In this article you will learn how to write an essay on social studies. Examples are attached.
First of all, it is necessary to understand that in order to learn how to write an essay in social studies, it takes quite a long time. Without preliminary preparation, it is impossible to write an essay that would be rated high by experts. Sustainable skills and good results appear after 2-3 months of work (about 15-20 essays written). It is systematic training and determination that bring high results. You need to hone your skills in practice with the direct help and careful supervision of a teacher. 5-ege.ru will help you with your writing.
Option 2
Society accompanies us throughout our lives. From birth we have been part of a family; this is already a small group. Then we go to kindergarten, and again there are people around! Further more! School, university, work, my own family.
But what role does society play for a person? Can he do without it in everyday life?
I think not, because society teaches us to live in it, establishes its own rules.
And now it is built in such a way that people cannot produce most of the valuable resources on their own. For a modern person, living in the forest, fishing, hunting for food is wild. This is where the need to know the rules of behavior and communication arises. In addition to living in abundance, various material benefits, society provides us with various spiritual values such as cinema, music, theater, the Internet - people did it all! I'm not sure anyone would enjoy sitting in the forest without any hobbies. After all, without society there would be nothing, not even books!
The famous English writer and poet Oscar Wilde spoke about this: “Being in society is simply boring. And to be outside of society is already a tragedy.”
But why does a person sometimes want to leave society if it has such beneficial properties for a person?
Unfortunately, society can oppress an individual with its rules; not every person is happy with what is happening in his social group. Disagreement can be expressed by inconsistency with fashion or behavior. Lifestyle and aspirations may also differ. Every inhabitant of our big planet has the right to independently decide how to live, but if he differs too much, then life will be a little harder for him, unfortunately. Ridicule, whispers behind your back, condemnation in your face - it’s difficult to hide from this.
Can we say that society interferes with self-expression? No, but it does not tolerate complete freedom of action.
If you believe the social studies textbook, then only that individual who interacts with society and influences it in some way can become a person. This could be expressing your opinion publicly, performing on stage, creating something new, and much more.
But the most important role of society in human life is the unification of the majority. And as Seneca said: “Society is a vault of stones that would collapse if one did not support the other.” It's hard to disagree with him.
Society plays an important role in a person’s life, but this does not mean at all that a person must always agree with its principles and be satisfied with its company.
Video - how to write an essay on social studies
If you haven't tried essay writing yet, watch the video.
Unlike an essay on literature or the Russian language, where the minimum amount of work is clearly specified and general reflection is allowed (“philosophizing” without specification), in an essay on social science the volume is not limited, but its structure and content are fundamentally different. A social studies essay is actually an answer to the question: “Do I agree with this statement and why?” That is why an essay on social science must contain strict argumentation, scientificity and specificity. At the same time, it should be noted that very paradoxical, unusual statements that require imaginative thinking and a non-standard approach to revealing the problem are often used as the topic of an essay. This inevitably leaves its mark on the essay writing style and requires maximum concentration of effort and attention.
I would also like to add that the exam essay is assessed by specific people. In order for an expert, who checks from 50 to 80 papers a day, to mark an essay as worthy of attention, this essay must not only meet all the requirements set out below, but also be distinguished by a certain originality, originality and originality - this is implied by the genre of the essay itself. Therefore, it is necessary not only to present scientific and factual material on the topic, but also to pleasantly surprise you with the originality and flexibility of your thinking.
Algorithm for writing essays during the Unified State Exam
See also sample essays.
- First of all, during the exam you need to properly manage your time. Practice shows that writing an essay requires spending at least 1-1.5 hours out of the 3.5 hours allotted for the Unified State Exam in Social Studies. It is most advisable to start writing an essay after all other KIM tasks have been completed, because This type of work requires maximum concentration of the graduate’s efforts.
- Carefully read all the topics offered to choose from.
- Select topics that are understandable, i.e. – the student must clearly understand what this statement is about, what the author wanted to say with this phrase. In order to remove doubts about whether he understands the topic correctly, the graduate must restate the phrase in his own words, defining the main idea. The student can do this orally or in a draft.
- From the selected understandable statements, it is necessary to choose one topic - the one that the student knows best. It is necessary to note the fact that examinees often choose topics that are easy, in their opinion, but which turn out to be difficult when covering the topic due to the limited scientific and factual material on this issue (in other words, the phrase itself says everything, nothing can be added). In such cases, the essay is reduced to a simple statement of the meaning of the statement in different versions and is rated low by experts due to poor evidence base. Therefore, you need to choose the topic of the essay so that the student, when writing it, can fully demonstrate the completeness of his knowledge and the depth of his thoughts (i.e., the topic must be winning).
