As she says, there are lots of sorts of essays, and there is also variation by sub-discipline. Overall, I find that my students tend to stumble at the same couple of places:
When using primary sources, they are good at writing about what they say, but not about what they do, i.e., what they tell us by interpreting what they say in the context of the time, authorship, audience, etc.
When using secondary sources, they don't engage with those sources and present their argument as part of a larger argument or conversation -- and they don't integrate them very well -- the result is an essay that reads as 'let me tell you all I learned about X'
When I teach History Methods, I regularly use Graff and Birkenstein, They Say, I Say (http://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Say-Matter-Academic-Writing/dp/039393361X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348086932&sr=8-1), and sometimes use the templates myself when I find I'm using the same phrases over and over. This new edition of Barzun and (a different) Graff, The Modern Researcher (http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?Ntt=Barzun||118395586598381691020622251871962340225&N=16&Ntk=APG%7C%7CP_EPI) is one I'm thinking of using, too, although this one by William Kelleher Storey (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-History-William-Kelleher-Storey/dp/0199830045/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348087216&sr=8-2") is tempting. I've also used Frakes, Writing for College History (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-College-History-Short-Handbook/dp/061830603X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348087303&sr=1-2), although it is aimed more at 1st- and 2nd-year students (and would have been good for my nephew when he was studying for A-levels). Many of my colleagues advise their students to use ML Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing History (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocket-Guide-Writing-History/dp/0312610416/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348087463&sr=1-12).
I would say that most of them will help for many of the sorts of essays historians are expected to write. The one exception might be the sort of close reading and analysis of primary sources that Classicists and Medievalists often do, but even then, integrating your thoughts and argument into what has already been written is a key part. I can't recommend the Graff and Birkenstein enough for learning to summarize, paraphrase, and cite the works of others while successfully integrating your own arguments.
no subject
As she says, there are lots of sorts of essays, and there is also variation by sub-discipline. Overall, I find that my students tend to stumble at the same couple of places:
When I teach History Methods, I regularly use Graff and Birkenstein, They Say, I Say (http://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Say-Matter-Academic-Writing/dp/039393361X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348086932&sr=8-1), and sometimes use the templates myself when I find I'm using the same phrases over and over. This new edition of Barzun and (a different) Graff, The Modern Researcher (http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?Ntt=Barzun||118395586598381691020622251871962340225&N=16&Ntk=APG%7C%7CP_EPI) is one I'm thinking of using, too, although this one by William Kelleher Storey (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-History-William-Kelleher-Storey/dp/0199830045/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348087216&sr=8-2") is tempting. I've also used Frakes, Writing for College History (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-College-History-Short-Handbook/dp/061830603X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348087303&sr=1-2), although it is aimed more at 1st- and 2nd-year students (and would have been good for my nephew when he was studying for A-levels). Many of my colleagues advise their students to use ML Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing History (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocket-Guide-Writing-History/dp/0312610416/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348087463&sr=1-12).
I would say that most of them will help for many of the sorts of essays historians are expected to write. The one exception might be the sort of close reading and analysis of primary sources that Classicists and Medievalists often do, but even then, integrating your thoughts and argument into what has already been written is a key part. I can't recommend the Graff and Birkenstein enough for learning to summarize, paraphrase, and cite the works of others while successfully integrating your own arguments.