History Essay

The Arthur Martin-Leake History Prize: 2013

How will the essay be marked?
Your essay mark will be out of 30. It will be made up of three parts, each out of 10, and each reflecting a different aspect of your essay. The three aspects teachers will be looking for are:

1. RESEARCH. Quality of historical content. Your essay must reflect a breadth and depth of historical research. This will obviously be evident in the specific, factual detail you use, but may also be reflected through quotations, illustrations, diagrams, maps, etc.

2. JUDGEMENT, FOCUS and PERSUASIVENESS. Quality of your ideas and opinions. Your essay must be driven by ideas and judgements rather than simply by stories and facts. You must judge and evaluate the issues in the question in a focused and persuasive way reflected by your own views and supported by your own research.

3. WRITTEN STYLE and PRESENTATION. Quality of writing, argument, presentation. Your essay must have an organised structure and must address the issues in the question all the way through rather than just at the beginning and at the end. Your points must be made clearly and forcefully, as well as being supported by well-chosen examples. Your essay should be clear, neat and lively in its presentation throughout.








Deadline and essay length:

Essays will only be considered for the prize if they are handed in, completed, on or before Monday 25 February. They will also only be considered if they are between 1000 and 1500 words in length and include a word-count at the end of the last page. You have 3 weeks including half term. This includes all prep time, but not class time. You should spend at least one week researching the details and ideas (the week before half term) and only then try to write the essay. Page 3 of this handout contains good advice on how to work on your essay.

Arthur Martin-Leake History Prize: Essay Titles 2013

You should choose ONE of the following titles and then use the...