Seven Rules for Persuasive Writing in History

Unless you are a super famous, incredibly respected historian who has
published multiple books, you should follow all these rules.
1. Avoid frst person.
You are forbidden to use any of the following words/phrases in formal writing
(including in-class assessments and short-answer):
I My In my opinion I think I will proe !his paragraph/essay will
proe
2. Write in the past-tense. ***
"nless you are #uoting someone$ all your erbs should be in past-tense% !his
is &I'!()Yit already happened*
3. se!e"plain vo#a$ulary %hen possi$le!appropriate.
+on,t go out of your way to shoe in fancy but unrelated words% &oweer$
when it makes sense$ use ocab words or terms from the unit or our -word
wall. which are more speci/c$ sophisticated$ and clear than ague
descriptions%
&. Avoid '(n #on#lusion)*
This. Is. The. Worst. Try to break the habit! Also avoid: rstly, secondly, to
summari!e, etc.,
+. ,o not use generali-ations.
0ot only are generali1ations inaccurate (and often o2ensie or ignoring other
groups/beliefs) but they are 3ust bad history% If$ -pretty much eeryone died
in the 4lack 5lague$. or -eeryone supported democracy$. there would neer
be con6ict or progress and$ thus$ there wouldn,t be much point in studying
history%
.. /ut out '0a-y* %ords.
!his is a good rule for all writing$ also known as /ller words% 'ee the poster in
Ms% 7it1,s room for a longer list but popular o2enders include: good$ bad$
important$ hard$ basically$ huge$ really$ stu2$ positie$ negatie$ main idea$
things$ interesting$ more or less$ etc%
1. Avoid #li#hes.
"""In #n$lish class you typically write in the present tense. %ther than this rule
&since 'istory is past tense(, all of these rules usually apply to #n$lish papers as
well as 'istory papers.
!his is another good rule for all writing% 8liches might seem like they,re
adding drama or creating a tone$ but they,re actually disrupting the 6ow of
writing% I cringe eerytime I read$ -set o2 a spark$. and then I,e lost my
place% 9dditionally$ cliches preent you from stretching yourself to
speci/cally e:plain things in your own oice%
"""In #n$lish class you typically write in the present tense. %ther than this rule
&since 'istory is past tense(, all of these rules usually apply to #n$lish papers as
well as 'istory papers.