IAFS 4500

How to Do Well on Papers in this Class

Content and Organization
Articulate your argument clearly.

Explain the significance of your topic—answer the “so what?” question.

Offer a roadmap and lay out your argument in the first paragraph.

Summarize the issue’s background, relying on scholarly (i.e. peer-reviewed) accounts.

Offer your analysis of the events/individuals/institutions you’re examining; don’t simply describe what happened.

Make sure your argument is not obvious, i.e. that another observer looking at the same evidence could argue a different case.  Acknowledge these alternative arguments and demonstrate why your interpretation fits the facts best.

Grammar and Style (Avoiding Common Problems)
Double space your paper.

Write for an intelligent Martian.  Don’t assume your reader has any background information.

Be sure that verb and subject agree.

Avoid passive tense (e.g. not “the paper was written” but “I wrote the paper”).

Shun repetition.  Think of another word to use rather than repeating the same word or phrase.

Specify what “this” is (e.g. not “this angered Churchill” but “this policy angered Churchill”).  Your writing will be stronger as a result!

Be attentive to value-laden terminology and consider whether a neutral term is more appropriate (e.g. avoid the word “natives” in favor of “indigenous peoples,” don’t refer to nations in gendered terms)

Pay attention to proper use of “which” and “that,” as well as “who,” “whom,” and “that.”

Review “affect” vs “effect.”

For a superb resource on grammar and style, see Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, which contains classic writing advice like “Omit needless words.”

Writing Tips
Outline your paper in order to lay out how each point of evidence relates to your argument.  Incorporate this clear progression into your final paper.

Form an editing group with other students.  Read each others’ papers for content and for grammar; give each other feedback.

Visit a writing tutor.

Final Steps
Spell check and proofread before you submit!

Number each page.

Include your name, the course number, and the date on the first page.

Staple your paper.

Citation
You may use parenthetic citation, if you are familiar with its proper use.  Otherwise, use footnotes (rather than endnotes).  Citations, whether parenthetic or footnotes, provide the DNA of scholarship.  They show your reader where you got your information.

Provide a full bibliography in addition to your parenthetic or footnote citations.

Book (Footnote Format): Salman Rushdie, The Ground beneath Her Feet (New York: Henry Holt, 1999): 83.

Book (Bibliography Format): Rushdie, Salman.  The Ground beneath Her Feet.  New York: Henry Holt, 1999. [pages normally not cited in bibliography]

Article (Footnote Format): Judith Lewis, “‘‘Tis a Misfortune to Be a Great Ladie’: Maternal Mortality in the British Aristocracy, 1558-1959,” Journal of British Studies 37 (1998): 45.

Article (Bibliography Format): Lewis, Judith.  “‘‘Tis a Misfortune to Be a Great Ladie’: Maternal Mortality in the British Aristocracy, 1558-1959.” Journal of British Studies 37 (1998): 26-53.

Public Document Online (Footnote Format): U.S. Census Bureau, “Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin, 1987 to 1999,” Health Insurance Historical Table 1, 2000, http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/historic/hihist1/html (accessed June 29, 2003).

Public Document Online (Bibliography Format): U.S. Census Bureau.  “Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin, 1987 to 1999.”  Health Insurance Historical Table 1, 2000.  http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/historic/hihist1/html (accessed June 29, 2003).

Cite everything you quote, everything you paraphrase, and every idea that is derived from someone else’s work.

Do not cite class lectures as secondary accounts.

For more information on citation format, see The Chicago Manual of Style.