Writing a continuity and change-over-time (CCOT) essay is one of the more difficult writing tasks a student will face throughout his or her time in school. This difficulty is due to the technical nature as well as the amount of research needed to be done to accurately write a CCOT paper. A CCOT essay is one that intends to answer a question by comparing two time periods relating to subject with the aim of analyzing what has changed and what has not over a selected period of time. Here are some tips on how to write a great CCOT essay when challenged with such a task.
Truly Understand What You Are Asked to Do
The biggest hurdle most students face when writing a CCOT essay, is understanding the mission they have been given. Therefore, most students end up writing either an expository or argumentative essay which results in failure. So the tip here is to read the questions carefully asked and understand the requirements before putting pen to paper. When reading the question, here are some things to consider that will help you put things in the right perspective:
- What am I been asked to do?
- What are the keywords in this question?
- What area of the world am I analyzing? And
- What time periods should I analyze?
Answering these questions set the right ambience needed to proceed to mapping out your writing strategy.
Create a Strategy for your Essay
Now that you have understood the task ahead of you, the next step is to create a strategy on how you intend to answer the important questions raised in the questionnaire. The first step to being organized is choosing a topic name. When writing about advertising in cultural history, a topic such as ‘Advertising Historical Context and its Growth over Time’ puts you in the right part to planning the body of your essay. Here are some tips to creating a good strategy:
- Choose your time periods to base your research on
- Research its role in history or research the historical role of advertising in relation to the chosen time period
- Research the technologies that had an impact on it
- Understand what changes had occurred to its role in the world as a result of evolving technology
- Research what concepts or practices remained similar even after these changes.
Write your CCOT Essay
Once you have defined a strategy, the next step is doing the actual writing work on the chosen topic. In this stage, it is important to focus on the structure you have aligned to serve you throughout your project. A CCOT essay still follows the traditional arrangement of using an introduction, an essay body and a concluding paragraph to discuss your findings.
Proof Read your Essay
The last step is proofreading what you have written not just for grammatical or syntax errors but to ascertain that you have followed the prescribed CCOT essay structure. Therefore, it is important to note if you have chosen a time period, discussed how things were during that time, identify and analyze factors that changed the status quo and also analyze what didn’t change even after change factors were integrated into certain approaches.
Here we come to the end of these salient tips you can use to write a CCOT essay on advertising in cultural history. If in need of topic ideas, do not hesitate to check this helpful article covering 20 CCOT essay topics on advertising in cultural history. You can also find facts that will help you compare advertising time periods in this article 10 CCOT essay facts on advertising in cultural history.