PROF. LA VERE’S HISTORY WRITING GUIDELINES
The
ability to clearly express complex ideas through writing is essential to success
in any and every career. One way to become a better writer is to write. Just
like practicing the guitar, the more you do the better you get. So I make you
write in this class. Please follow these instructions when write for this and
other history classes.
In history classes you will more than likely be writing research papers or book reviews. No matter which, some things are common to just about all history papers. All papers should be typed, doubled-spaced, with a 1" margin all around and your name, class, and date at the top left. Use 12-point type, preferably Courier New (that’s what this syllabus is in, though it is 10-point type) or Times Roman typestyles. You can set all these things on your computer. Other commonalities: page numbers (top right corner); title of paper (center on first page); use past tense (after all, history happened in the past); write in the active voice: (active voice: Mary wrote the paper; passive voice: The paper was written by Mary.); staple you papers at the top left corner (we don’t want anything lost);
Footnotes/Endnotes, and Bibliography. All research
papers and some book reviews require you to provide information. Information
does not just come out of the air or appear magically in your head, but comes
from books, articles, journals, letters, and a host of other sources. Anytime
you provide information, whether it be the population of a country, the date of
someone’s birth, the outcome of a battle, or complex ideas or models, they all
must come from some source(s). It is important for you to provide the reader
with where you got that information. You provide this information, what we call citations,
in either footnotes (citations placed at the bottom of the page) and endnotes
(citations placed at the end of the paper). So essentially, every sentence of
your paper could, theoretically, have a citation attached to. But rather than
cluttering up your words and sentences with numerous footnote numbers, you can
group all your citations that you used to make any given paragraph all together
and put them under a single footnote number which is then placed at the end of
that paragraph. A good rule of thumb: Every paragraph of a paper should
have at least one citation inside a footnote placed at the end of the paragraph.
Your computer can easily make and format footnotes or endnotes for you, but you
still have to put in the correct information. The exception to this is quotes
– all quotes have a footnote giving its citation immediately after the
quote.
When you use footnotes or endnotes, use Arabic numerals, which
progress numerically higher and higher, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4. . .
No number is ever used twice. Don’t use any other symbols other than
Arabic numbers. Never use parenthetical notations (that’s MLA style)
like they do in the English Department or Anthropology Department.
Here are some footnote examples. Notice that when you give a source the
first time, you give a complete citation. When you use it after that, you use a
shortened version. Page numbers in footnotes are essential. Notice that titles
of books and journals are italicized, and that when you use journal articles,
you give the volume numbers, the month and year it was published, and then the
page number.
1
David La Vere, Contrary Neighbors:
Southern Plains and Removed Indians in Indian Territory (Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press, 2000), 21-23; Michael Leroy Oberg, “Gods and Men: The
Meeting of Indians and White Worlds on the Carolina Outer Banks, 1584-1586” North
Carolina Historical Review 76 (October 1999): 375.
2
La Vere, Contrary Neighbors, 44.
3
Oberg, “Gods and Men,” 380; Daniel Usner, Indians in the Lower
Mississippi Valley (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 404.
Bibliography.
All history research papers use a Bibliography or Works Cited. This is basically
a list at the end of the paper giving all the sources you actually cited
in your footnotes/endnotes. Remember, just those you used, don’t
include those you looked at but did not cite in your paper. A bibliography is
set up just a little different from footnotes. In a Bibliography, you don’t
number your sources, just list them alphabetically by the author’s last name.
All lines after the first are indented. Books page numbers are not used, but you
must put in the page number sequence for articles. Here is an example:
La Vere, David. Contrary Neighbors:
Southern Plains and Removed Indians in Indian Territory. Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press, 2000.
Oberg, Michael Leroy. “Gods and Men: The
Meeting of Indians and White Worlds on the Carolina Outer Banks, 1584-1586” North
Carolina Historical Review 76 (October 1999): 367-90.
Usner, Daniel. Indians in the Lower
Mississippi Valley. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
There is a style for writing history papers. Never use First or Second Person pronouns, such as “I,” “You,” “We,” “Our,” “Us,” etc.. Always use Third Person: He, She, It, etc. Never use contractions: “can’t,” “won’t,” “wouldn’t,” etc. Spell out everything. Always write in the Past Tense. This is history, so just about everything happened in the past.
No Quotes. For my class, I prefer that you do not use quotes. Quotes are often used as crutches, saying what you should be saying in your own words. Often I get these huge half page quotes. So just don’t use them for my class.
In virtually every history research paper, you’ll have to provide an argument or thesis. That means you’re trying to prove something. If you’re writing a paper to prove that Space aliens built the pyramids, the “aliens built the pyramids” would be your thesis or argument. If you believed that Ronald Reagan was responsible for the fall of communism, then that would be your thesis. The best way to arrive at a thesis or clarify your argument is to answer the question “I argue that. . .” Once you can answer what you argue, then you’ve got your thesis. It’s also the best way to find out an author’s argument in a book. Ask yourself, “The author argues. . .” and when you can answer it, then you’ve got it. Remember, it tells you what the author is arguing, not “what the books is about.” That’s two different things.
Sometimes you might have to write a book review. This is different from a book report in that in a review, you are trying to find the author’s argument/thesis and then explain to the reader how the author backs up his or her thesis (or if they successfully do so). If the author’s thesis is Space Aliens built the pyramids, then what sources does he/she give to prove this? Are they good sources? Does the author make his/her case? See what I mean? In a book review, don’t give a chapter-by-chapter description of the book. Don’t tell me “what the book is about” nor “what the author does,” but tell me what his or her argument is and then how he/she backs it up. You can find examples of book reviews
Writing Research Papers. You must find good sources to back up your facts. This means spending time in the library. You should take notes. Be sure to document where you got your information.
Writing Book Review. You must read the book. Then you must find the author's argument (see above). You must write within the limits given.
GRADING OF PAPERS: For research papers, I grade on grammar, spelling, historical accuracy, creativity, your thesis, bibliography, footnotes, and ability to follow instructions. For book reviews, I grade on grammar, spelling, have you found the author's thesis, ability to explain how he/she backs up the thesis, your insights, and ability to follow instructions.
If you need help with your writing, please see me or go to the Writing
Place in Randall Library or call ext. 7155.