Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

Closing paragraph
•
Which word indicates to the reader that this is the concluding
paragraph of the essay?
•
How does the first sentence reiterate the main point about western
movies?
•
How do sentences two to five round off the essay by emphasising the
main points made in the essay but without slavish repetition? 
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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11
SAMPLE ESSAY 6: 
HISTORY
The writing of ‘history’ essays involves following the same
structured approach as in other subject areas. However, the
‘evidence’ you use to back up your analysis of historical
events is clearly subject-specific. You need to know your
‘facts’ or relevant historical factors that have shaped
important events and you must be able to select from the
body of knowledge you have acquired to back up general
assertions you are making in your essays. Just as in the sample literature
essays, close references to the text and quotations were used to back up
specific points, so in history essays detailed evidence and references to
specific events have to be used to back up your analysis.
What were the origins of the First World War?
Opening paragraph
The catalyst that led to the outbreak of the First
World War was the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austrian-
Hungarian empire, by a Serbian nationalist on
June 24, 1914. A month later hostilities broke out,
but Europe had been lurching towards a major war
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for a considerable time before that. The shooting of
an obscure member of the Austrian aristocracy was
merely the starting-gun for the war, not the central
cause. The basic cause of the conflict was the rivalry
between the major powers, Germany and its ally,
Austria and its Austrian-Hungarian Empire,
(known as the Central Powers) on the one side, and
Britain, France and Russia (known as the Entente)
on the other. The issues that divided these two power
blocs were the balance of power in Europe as a whole,
the search for colonial territories and the expansion
of wealth and influence.