Listen to some more information about these
guidelines and about the writing style rules
as a mp3 file. You can also read the information as a
txt file.
General paper considerations
-
Do you understand the question? Before starting to write your paper, check the exact wording of
the assignment and make sure that you understand whether the assigned question
requires analysis, description,
narration, explanation or evaluation? (These are all different.) For example:
-
How did Dickens describe conditions
in Coketown? (Description)
-
What happened to Gilgamesh after
he met Enkidu? (Narration of a sequence of events.)
-
Why did Gilgamesh search for
immortality? (Analysis; offer possible explanations, with support,
for why something happened.)
-
How did the Industrial Revolution
affect Coketown? (Analysis of the effects of factories on the
inhabitants of the town.)
-
Are Machiavelli's arguments
about politics still applicable to the Unites States today? (Evaluate Machiavelli's
ideas in light of current practices. This requires
the ability to analyze and then compare.)
-
Have you read the required book or document? Do
you have notes to help compose your paper (with appropriate page number
locations to help you locate quoted evidence)? When you read the book or document,
focus on answering the assigned question only;
your paper is not a summary of everything in the book or document.
Paper essentials (Follow these if you want a good grade!)
-
Does your paper have proper paragraph structure?
- Does your paper have a
distinct introduction, body of paragraphs (each with a proper topic sentence) and conclusion?
- Your
introduction should not exceed two-three sentences and should not
include quoted or cited material; just provide the points that you will
make in your paper. Your conclusion should also not exceed
two-three lines, and it should sum up your paper (not introduce new
evidence).
- Is your introduction clear and relevant to the assigned
question? Does your thesis answer the specific assigned
question?
- Does each paragraph in your paper begin with a topic
sentence that is relevant to your thesis and that reflects the exact wording of your
introduction?
-
Did you include (and properly cite) quoted evidence
from the assigned reading to support your
thesis? This use of evidence is absolutely crucial and usually means that
you should include two to three relatively short quotes per paragraph or analytical point. Make sure that the
quoted material that you use is relevant to the point that you are making in the
paragraph.
Remember
-
Have you followed these keys to success?
- Avoid repetition.
- Make sure that each statement/sentence is absolutely relevant
to the assigned question. (In a one-page paper, you cannot afford to have non-relevant
material.)
- Word choice and selection must be very accurate
in a short paper. (Do not waste space with meaningless words.)
- No quoted excerpts in either your introduction or conclusion
- No present tense verbs.
- Did you follow the Writing Style
Rules for writing in this course? If you need to, please check the other support materials in
Charlie's History Writing Center.
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