Guide to Writing History Papers Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

You need to know a lot of things when preparing your paper for a history course. I have prepared extensive online guides for you, and there are a great many published books and websites that offer help. It is not comprehensive, but will help you avoid the costliest paper writing mistakes, and point the way toward further resources. Formatting basics:

    your paper should have a title page, on which appears the title of the paper, your name, the course number, the professor's name, and the date.
footnote citations: each time you quote a work by another author, or use the ideas of another author, you should indicate the source with a footnote. A footnote is indicated in the text of your paper by a small arabic numeral written in superscript, directly following the borrowed material.

Each new footnote gets a new number increment by one do not repeat a footnote number you've already used, even if the earlier reference is to the same work. The number refers to a note number at the bottom of the page or following the text of the paper, if you are using endnotes. This note contains the citation information for the materials you are referencing. The writing guides listed later in this guide will show you how to cite sources using chicago style. Citation formats: while there are standard principles for citing different kinds of sources, each requires its own unique citation format.

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Your style manuals rampolla and turabian explain the differences in these formats. Also, chicago style requires one way of citing sources in footnotes, and another way for citing sources in your bibliography. A bibliography is a list of sources you consulted in your research, which appears at the end of your paper. Consult your style manuals rampolla and turabian for the differences in citation formats, and pay close attention to the way you format footnotes and bibliographies in your paper. Quoting sources in your paper: most often, you should paraphrase materials from other authors, making sure to cite your sources with a footnote. Sometimes, when the original words of another seem particularly poignant or important, you will want to present those words directly to your reader.

There are many rules of quoting material, which can be found in the resources listed at the end of this sheet. Here are some basic rules to get you started:

    when quoting others, any words of another author are placed between double quotation marks, exactly as they appear in the original. Pay close attention to the grammar and syntax of sentences with quotations in them. Just because you are quoting someone does not mean that the standard rules of writing cease to apply. In order to check this, imagine the sentence without the quotation marks if it is not grammatically correct without quotation marks, it will not be grammatically correct with them.

    Pay close attention to what your style manuals have to say regarding punctuation in your quotations. Footnotes go after the quotation, and are usually followed by no other punctuation. Avoid at all costs the use of brackets to insert clarifying material into your quotations. Instead, simply construct the sentence so that brackets are unnecessary, or consider paraphrasing the material rather than quoting it.

avoiding plagiarism: the best way to avoid unintentional plagiarism is to take complete and accurate notes, and to cite your sources properly.

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When taking notes, clearly indicate whether you are paraphrasing a source or quoting it directly. Be sure to include a complete bibliographic citation of the source, so you can create an accurate footnote later. When writing, include a footnote citation for every idea or quotation you use from another author. Contains much concise, useful advice, including a guide to chicago style citations. Kate turabian, a manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations. Comprehensive presentation of chicago style citation formats as well as other styles.

online guides for citing sources:

    research and documentation online online guide from bedford/st. Martin's press lt a brief citation guide for internet sources in history and the humanities lt online! from bedford's/st. Martin's press for electronic sources only lt citing electronic sources from the library of congress lt
for more information: the principles mentioned here are discussed in greater detail in my online writing guides: reading, writing, and researching for history: a guide for college students lt a historian's primary task is to analyze, synthesize, and interpret primary and secondary evidence through writing. Throughout your graduate career in history you will deepen your ability to ask questions about different kinds of historical evidence, critically evaluate that evidence, and craft an argument to persuade your reader of your interpretation of the evidence.