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Expository Essay
Historical Overview
Introduction
In a historical overview, you survey a particular
development from history. You present a central idea
period or development, supporting that idea with facts
time. A historical overview should have the
characteristics:
period or
about the
about that
following
For a review of the steps in
the writing process, see the
Historian’s Toolkit, Write Like
a Historian.
• a historical period or development that can be surveyed from
beginning to end
• a thesis statement that presents a main idea about that period
• facts and incidences that support the main idea
• interesting descriptions of details and incidents
• an informative tone
Assignment On the following pages, you will learn how to write
a historical overview. You will get step-by-step instructions. Each
step will include an example from a sample overview about the Age
of Exploration.
Read the instructions and the examples. Then, follow each step to
plan and write an essay of 500–700 words.
Write a historical overview of one region of the 13 colonies
from the mid-1600s to the mid-1700s.
Prewriting
Define the scope of the overview. In writing a historical
overview, you start with a well-defined idea of what happened
before, during, and after the period you are writing about. It helps
to make a timeline showing the major events to be covered.
1100–1300: Crusades take place.
Europeans learn new sailing
techniques and borrow technology
from Muslim sailors.
1100
1200
1300
1420s: Henry the
Navigator founds
school for sailors.
1519: Magellan
circumnavigates
the world.
1400
1500
1300s: The Renaissance begins.
130 Unit 1
1492 –1504: Columbus sails
to the Americas.
1600
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Brainstorm about the “big picture.” Focus on the “big
picture” rather than on the details of the period. Your goal is to
communicate an important central idea about the whole period to
your audience.
Write a thesis statement. A thesis statement expresses the
main idea of your essay in a sentence or two.
List supporting information. The body of your essay will
support and develop your thesis statement with facts, events,
and other information. You may have more information than you
need. Be sure to choose facts, individuals, and incidents that are
most relevant to the idea you are presenting.
Sample thesis statement:
The age of exploration created a
demand in Europe for new goods to
consume and new lands to conquer;
it opened the way for centuries of
colonialism.
Drafting
Choose an organization. Now you need to decide the best
order in which to present your information. You have several choices
for organizing your historical overview.
One approach is to use chronological order. The advantage of
chronological order is that it is easy to stick to and easy for your
readers to follow.
You could also modify chronological order by focusing on certain
topics, showing how each of these developed during the period.
Introduce your thesis and give background
information. Draft an introductory paragraph. Briefly describe
the period or development you will be covering, explain why it is
important, and lead up to your thesis statement. You could place
your thesis statement anywhere in your first paragraph; particularly
strong locations are the opening and the closing sentences of the
introduction. You may also want to use a quotation or brief incident
to catch your readers’ interest.
Cover the main developments. Write the body of your
essay, following the organization you chose and using your
prewriting notes. The body of your essay consists of several
paragraphs that support your main idea with facts. You may also
need to give your readers some background information about the
events you are writing about. For example, it might be helpful to
know that Native Americans had never been exposed to diseases
that the European settlers brought to the New World.
Pull it together with a strong conclusion. In your final
paragraph, restate your main idea and summarize the main support
for it. Finish in a powerful way, indicating what lessons this period
can teach us or making some other important point.
Writing Workshop 131
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Student Model
Read the following model of a historical overview. Notice how it
includes the characteristics you have learned about.
Spanish Exploration of the Americas
The introductory
paragraph describes
the historical period
and explains its
importance.
Is this composition
organized by
chronological
order or by the
development
of certain key topics?
132 Unit 1
During the Renaissance, Europeans became
interested in finding new trade routes to Asia. First, the
Portuguese sailed east around Africa to Asia and traded
goods for gold. Then, Spain’s rulers decided to finance
voyages to discover a western water route to Asia. These
voyages resulted in the exploration of the Americas and
the establishment of Spain’s empire there.
In 1492, the Italian sea captain Christopher
Columbus set sail from Spain. His goal was to reach the
East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean.
Instead, Columbus landed on an island in the Caribbean.
Convinced that he had reached Asia, Columbus made
three more voyages.
Columbus’s discoveries encouraged other Spanish
explorers to travel west. In 1513, Juan Ponce de León
explored the coasts of Florida. The same year, Vasco
Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and
reached the Pacific Ocean.
Then, in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set out from
Spain with five ships and about 250 crew members.
His expedition sailed around the southern tip of
South America and started across the Pacific Ocean.
Three years later, in 1522, the survivors finally reached
Spain after sailing around the world. Magellan never lived
to see it, but his sailors had sailed west and finally found
the all-water route for Spain.
Spain’s search for the western route to Asia
started in 1492 and ended successfully in 1522. During
this period, Spanish explorers discovered new lands,
learned more about Earth’s true size, and established
Spain’s empire in the Americas.
The thesis
statement
expresses the
main idea of
the essay.
The body of the
essay supports
the main idea with
facts.
A strong conclusion
restates the main
idea and
summarizes the
main points that
support it.
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Revising
After completing your draft, read it again carefully to find ways to
make your writing better. Here are some questions to ask yourself.
Revise to strengthen your thesis and support
• Does the thesis state your main idea clearly?
• Does each paragraph include reasons and facts that support
that main idea?
• Does the essay provide interesting details and descriptions?
Revise to meet written English-language
conventions
• Are all sentences complete, with a subject and a verb?
• Are all the words spelled correctly? Use a spell-checker or
a dictionary to make sure.
• Are all proper nouns capitalized, including names of people
and places?
• Did you use proper punctuation? Check punctuation within
sentences as well as at the ends of sentences.
Rubric for Self-Assessment
Evaluate your historical overview using the following rating scale:
Score 4
Score 3
Organization
Supports the thesis
with a series of
logically ordered
paragraphs; uses
some type of
chronological order
Uses a reasonably
Chooses an organiclear organization to
zation not suited to
present the supporting the topic
information
Shows lack of organizational strategy
Presentation
Supports the main
idea effectively with
relevant facts and
incidents; links all
information to the
main idea
Supports the main
idea adequately with
several facts, details,
or examples; links most
information to the
main idea
Does not support the
main idea adequately;
does not link supporting information to the
main idea; includes
irrelevant information
Does not provide facts,
details, or examples to
support the main idea
Uses some variety in
sentence structure and
vocabulary; includes
few mechanical errors
Uses the same types of
sentences without
varying them; does not
vary vocabulary;
includes many
mechanical errors
Writes incomplete
sentences; uses
language poorly;
sounds confused;
includes many
mechanical errors
Use of Language Varies sentence
structure and vocabulary successfully;
includes no or very
few mechanical errors
Score 2
Score 1
Writing Workshop 133