History Homework on Black Death in Europe

Tips and Guidelines for Term Papers in History

Source: Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing About History, New York: Harper Collins, 1995

A. General Observations

1. The historical essay has an argument.

2. The good historical essay has a sharply focused and limited topic.

3. Good papers use primary sources.

4. Get to the point quickly.

5. Build the paper step by step on evidence.

6. Document all sources.

7. Historical essays are written dispassionately, from the perspective of a detached, objective observer.

8. A good paper includes original thoughts of the author.

9. An honest argument takes contrary evidence into account.

10. Use Standard English and observe the common conventions of writing.

11. First and last paragraphs should mirror each other.

B. Argument

1. State your argument quickly and concisely, as early as possible in the paper.

2. When making an assertion, provide examples as evidence.

3. Give fair treatment to points of view different from your own.

4. Admit weaknesses in your own argument or acknowledge facts that potential opponents might use to dispute your findings.

5. Avoid too much detail, otherwise your argument might become submerged.

C. Critical Use of Sources

1. Identify crucial information to answer the following questions:

1.1. Who are the actors/heroes?

1.2. What exactly happened?

1.3. When did it happen?

1.4. Where did it happen?

1.5. Why did it happen, and what is its significance?

1.5.1. Distinguish between precipitating and background causes.

1.5.2. Remember that historical causation is complex.

1.5.3. Be cautious in your judgments.

2. When using primary sources, be sure to situate them in their historical context. Answer the following questions:

2.1. Who wrote it?

2.2. When was it written?

2.3. Where was it written?

2.4. For whom was it written?

2.5. What does it say?

2.6. What does it mean?

2.7. What can we infer?

D. References

1. Use footnotes whenever you quote directly from a source.

2. Acknowledge in a footnote any paraphrase or summary of a source.

3. Acknowledge in a footnote important ideas that are not your own.

4. Do not reference common knowledge, expressions, or allusions.

5. Footnotes include the essential bibliographical information about of the source, i.e. author, title, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, and the number of the page from which the reference was made. Sample:

William F. Nimmo, Japan and Russia A Reevaluation in the Post-Soviet Era (Greenwood, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994), 12

6. When citing a book or article the second time, it is sufficient to indicate the author’s last name (and a short version of the title, if you using several books by the same author) and the page number. E.g.: Nimmo, 134

7. When quoting from the same source more than once in a row, you may use “ibid.” instead of the above. Note that “ibid.” refers only to the note immediately preceding the current one, therefore you must use the author/short title formula when referring to works other than the one indicated in the immediately preceding note.

E. Bibliography

Provide a bibliography listing all sources you have used for your paper in alphabetical order. Note that the form of a bibliographical entry is slightly different from that of a footnote.

Nimmo, William F. Japan and Russia. A Reevaluation in the Post-Soviet Era. Greenwod, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.