ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a variety of practical tips and strategies for improving student writing and making it more authentic both for high-skilled and struggling writers. It looks at techniques for teaching students to write dynamic introductions and conclusions, as well as for scaffolding body paragraphs. The first step for any teacher embarking on an essay must be deep consideration of the question or prompt. There are good historical questions and there are bad ones. The crux of most work in writing instruction is on the body paragraphs. Teachers and researchers have developed a spectrum of practices for supporting students in writing historical body paragraphs. In order to select quotations, students are forced to return to their sources and sift through them, thereby engaging in real historical work. The interplay between quotation (as evidence) and analysis becomes an interesting juggle in the final task of writing.
