HIST 349

Essay Writing Tips

Ensure that your essay has a clearly identifiable thesis and that all your paragraphs are connected to your thesis.
A thesis is not a statement of fact, but an argument that you are making. The purpose of the research paper is for you to convince me that your argument is valid.
Make the paper manageable. Do not try to engage too many questions. Depth is better than breadth.
The essay should be well organized with one section flowing smoothly into the next.
Be specific with your evidence and your arguments. Avoid being vague and do not generalize.
Remember to engage with the secondary sources in your field and explain how your paper fits into the historiography.
Do not moralize. Remember that you may be discussing societies far removed from ours in time. Many of our values and beliefs do not apply.
Sometimes it may be necessary to delete entire paragraphs that you have already written in order to make the essay work better. Be brave and delete them-irrelevant or confused material only weakens your argument.
Why use ten words when five will do the job? Succinct and clear sentences make for the best reading.
Be wary of the run-on sentence and the sentence fragment.
Use words whose meanings you know.
If you get stuck writing the introduction, write a very rough version and clean it up at the end. By then you will have a better idea of how your essay is going to develop.
The events about which you are writing occurred in the past. Write in the past tense.
Do not use lecture notes, encyclopedia articles, or webpages as secondary sources.
Avoid the passive voice. It is a sign of lazy writing and often confuses what you are trying to say.
Do not use contractions in formal writing.
Do not use ibid and other Latin abbreviations. They are slowly going out of use.
Make sure your verbs agree with your nouns, your nouns with your pronouns and your tenses with each other.
Use footnotes and a bibliography. Do not use parenthetical citations.
Use page numbers.
Cite anything that you take from an outside source, be it a quotation or an idea.
Do not cite sources out of context. Try to use them in the spirit that they were written.
Block quotations are single-spaced and do not require quotation marks. Use them when the quotation is longer than four lines.
Proofread everything and have someone else read your writing-preferably someone who knows little about the topic.
Be creative-this does not mean make things up. Take some chances with your interpretations.
Have fun. After all, you are paying for the privilege to write this paper.

Essay Writing Tips

Ensure that your essay has a clearly identifiable thesis and that all your paragraphs are connected to your thesis.

A thesis is not a statement of fact, but an argument that you are making. The purpose of the research paper is for you to convince me that your argument is valid.

Make the paper manageable. Do not try to engage too many questions. Depth is better than breadth.

The essay should be well organized with one section flowing smoothly into the next.

Be specific with your evidence and your arguments. Avoid being vague and do not generalize.

Remember to engage with the secondary sources in your field and explain how your paper fits into the historiography.

Do not moralize. Remember that you may be discussing societies far removed from ours in time. Many of our values and beliefs do not apply.

Sometimes it may be necessary to delete entire paragraphs that you have already written in order to make the essay work better. Be brave and delete them-irrelevant or confused material only weakens your argument.

Why use ten words when five will do the job? Succinct and clear sentences make for the best reading.

Be wary of the run-on sentence and the sentence fragment.

Use words whose meanings you know.

If you get stuck writing the introduction, write a very rough version and clean it up at the end. By then you will have a better idea of how your essay is going to develop.

The events about which you are writing occurred in the past. Write in the past tense.

Do not use lecture notes, encyclopedia articles, or webpages as secondary sources.

Avoid the passive voice. It is a sign of lazy writing and often confuses what you are trying to say.

Do not use contractions in formal writing.

Do not use ibid and other Latin abbreviations. They are slowly going out of use.

Make sure your verbs agree with your nouns, your nouns with your pronouns and your tenses with each other.

Use footnotes and a bibliography. Do not use parenthetical citations.

Use page numbers.

Cite anything that you take from an outside source, be it a quotation or an idea.

Do not cite sources out of context. Try to use them in the spirit that they were written.

Block quotations are single-spaced and do not require quotation marks. Use them when the quotation is longer than four lines.

Proofread everything and have someone else read your writing-preferably someone who knows little about the topic.

Be creative-this does not mean make things up. Take some chances with your interpretations.

Have fun. After all, you are paying for the privilege to write this paper.