Articulate your argument clearly.
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.
Offer a roadmap and lay out your argument in the first paragraph.
Offer your analysis of the events/individuals/institutions you’re examining; don’t simply describe what happened.
Clear, thoughtful, non-obvious argument A
Acknowledgement and analysis of alternative arguments
Excellent analysis
Excellent grammar and style
Complete, properly formatted citations
Clear argument B
Leaning towards description rather than analysis
Good grammar and style
Minor problems with citations
Lack of clear argument C
Lack of adequate analysis
Problems with grammar and style
Problems with primary sources
Significant problems with citations
No argument D
Major problems with grammar and style
Major problems with primary sources (e.g. no primary sources)
Lack of any identifiable organization F
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.
Use footnotes. Footnotes provide the DNA of historical scholarship. They show your reader where you got your information.
Book (Footnote Format): Salman Rushdie, The Ground beneath Her Feet (New York: Henry Holt, 1999)
Book (Bibliography Format): Rushdie, Salman. The Ground beneath Her Feet. New York: Henry Holt, 1999.
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 all secondary accounts in addition to primary sources.
Do not cite class lectures as secondary accounts.
Divide your bibliography into primary sources and secondary accounts.
For more information on citation format, see The Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian.
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!
Pay attention to proper use of “which” and “that,” as well as “who,” “whom,” and “that.”
Review “affect” vs “effect.”
Avoid split infinitives (e.g. “to boldly go . . .”)
Be sure that verb and subject agree.
A fabulous resource on grammar and style is Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.
Spell check and proofread before you submit!
Number each page.
Include your name, the course number, and the date on page one.
Staple your paper.