How can I stop my essays being too narrative?

This is a really common pitfall, because it is tempting just to tell the examiner everything you know and get carried away telling the story. I find the best way to avoid this is to really think about and analyse the question - I know teachers always say 'read the question', but by using the introduction to actually pick apart the terminology, you both demonstrate that you understand the question, and show that you are thinking intelligently about its implications.For example, for the question 'to what extent were Elizabeth I's final years a crisis?', in your introduction you could discuss:1) What does 'crisis' mean? Does it imply the brink of collapse, or collapse itself?2) Who was it a crisis for? (The country as a whole, Elizabeth personally, the economy etc.)3) What does 'final years' mean? Was there a specific turning point?4) Is it possible to have an 'extent' of crisis without being considered a full crisis?... and so on. You may not be able to answer all these questions, but this gives a direction to your essay writing, and allows you to think creatively, rather than just telling the examiner what happened in the 1590s.It may also help to do some extra reading that isn't from a text book - text books are made to be narrative, but if you can get hold of a "proper" piece of history (a chapter of a book or a journal article, either online or in your local library) then you can get an idea of how historians use narrative, without relying on it, to convey an argument. This extra reading also means you have a broader scope of knowledge to draw on, meaning you are not just relying on the one narrative given to you by your teacher - you have seen the different perspectives that can be taken on the topic.