🔑 How to Identify Key Words in a History Essay Question
1. Spot the "Task Words" (what the examiner wants you to do)
Examples:
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“Discuss”, “Assess”, “Evaluate”, “What challenges faced…”
👉 These tell you the type of answer. They are always key words because they shape your approach.
2. Look for Specific Historical Terms
These are concepts that have different meanings in context. You must define them briefly in your introduction.
Examples:
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Challenges → political, economic, military, social difficulties.
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Peace (1924–41) → Stalin’s domestic policies before WWII.
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War (1941–45) → USSR in WWII, facing Nazi Germany.
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Dictatorship → rule with centralised power, censorship, repression, no democracy.
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Collectivisation, Propaganda, Totalitarianism → words with special historical meaning.
3. Ignore the “Obvious” Words
These are words you don’t need to define, because they’re already crystal clear.
Examples:
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Soviet Union
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Stalin
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World War II
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Germany
👉 The examiner knows you know what these are — defining them wastes time.
4. Test Yourself with the “Can I Group It?” Trick
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If a word makes you think of several examples (e.g. “Challenges” → famine, purges, Barbarossa), it’s a key word.
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If a word is just a proper noun/person/place, it’s obvious and doesn’t need defining.
5. How to Use Key Words in Your Intro
In your introduction, show the examiner you understand them:
“The Soviet Union between 1924 and 1945 faced enormous challenges, both in peace (collectivisation, purges, Five-Year Plans) and in war (Operation Barbarossa, Stalingrad, and the devastation of WWII).”
That’s enough — one sentence covers the definitions and sets up your essay.
✅ In short:
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Define: task words + historical concepts.
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Skip: obvious nouns (Stalin, USSR, WWII).