- When choosing a topic for an essay, you must also pay attention to which social science the statement belongs to. Practice shows that a number of phrases can refer to several sciences at once. For example, I. Goethe’s statement “Man is determined not only by natural qualities, but also by acquired ones” may belong to philosophy, social psychology, and sociology. Accordingly, the content of the essay should vary depending on this, i.e. must be consistent with said basic science.
- There is no need to write the entire essay as a draft. Firstly, due to limited time, and secondly, due to the fact that at the time of writing an essay some thoughts come, and at the time of rewriting - others, and redoing a finished text is much more difficult than creating a new one. In the draft, the graduate makes only an outline of his essay, approximate short sketches of the meaning of the phrase, his argumentation, the points of view of scientists, concepts and theoretical positions that he is going to present in his work, as well as the approximate order of their arrangement one after another, taking into account the semantic logic of the essay.
- Without fail, the student must express his personal attitude to the chosen topic in a clearly defined formulation (“I agree”, “I disagree”, “I don’t completely agree”, “I agree, but partially” or phrases that are similar in meaning and meaning) . The presence of a personal attitude is one of the criteria on the basis of which experts evaluate an essay.
- Without fail, the graduate must state his understanding of the meaning of the statement. Those. The high school student explains in his own words what the author wanted to say with this phrase. It is more advisable to do this at the very beginning of the essay. And if you combine the requirements of this paragraph with the provisions of the previous one, then this is what, for example, the beginning of an essay on philosophy will look like: “Before talking about the benefit of satisfying needs, you need to decide what needs constitute the benefit”: “I completely agree with the statement of the great Russian writer half of the 19th century - early XX centuries L.N. Tolstoy, in which he talks about real and imaginary needs."
- You need to be very careful in selecting arguments to support your point of view. Arguments must be convincing and justified. Data from relevant sciences, historical facts, and facts from social life are used as arguments. Arguments of a personal nature (examples from personal life) are rated the lowest, so their use as evidence is undesirable. It should be remembered that any personal example can easily be “transformed” into an example from public life, from social practice, if you write about it in a third person (for example, not “The saleswoman in the store was rude to me, thereby violating my consumer rights,” but “Let’s say "that the saleswoman was rude to citizen S. Thus, she violated his rights as a consumer." The number of arguments in an essay is not limited, but 3-5 arguments are the most optimal for revealing the topic. It should also be remembered that examples from history are most appropriate in political science, partially - in legal and sociological topics, as well as in philosophical topics related to the theory of social progress. Examples from social practice (public life) - in sociological, economic, legal topics. Data from the relevant sciences must be used when choosing any of the topics.
- The use of terms, concepts, and definitions in an essay must be competent and appropriate in relation to the chosen topic and science. The essay should not be overloaded with terminology, especially if these concepts are not related to the chosen problem. Unfortunately, some graduates try to insert as many terms as possible into their work, violating the principle of expediency and reasonable sufficiency. Thus, they show that they have not learned to correctly use scientific terminology. The term should be mentioned appropriately; such a mention should indicate its correct understanding.
- It is very welcome if a graduate in his essay indicates the points of view of other researchers on the issues under consideration, provides a link to different interpretations of the problem and different ways to solve it (if possible). An indication of other points of view can be direct (for example: “Lenin thought this way:..., and Trotsky thought differently:..., and Stalin did not agree with both of them:..."), or can be indirect, unspecified, unpersonalized: “A number researchers think this way:..., others think differently:..., and some suggest something completely different:...".
- It is very welcome if the essay indicates who the author of this statement was. The indication should be brief but precise (see example in paragraph 8). If, when arguing your position on this issue, it is appropriate to mention the views of the author of the phrase, this must be done.
- Arguments must be presented in strict sequence, the internal logic of presentation in the essay must be clearly visible. The student should not jump from one to another and return to the first again without explanation and internal connection, connecting the individual provisions of his work.
- The essay must be completed with a conclusion that briefly summarizes the thoughts and reasoning: “Thus, based on all of the above, it can be argued that the author was right in his statement.”
