Practice essay - Maori-Pakeha contact before 1840 - NCEA Level 3 history

3.4 Practice essay activity: examine a significant decision made by people in history, in an essay

Using the features available in NZHistory.net.nz, material provided by your teacher and anything that you have been able to find for yourself, write the following practice essay for achievement standard 3.4: examine a significant decision made by people in history, in an essay.

Essay question

In 19th-century New Zealand there were a number of significant decisions made that affected people living here. Between 1814 and 1838 a number of Christian missions were established. The decision to bring Christianity to Maori had a number of significant consequences for Maori and Europeans alike.

What factors led to the establishment of the Christian missions in New Zealand between 1814 and 1838? What were the consequences of the establishment of these missions for both the missionaries and Maori?

Remember structure is important

• A good essay must have good paragraphs.
• Each key or new idea in your essay must be a new paragraph.
• Think of a paragraph as having a set layout:
• a sentence that outlines what the paragraph is about
• sentences to support the topic of the paragraph
• a sentence to conclude the paragraph.
• Use the structure outlined below to help you write your answer.

Introduction – your opening paragraph should:

• identify the decision you have chosen to examine AND
• introduce your argument about the significance of this decision.

Body - write structured and sequenced paragraphs that:

• describe a significant decision made by people and the historical context in which that decision was made
• describe and explain factors that contributed to this decision being made
• evaluate the consequences of this decision
• describe and evaluate views of this decision by contemporary commentators and/or historians.

Conclusion - write a concluding paragraph that sums up your main ideas and argument and links them back to the focus of the essay.

You should aim to write about 800-1000 words.

For more detail on this achievement standard and criteria open this Word document from the NZQA site.

3.5 Practice essay activity: examine a significant historical situation in the context of change, in an essay

So it was that Europeans came to New Zealand for flax, timber and whales; seals, sex and souls. They came in numbers that dwarfed those of the exploring expeditions, and they were much more important direct agents of contact with Maori. The hybrid world this interaction created, 'Old New Zealand' in Frederick Maning's nicely ambiguous phrase, began in the 1790s and survived for many years after 1840, until it was eventually swamped by new tides of settlement. The missionaries were fewest but had the busiest pens, and they divided this wave of Europeans into two: themselves, the agents of virtue; and almost everyone else, the agents of vice, who very often came from Australia.

James Belich Making peoples, Penguin, Auckland, 1996, page 129

Using the features available in NZHistory.net.nz, material provided by your teacher and anything that you have been able to find for yourself, write the following practice essay for achievement standard 3.5: examine a significant historical situation in the context of change, in an essay.

Essay question

Describe developments that occurred during the early period of contact between Maori and Europeans (1800–1835). Evaluate the ways in which this contact influenced the lives of people living in New Zealand at this time.

Remember structure is important

• A good essay must have good paragraphs.
• Each key or new idea in your essay must be a new paragraph.
• Think of a paragraph as having a set layout:
  • a sentence that outlines what the paragraph is about
  • sentences to support the topic of the paragraph
  • a sentence to conclude the paragraph.
• Use the structure outlined below to help you write your answer.

Introduction - write an opening paragraph that:

• identifies the situation you are writing about
• introduces your argument about the significance of this situation.

Body - write structured and sequenced paragraphs that:

• describe the historical context of your situation and apply terms, concepts, and/or ideas related to this situation
• examine changes (or continuity), trends and patterns over time related to this situation
• evaluate ways in which this situation influenced people in the historical context.

Conclusion - write a concluding paragraph that sums up your main ideas and argument and links them back to the focus of the essay.

You should aim to write about 600–800 words.

For more detail on this achievement standard and criteria open this Word document from the NZQA site.