Here are some features of the sample essays to which I would draw your attention:
Overall writing style
Note that the language is very straightforward in terms of making a point. The author uses declarative sentences, meaning there are no sentences that are questions or commands. It is best in history papers to make your point in as direct a way as possible and lead the reader step by step through your paper. This is not the kind of writing where you ask the reader to imagine things or ask the reader to come to his or her own conclusions.
You should leave out any language that weakens or delays the argument and evidence that you are presenting. For example, for this kind of paper you should NOT use preview language in the opening part of the paper the way you may do for other courses. Do not write, “in this paper, I will discuss….” Instead, just make your case directly.
A good example of this style is the textbook itself. Notice that the main textbook text never addresses you, the reader, it never uses a question/answer format, and it never says “in this chapter we will explore….” It just gets straight to the things it wants to say. (The text does not necessarily use thesis statements, like you should, but the style is very direct and does not waste your time with unnecessary fluff.)
Formal Writing
This assignment calls for formal academic writing, which is of course different from everyday speaking or writing. It calls for language that is generally more specific, complex, varied, nuanced, and grammatically correct than the usual e-mail or texting. It is even different from the kind of language you might use for a formal speech. This may even be very different from other sorts of writing you have done in other courses, even other college-level courses. It is different from the language I am using when writing this very sentence, and not quite the same as when I send you instructor e-mail. Some common principles in formal writing.
Use impersonal, objective language.
(Complete objectivity is not possible, but there are some approaches that come much closer than others. Using personalized language takes you further from objectivity rather than closer to it.) Present your argument as an argument on its own merits. Just put it out there by writing it. Do not make it a personal statement by using “I” or “me.” Any attention you draw to yourself in the paper detracts from the paper’s mission. Appeal to the reader’s common sense and rational judgment and not his or her feelings or psychological state. This paper is not meant to be a therapeutic growth experience for you or an exploration of your psyche. There is no place in this assignment, not even in the conclusion, to express pure emotion. Whether your thesis is accurate or not has nothing to do with how strongly or weakly you feel about anything.
Do NOT waste space in the paper telling the reader how much anger and sadness you feel over imperialism or misogyny, for example, nor waste time reassuring the reader that you have the most up-to-date politically correct sentiments about gender roles, the environment, or American politics. I will most likely agree with you and sympathize and say “right on!” with my fist in the air, but that does not mean those statements are appropriate for the assignment. You task in this assignment is to appeal to the reader’s rational judgment, not to persuade with emotional or moral appeals.
Use third person only.
Do NOT use any first or second person constructions, because that makes the language too personal. This means none of the following words: I, me, my, mine, we, our, us, ours, you, your, yours. On a related point, do NOT use language that presumes any nationality or location for your reader. For example, do not say “this country” if what you mean is “the United States currently,” and do not say “we Americans” if what you mean is “people living in the U.S. today.” You can assume your reader understands English, but you should not assume any specific citizenship or individual commonality beyond that.
Use formal vocabulary.
Do not use colloquialisms like slang or text jargon. The word “okay” is not acceptable in formal academic writing. The word “so” is not the same as the word “very.” It is better to use complete words and not abbreviations nor contractions. Better to say “cannot” instead of “can’t,” “would not” instead of “wouldn’t,” etc.
Use specific and meaningful words.
For example, the word “interesting” is virtually useless – saying something “is interesting” says virtually nothing, about like saying something “is nice.” Is it interesting because it is surprising or contradictory or unexpected or convincing or…? Also for example, anytime you describe something as “good” or “unjustified” you must include the basis for your interpretation – good in the sense of what value, or unjustified in light of what requirement.
Argument and Evidence
In academic writing, “argument” just means the point that the writer is trying to get across. It does not mean “argument” in the sense of bickering or trying to beat someone or being contrary just to be a jerk. The writer has an interpretation, explanation, or theory that he or she is presenting. In a history paper, the central argument is the thesis of your paper. The thesis is a sentence or two that is the main point that your paper is out to show. Everything in the paper should be there to support the thesis or make it more understandable or make it more useful for understanding related topics.
Notice that in these papers the thesis sentences are at the end of the first paragraph. The first paragraph is really a lead-up to the thesis. It takes the reader from a general topic but then as it goes along it gets more specific about what the paper talks about.
All the body paragraphs support the thesis. The main body paragraphs are sub-arguments of the thesis or are examples of things that the thesis argues. ALL the information in the main body of the paper should have some clear link to the paper’s argument. All the body sentences should be there as evidence, examples, or details that help your interpretation of the evidence. This means that not all background is created equal, and not all facts are equally important.
This paper is not meant to be structured as a narrative. If you write this paper as a nonfiction story, starting at a particular point and then narrating in a chronological order until you reach five pages, you will not have addressed the assignment. Instead, this is meant to be an argument-driven paper, usually organized around themes. There may be parts of the paper where there is a bit of narrative or description of some change over time, but only in service to making your paper’s thesis work. In this way, the textbook is actually NOT a very good example of the structure for your paper, since the textbook is basically an historical narrative with some thematic elements but without a clear thesis.
One common question you will probably ask yourself while writing this paper is “Should I include this in the paper or leave it out?” The basic rule is that you should only have facts or background in the paper that helps you make your point. If it is a tangent or just “sets the scene” for the reader then you should leave it out. There should be nothing in your paper that is “just background” unconnected to the thesis. (For example, if it does not matter to your paper’s thesis what year Kipling was born, then there is no need to put it in the paper.)
