rather than retell events.
- Primary sources are analysed for context and reliability.
- Historians' interpretations are discussed and evaluated.
- Every quotation and borrowed idea has a footnote.
- Full notes come first, short notes after.
- The bibliography matches the notes and is alphabetical.
Common Mistakes in History Essays
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Narrative instead of argument | Open each paragraph with a claim that answers the question |
| Primary sources quoted without analysis | Discuss author, purpose and reliability |
| No historiography | Show the debate and your place in it |
| Full footnotes repeated every time | Use short notes after the first citation |
| Inverted names in footnotes | Normal order in notes; invert only in the bibliography |
| Website summaries as evidence | Use scholarly books, articles and primary sources |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Footnotes let historians cite detailed sources, such as archives and documents, and add brief comments without interrupting the argument. Chicago notes-bibliography is the standard.
Most history departments require one. It lists all sources cited in your notes, alphabetically by author surname.
The first note for a source gives full publication details. Later notes give the author's surname, a short title and the page.
Chicago discourages it and recommends short notes instead. Use ibid. only if your department asks for it.
Give the document, its date, the collection, any box or folder numbers, and the archive and its location in the note.
The study of how historians have interpreted a topic. Discussing it shows you understand the debate and can position your own argument.
Follow your rubric. Even a short essay benefits from a few well-analysed primary sources alongside the main historians.
Use scholarly books, journal articles and primary sources for your argument. Digitised archives and reputable collections online are fine when cited properly.
Chicago prefers that you find the original. If you cannot, cite the original as "quoted in" the book where you found it, so readers know which source you actually read.