Town of Hull - ALL STUDENTS-10 Tips for Writing Essays, Research Papers, and DBQs

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ALL STUDENTS-10 Tips for Writing Essays, Research Papers, and DBQs

ALL HISTORY CLASSES

10 Tips for Writing Research Papers, Essays and DBQs

1. Read your work aloud-does it make sense to you as written? Is it convoluted? If so, rewrite it!
2. Thesis-other than citing evidence, this the most important part of the essay. If you have no thesis to join it all together—you will fail the essay.

Examples: “The Native Americans were changed by their encounters with Europeans” OR “Native American cultures were similar because of economic, social, and political reasons”

The above thesis statements are what I like to call “duh statements” because they are obvious to anyone who reads history. A thesis is a very specific proof statement (something you have to prove with evidence) that is detailed.

Example: Native Americans were changed by their encounters with European settlers in significant ways originating from their physical devastation by disease, new economic ties and systems of organization—namely trade, and their adoption and sharing of culture with the Europeans.

3. Writing Style-don’t use slang, common expressions, vague language (no stuff, a lot, kind of…)

Example: “The document says..”-If the document actually talked to you—you should probably go get checked out by the doctor—instead try this:

Example: “The Native Americans had urbanism”-This is ok, but not specific enough. Use your thesaurus to provide words that may be more specific such as: “The Native Americans developed an urban culture” …Word of warning: Don’t use words from the thesaurus that you don’t know—this has unintended consequences and is never positive.
Example: WHAT NOT TO DO: “Over time Native Americans have portrayed a variety of ways society was run and followed a strict culture to keep it moving forward ”-HUH? I really don’t know what this means at all…Can I phone a friend?

4. Citing Evidence-this is a MUST! You can’t rely solely on same vague mesh of the facts of history. USE THE DOCUMENTS-if not, you will fail the essay.

Use a variety of available evidence to support your thesis. If available, use both qualitative data (comments, written words such as those found in laws and diary entries) and quantitative data (numbers such as those found in economic graphs, timetables, and slave registries)
Cite your evidence appropriately using footnotes-See the Research Paper Writing Handbook.

5. Speculative Language MUST be avoided—don’t make claims or all-encompassing expressions when you really don’t understand the entire historical process.

For example, “the easiest thing to do was to buy slaves”-Really? Could everyone afford to do this?
Example 2: “The Europeans succeeded over the Native Americans because the natives simply did not know better”-YIKES! Be careful, not only is this incredibly offensive, but you are making claims about the intellectual capabilities of an entire population…This calls into question your ability to critically analyze the documents. In other words, you are thinking far too simply and dismissively about what the documents mean.

6. Use Spell Check, Grammar Check, etc.-Remember that these tools don’t catch everything, but they are helpful. Additionally, read your work aloud. Many of you are making mistakes that are far beneath you as students and writers. I interpret this as laziness—if you’ve stared at it too long, you must give it to someone else to read!
7. DO NOT use passive voice or conjunctions in formal writing- Using passive voice (when the subject of your sentence does not actually “do” the work of the verb, but instead the object is the focus of the action) makes for confusing, overly-wordy writing...it simply is the work of a lazy mind. If you start writing like this, take a break because chances are..you’re tired.

Example: “The Native Americans battle to resist the invasions by the Europeans was not helped with the epidemics that were brought over seas.

Rewriting: Epidemic disease, such as smallpox and influenza, traveled with the Europeans making it difficult for Native Americans to mount concentrated and effective resistance movements over time.

Contractions: These are not acceptable in formal writing. Instead of: can’t won’t shouldn’t, etc..Write them out: cannot, would not, and should not.

8. Organization and Transitions-What you write makes perfect sense to you because it is your product. But, not everyone (including me) is going to be able to understand why you have chosen to organize your thoughts in a specific way. Be sure that you use transition sentences to move from one point to another and to make your essay cohesive. Follow the following basic format:

Introduction-historical background information on your topic, thesis statement, and transition.
Body Paragraph1-Prove the 1^st point in your thesis-use evidence!
Body Paragraph 2-Prove the 2^nd point in your thesis-use evidence!
Body Paragraph3-Prove the 3^rd point in your thesis-use evidence!
B. Conclusion-wrap it up, but don’t restate your thesis exactly—add to the discussion by pointing the research in a new direction

9. Don’t write like you are a talk show host-Even though you may have dreams of being the next Oprah—don’t write a formal historical analysis as though you are interviewing Tom Cruise about his latest movie. This type of writing is appropriate for some types of creative writing (writing dialogue, for example)…but should never be used in historical analysis.

Example: “And now we will take a look at the next important aspect of Native American culture”
Try this instead: Another important aspect of Native American culture is the longhouse method of political organization.

10. Think differently about the topic and the thesis-if you spend time with the materials, you can develop a thesis and an interpretation of the evidence that may differ greatly from all other opinions on the matter…This is exciting and shows that you know how to think deeply and critically about the materials, just be sure you can prove it with concrete evidence.