My coursework essay question is really intimidating, what is the best way to approach a task like this?

When answering a large coursework essay question, it is important to get a basic understanding of the context surrounding the question. Doing research on the time period and events you will be talking about will help you feel more confident on coming to a judgement and allow you to develop a stronger argument in your coursework. In your school's library, there should be many books that you can look at that cover in detail the subject you're dealing with. Don't worry, you're not expected to read everything in these books. All you need to do is to dip into the historians' introduction, which is a good way to get an overview on a topic. This will help you to develop an understanding on top of what you have already been taught in your class. Looking at different historians' opinions will make you notice the differences in their arguments, and begin to assess which ones you agree with more. Once you feel more comfortable with the period of time you're discussing, go back to the essay question. Break it down into parts, look at keywords, as this will help you structure your essay later. Write down your initial thoughts to the question, and then using online historical journals and other resources, find historians that support your view, collect evidence and quotations and you'll soon be on your way to developing a strong argument.