History Coursework

Writing a history coursework, you should conduct a thorough secondary research. Primary research is also recommended; however, not all of you can arrange an interview or conduct a survey among historians. Thus, the main source of information is books and journal articles. Be critical of the sources! Do not try to include everything you read! Usually, coursework length is limited by a teacher to a specific number of sources. Therefore, choose a specific topic and conduct a narrow research. The following sample of history coursework on Egypt is posted here to show you the quality writing. Pay attention to the words, sentence structure and flow of ideas. In addition, review article on GCSE science coursework writing as well as take a look at how to write a persuasive essay tips.

History Coursework Excerpt

Egypt provided a physical milieu in which this balance could be easily secured, for its natural conditions are almost changeless. It escapes the earthquakes that devastate from time to time the Aegean world. It has climate but no weather. Each day the sun rises in glory, traverses the heavens unobscured, and sets in splendour. Each year the Nile rises with predictable regularity and rejuvenates the tired land: only the volume of its inundation remains uncertain. Until the Late Period, the desert margins protected the Egyptians from those wayward floods of invaders that have altered radically the history and fates of other ancient peoples. The infiltration of new races with new ideas was gradual enough to ensure that the native culture would be irrigated, not swamped, by such contacts. This environment fostered the Egyptian instinct to maintain a status quo. The dry sands have preserved much of the ancient past as a dominant present. Perhaps it is not wholly fortuitous that Egypt should be the traditional land of mummification.

In such stable conditions the Egyptian view of the cosmos is essentially static: change is only a recurring rhythm, not a progression. The struggle between the opposing forces is evenly matched. The land may be parched in summer, but the inundation will come. The old king Osiris will suffer death, but his son the new Horus will reign in his stead. The victory of the sun-god is proclaimed with every dawn, though his death will occur at dusk. The Egyptians had no cosmogony to teach them that in the beginning man had fallen by defying God; or that he had once lived in a Golden Age from which he had declined. Still less was there any idea of progress towards a fuller material existence on earth. Government had come from the gods who had ruled Egypt from the moment of its creation. It was, therefore, perfect at its inception, and since it was still in the hands of a god, incapable of improvement. “Well tended are men, the cattle of God. He made heaven and earth according to their desire. He allayed their thirst [?] He made the air to bring life to their nostrils. They are his images that have gone forth from his limbs.... But he also slew his enemies.” So wrote the father of King Mery-ka-re, referring also to an ancient myth that taught that the sun-god decided to punish men for their insolence, but in the end took pity on them and relented.