General assignment considerations
- Do you understand the question? Before starting, 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 United States today? (Evaluate Machiavelli's ideas in light of current practices. This requires the ability to analyze and then compare.)
- If you are confused or not sure, ask your instructor.
- 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 assigned book or document, focus on answering the assigned question; your paper is not a summary of everything in the book or document.
Paper essentials
Your paper assignment must follow this format:
- name, and only your name, at the top left of the paper
- brief introduction (not to exceed three lines); the introduction must directly respond to the assignment question and identify your analysis/thesis points.
- brief conclusion (not to exceed three lines)
- font size 10 or 12 only
- one-inch margins
- double-spaced
- page number citations for your quoted evidence. The use of evidence is absolutely crucial. Usually you should include two to three relatively short quotes per paragraph. Make sure that the quoted material that you use is relevant to the point that you are making in the paragraph.
- Proper paragraph structure? For a one-page paper, that means either four or five distinct paragraphs, each of your analysis/thesis points should have its own paragraph.
- not to exceed one (1) page (There are some papers which have a two- or three-page limit. Follow the instructions.)
Paragraph essentials
Your paragraph assignment must follow this format:
- name, and only your name, at the top left
- one-half to three-quarters page in length (never to be one page or longer)
- double-spaced
- one-inch margins
- font size 10 or 12
- contain a concise introductory topic sentence (sentence 1) that directly responds to the assigned question (no need to define terms or cite a dictionary) and establishes the points of your paragraph in reference to the assignment prompt
- direct, quoted material to support your points
- Your last sentence should be a conclusion.
Remember
- Have you followed these keys to success?
- 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
Recommendations
Almost all of your written assignments in your history course are formal, written assignments. Here are some style rules to help you write in a formal, analytical manner. Yes, historians do have to observe these!
- Style:
- No present-tense verbs (use "ran" not "run"). Since you are writing about the past, you should use the past tense in your writing.
- No passive voice verbs ("read the book" not "the book was read")
- No first- or second-person personal pronouns (I, we, you). Only assignments that you may use "I" are the introduction and reflective assignments.
- No contractions (couldn't)
- Correct spelling
- Correct use of pronouns and their antecedents (Avoid use of the dreaded "it.")
- Proper capitalization
- Parenthetical citation (Note that if you are using an electronic version of a book, please check with your instructor about how to cite. One option is to cite the location of the quoted material.)
- Proper use of the possessive (their not there's)
- No figurative language (That's complicated!)
- Correct format (double-spaced, one-inch margins)
- Here are some additional resources:
- The online Guide to Grammar and Writing
- Handouts from the University of North Carolina's writing center
- Dr. Diane Thompson's Grammar and Editing Help