HIS 119 WRITING GUIDE

Winter 2021
Campbell/Rauchway

Introduction to this guide

This guide summarizes elements of a good history essay. These elements will provide the basis
for grading your essay. In addition to supplying these elements, your essay must also follow all
appropriate conventions of writing (including correct use of spelling and grammar and
composition of clear, concise, declarative sentences using the active voice).

You would benefit from acquiring and reading carefully The Elements of Style. Pay special
attention to the discussions of rule II.13 (make the paragraph the unit of composition), II.14 (use
the active voice), II.17 (omit needless words) and section IV (words and expressions commonly
misused). Comments on your essay may refer to these rules.

Ruthlessly eliminate clichés and dead metaphors from your writing.

None of the assigned books is a novel. A novel is a book-length work of fiction. Each of the
assigned works is non-fiction.

If you have had trouble writing papers in the past, seek help. Use the Academic Assistance and
Tutoring Center, which is operating online this quarter. You pay tuition. Make the university
work for you.

But in any case, review this guide before you write your paper and then review it again after
completing your first draft. Note that this instruction prescribes more than one draft of your
paper.

1. Avoid Global Openings

Do not begin your papers with statements like: "Throughout history, people have struggled with
the question of whether a war can be good."

Instead, lead the reader immediately into your specific argument. Ideally, address the prompt
directly: "Rauchway argues the Second World War was unequivocally a good war and I
disagree."

2. Provide a Thesis Statement

Your opening paragraph must have a thesis statement presenting the main idea of your paper.
This statement should frame an argument requiring further development and evidence in the
subsequent paragraphs of your paper.

Your reader will take your thesis statement seriously. Suppose your thesis statement is: "The
early civil rights movement was unified and effective, but the later civil rights movement was
splintered and thus did not have many successes." Your reader will then expect the paper to

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demonstrate that the early civil rights movement was "unified" and explain how it was
"effective." Then the paper will also need to show how and why the later civil rights movement
splintered and achieved comparatively little.

If your paper covers either less or more than your thesis statement, your reader will suffer from
confusion. Do not confuse your reader or make them suffer.

3. Use Topic Sentences and Write Coherent Paragraphs

Begin each paragraph in your paper with a sentence indicating the scope of the paragraph and its
role in developing your argument.

For example, you may begin a paragraph, "President Diem’s inflexible pride doomed his regime."

This paragraph should then give an example of President Diem’s inflexible pride and should
follow by demonstrating how that pride caused the fall of his regime.

In contrast, a less clear paragraph on the same topic might begin with "President Diem was
doomed." A truly confusing paragraph would simply start talking about President Diem without
any indication of the paragraph’s purpose in the broader context of the paper.

Remember that each paragraph develops your overall argument. As you write, check whether the
information in each paragraph is relevant to your argument. If it is not, you may want to rewrite
your thesis, or consider whether you have gone off topic and should scrap the paragraph.

Again: please consult Strunk and White, II.13 (make the paragraph the unit of composition).

4. Write in the Past Tense

Use the past tense. You are writing about events that happened in the past. Do not write, "Fraser
sees the war in racist terms." He is dead.

5. Provide Citations

You must cite sources for information, paraphrases, and quotations in your papers. Because these
papers require the use only of in-class sources, you may simply put either ("Lecture title") if
using in-text citations or 2"Lecture title" if using footnotes. For example: "I would never say
something like that," Rauchway said ("Aquarela do Brasil"). Or, if using footnotes: "The president
of Fredonia came to power through a coup."15
15"Aquarela do Brasil."

6. Conclude Your Paper by Stating the Significance of Your Argument

The conclusion of your paper should emphasize the significance of the argument of the paper.
Do not introduce a new topic in the last paragraph. Do not repeat your introduction. You may
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want to connect your argument to contemporary debates, or you may want to emphasize how
your argument can help people to think differently about the past.

Remember: writers commonly realize what they mean to argue only by writing a first draft.
Putting ideas into words helps us understand, clearly, what we think.

When this process of reaching a revelation through writing happens to you—and it happens
more frequently than not—it means the time to re-write your paper has arrived. You must go
back and change your introduction to reflect what you have learned by composing your essay.
You may need to shift some components around. Do not despair. Whenever you read good
writing, you can be sure it has been re-written, often extensively.

Drafts make good papers. Write a draft, then take a break. Walk around. Talk to a friend. Then
return and re-write your paper.

Checklist for Editing Your Draft

When you have written your first draft, review the following points:

• Do you have an introduction that explains the scope of the paper, its structure
and its argument—an argument that responds to the prompt?
• Does each paragraph refer to a coherent issue and is it supported with evidence?
• Have you put your paragraphs in the best order to allow the reader to follow your
argument as you develop it?
• Does your conclusion indicate how your paper connects to important issues in
American history?
• Have you cited the source of your information, ideas, paraphrases and quotations?

Once you have amended your draft so that you can give an affirmative answer to all these
questions, you may have a version of your paper that is ready to upload.

Checklist Before Uploading to Canvas

Before you upload your paper, check it one more time.

• Proofread for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar

• Ensure you have numbered the pages at the top right, except the first page
• Put your name, date, and a title for the paper indicating your particular argument at the
upper left of the first page

Then you can upload to Canvas.