For many of you, this is the first college-level history paper you’ve ever written. Don’t panic.
Time management: don’t put it off till the last minute; don’t get stuck spewing it out at 3 am on the day it’s due. Believe me, we can tell. If you start working on it (or even thinking about it) well in advance, you will do a much better job and save yourself a lot of needless stress and panic. At least a week before it’s due, pick which topic you will write on, pick which two or three texts you will focus on, try to have a rough outline. What will be your main argument? What examples will you use to prove it? We will reserve time during sections to discuss the paper; be prepared to talk about your ideas. Remember, you are to pick two or three particular texts to discuss in detail. Don’t try to cover everything we’ve read and discussed – it simply isn’t possible in such a short paper.
This is not a research paper; there is no need for you to read anything beyond what I’ve assigned for class. If you do decide to use outside sources, make sure your footnote includes full bibliographic information (author, full title, date and place of publication). If you found it on the web, give me the full URL. Please be warned that about 90% of what you may find on the web is likely to be garbage.
You do not need to give full bibliographic information when citing assigned class readings: "Nagle, p.125" is good enough for the textbook. When citing ancient texts from Bailkey or the Xerox Reader, please indicate the author (if known) and/or title of the specific selection, and then the page number. Examples: Laws of Hammurabi, Bailkey p.45. Herodotus, xerox reader p.68.
If the source of your information was one of my lectures, you may cite it as follows: "Prof. Gaddis, class lecture, [date]"
Please number pages. Make sure that your name, your section and your TA’s name appear on a cover sheet or at the top of the first page. Please use a standard font in a normal size, 10-12 point, doublespaced. Aside from that, I don’t dictate a specific format for footnotes, margins, etc. All I ask is that your paper be neat, polished and readable, and that whatever style you use be consistent throughout the paper.
Nearly all of you will be writing on word processors that have built-in spell-check utilities: use them. This will fix some of the more common misspellings and typos. However, running spell-check does not absolve you of your responsibility for editing and proofreading.
Computers are temperamental, and occasionally possessed by demons, but if you take some commonsense precautions you will have nothing to worry about. Make sure you save your work at least every 10 minutes. Save it to the hard drive and keep a backup copy on a floppy disk. Every few hours, print out a paper copy of what you have so far: even if your files are completely wiped, you won’t have to start over from scratch. When you are done, plan to print out the paper at least two or three hours before the deadline. That way, if you run into unexpected problems (bad disk, paper jam, long line in the computer lab, a plague of locusts) you will have time to deal with them. "Microsoft ate my homework" is not an excuse for lateness.
First Paper Due: Monday Sept. 27, in class.
Second Paper Due: Monday Nov. 22, in class.
Additional Advice:
Below are some helpful web resources. I particularly encourage you to consult these if you have not done a college-level history paper before, or are worried about your grade. (All are courtesy of Paul Halsall, University of North Florida.) Of course, please feel free to consult either with me or with your TA if you have any questions.
Getting Started: This link gives advice on brainstorming, researching, outlining. For this essay, there is no expectation that you use sources above and beyond the readings assigned to the class. If you choose to use outside materials, please cite them properly! If you use something from the Internet, please give me a full URL.
Style, Grammar, Footnoting etc.: some guidelines on basic mechanics of college history papers.
Confused about Grading? Another good online resource, a discussion of what distinguishes an "A" paper from a "B" or "C."
Try also Resources for Writers, a very helpful website at the University of Kansas.