Title and General Presentation
Your paper should have a title that is specific to your particular topic and/or your particular approach. It should be specific enough to give a glimpse into the things that make your paper different from others that may be written on similar subjects. Generally, the shorter and more specific the paper, the longer the title will be. The title “World War One” is completely inappropriate for a 4-5 page paper because such a broad title is absurd for such a short paper. The title “Paper 1” is also unacceptable for this assignment. Give some real thought to the title. I recommend composing a title as the LAST stage of paper writing instead of the first thing you write.
The sentences are in paragraph form, double-spaced, with reasonable margins and font. There is nothing in these papers that suggests this writer is padding the text to make the paper look bigger. Avoid anything that gives the impression that you are trying to stretch a paper to look bigger, for example illustrations, large font, triple spacing, big margins, or courier font.
Indent the first line of every paragraph, and do not have an extra space between paragraphs. This may be different from what is required from you in other situations.
Citations
The proper citation format for most history papers is the Chicago/Turabian style, which has a quite distinctive footnote structure. Different subjects use different kinds of citation formats, and each style has its own benefits and drawbacks in different situations. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with using footnotes. Using the MLA format will not be sufficient for this assignment, no matter how universal you have been led to believe that it is or should be. If you have never used footnotes before, the good news is that it is not nearly as tricky as it looks at first. However foreign it looks now, you can learn all you need to know in five minutes.
Nuts and Bolts
The mechanics of making footnotes is generally simple. Depending on the software you are using, there is usually a “References” and/or “Insert” tab at the top the window and then an “insert footnote/endnote” place to click. The software does the numbering for you. All you have to do is type in the information about the source you are using. You can switch back and forth between working in the footnote window and the main text.
The footnote number refers to the point in your paper where you want to cite a source. Footnote number 1 just means “the first place in my paper where I’ve stuck a citation.” Footnote number 2 just means “the second place in my paper where I’ve stuck a citation.” The number does NOT refer to “Book Number 1” or anything like that. For this paper assignment, you will likely have the same footnote information repeated again and again, the textbook in citation, in footnote after footnote. You may also have more than one source listed in the same footnote. Furthermore, though it’s rarer nowadays, you may even include some of your own useful scholarly comments in the footnotes, in what are called “discursive footnotes.” Mary Roach uses these to somewhat comedic effect in her most recent books. Don’t use footnotes to crack jokes; I was just using her writing as a general example.
A “footnote” is not the same thing as a “footer.” That is a completely different animal.
Notice that the footnote number goes outside any punctuation, including any punctuation marks. When the footnote is at the end of a sentence, the number is the LAST thing in the sentence, after all words and punctuation, and there are no spaces between the number and the sentence. You can think of the footnote number as sticking to the end of the sentence like toilet paper to the bottom of your shoe or a remora on a shark.
Make sure that the footnote is complete in its information. In the case of a book, it must give the full name of the author, full title of the book (including sub-title and volume), place of publication, publisher, year, and page number. Note that the footnote information is listed a little differently than the bibliographic entry or the MLA Works Cited entry. For example, the footnote should use the author’s first name first instead of last name first, and the items in the footnote are generally separated by a comma and not a period.
Why and When
The function of a citation like a footnote is to tell the reader, “here’s where I got this information,” or “if you want to follow up by doing some of your own research, here’s a place to go.” It is not primarily to keep you from getting in trouble for stealing, but that is certainly a valid concern.
The big rule is that you must have a footnote for ANYTHING in the paper that you got from another source besides your own firsthand experience. Any time you bring in a fact or a quote from a book, for example, there must be a footnote. This goes for BOTH PARAPHRASED AND QUOTED INFORMATION. If you got an idea from a book and then put it in your own words, it STILL must get a footnote. Footnotes are not only for quotes. If I could think of a fourth way of restating the same point, I would include it here as well.
Every statistic you use must get a footnote, unless you did the calculations yourself from your own primary source research. Every time you write about what someone was thinking, you must use a footnote. Every time you repeat or summarize what a document said, you must use a footnote.
Anything that is your own interpretation or your own construction does not need a footnote. Anything that is considered “general knowledge,” such as the fact that Mexico is south of the U.S. or that the Earth is the third planet in the solar system is also exempt from citations. If you are in any doubt about how common the knowledge is, use a citation. There is NO penalty for having too many footnotes nor for having a citation when you don’t need one.
If you turn in a paper with no citations, you are saying that everything in your paper comes strictly from your own imagination and you relied on no reading of any kind from any documents whatsoever, which means you did not actually do the assignment. A paper with no citations means that the information in it comes completely from your own head and no one else’s. If it is a citation-free paper on the Taiping Rebellion, you are saying that you were actually there to see it happen and experienced firsthand everything mentioned in the paper, in which case I would love to interview you immediately, because I have all sorts of pressing questions and as someone who must be close to 200 years old you may not have much time left.
How many footnotes should there be? There is no specific minimum per page, but there is some logic that can guide you. The main body of the paper should be using information from the primary sources and the main text in the textbook. Probably ever paragraph between the intro and conclusion will be using information that will require a footnote, and the closer you stick to what the documents say, the more citations you may require, so you are looking at a bare minimum of one per paragraph. This most commonly works out to 2-3 footnotes per page as a rough average.
One useful option is to use a footnote at the end of a paragraph instead of sentence by sentence within the paragraph. You can wait until the end of the paragraph, insert a footnote, and then list all the sources used in that paragraph. This can help ease any clutter you might feel with five footnoted sentences in a row, for example.