Examples of essays on the topic:
Philosophy “Revolution is a barbaric way of progress” (J. Jaures)
For the highest score
I completely agree with the statement of the famous French socialist, historian and political figure of the first half of the twentieth century, Jean Jaurès, in which he talks about the features of the revolutionary path of social progress, about the distinctive features of the revolution. Indeed, revolution is one of the ways of progress, movement forward towards better and more complex forms of organizing the social order. But since a revolution is a radical disruption of the entire existing system, a transformation of all or most aspects of social life, occurring in a short period of time, this form of progress is always accompanied by a large number of victims and violence.
If we remember the revolutionary year of 1917 in Russia, we will see that both revolutions entailed the most severe confrontation in society and the country, which resulted in a terrible Civil War, accompanied by unprecedented bitterness, millions of dead and injured, unprecedented devastation in the national economy.
If we remember the Great French Revolution, we will also see the rampant Jacobin terror, the guillotine, “working” seven days a week, and a series of incessant revolutionary wars.
If we remember the English bourgeois revolution, we will also see a civil war and repressions against dissidents.
And when we look at the history of the United States, we will see that both bourgeois revolutions that took place in this country took the form of war: first, the War of Independence, and then the Civil War.
The list of examples from history can go on and on, but wherever a revolution occurs - in China, Iran, the Netherlands, etc. – everywhere it was accompanied by violence, i.e. barbarism from the perspective of a civilized person.
And even though other thinkers exalted revolution (like, for example, Karl Marx, who argued that revolutions are the locomotives of history), even though reactionaries and conservatives denied the role of revolutions in social progress, the point of view of J. Jaurès is closer to me: yes, revolution is a way of progress, a movement for the better, but carried out using barbaric methods, that is, using cruelty, blood and violence. Happiness cannot be created through violence!
There are other examples of social studies essays on 5-ege.ru.
For a small point
In his quote, the author talks about revolution and progress. Revolution is a way of transforming reality in a short time, and progress is moving forward. Revolution is not progress. After all, progress is reform. It cannot be said that the revolution does not produce positive results - for example, the Russian revolution allowed workers and peasants to get rid of a difficult situation. But by definition, revolution is not progress, because progress is all that is good, and revolution is all that is bad. I disagree with the author who classifies revolution as progress.
Essay-reasoning
A person cannot live without society. He is able to develop only in a team. Therefore, the importance of society in human existence is very important. Let's consider this issue at all stages of people's lives.
A child is born into a family, even if he only has a mother, then the two of them are a family. Of course, most of us also have brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts and other relatives. It is in the family that we learn to communicate with them. Our future and the future of our children largely depend on this communication. So, from birth, the baby is already a member of the family, that is, a community of relatives. Then the child is raised at home before school; some children go to kindergarten or to developmental sections. There they also become part of society. There they learn to communicate with peers, adults, teachers, and not just relatives. It is in such an environment that the child’s character, his abilities and differences from other children begin to manifest themselves. The next stage is school. It occupies quite a long time in the life of a schoolchild: nine or eleven years.
During school years, the student’s character is not formed, he develops and improves. Unfortunately, this applies to both good and bad traits. School society also gives a person a lot. First of all, this is the ability to quickly and well navigate educational material, develop memory, study skills, and demonstrate one’s abilities and skills. Only after finishing school does a young man become a full member of adult society. Coming of age is a concept that says that people are basically formed by this period. They must be worthy members of society.
How does the environment affect people here? Just like before. If an individual is ready for adult life, he calmly and consciously merges into it, but if not, then the problems will get worse. For example, as a child, a boy was raised by his grandparents. They paid a lot of attention to its development. He attended various clubs. Before school, he learned to read, knew the basics of English, but had difficulty enduring the success of others and demanded constant attention to himself. At school, he did not show much interest in science, because the boy already knows everything well. He was bored in class, and then he fell so far behind his peers that he could no longer catch up. In addition, when he became a fifth-grader, he finally moved in with his parents; they were busy all the time and could not help with homework. His successes at school did not please him, and then they stopped bothering him at all. As a teenager, he became estranged from his family and fell into bad company. Having somehow finished school, he went to college, but was unable to finish his studies; frequent absenteeism led to expulsion. It was also not possible to find a decent job. And now he is already a grown man, but he does not know how to live at all. Society will demand more and more from people, set tasks and problems for them. And he won't be able to solve them.
Consequently, a person’s life in society depends largely on himself.
Other essays: ← Formation of a person’s inner world↑ Grade 11 and Unified State Examination What is tolerance? →
