On Writing Papers
Academic Honor Principle
According to the Dartmouth College Student Handbook "Any form of plagiarism violates the Academic Honor Principle. Plagiarism is defined as the submission or presentation of work, in any
form, that is not a student's own, without acknowledgment of the sources. With specific regard to papers a simple rule dictates when it is necessary to acknowledge sources. If a student obtains information or ideas from an outside source, that source must be acknowledged. Another rule to follow is that any direct quotation must be placed in quotation marks, and the source immediately cited."
For a further discussion about what constitutes plagiarism and on how to cite sources see Sources.
Advice on Writing a Paper
1. Choose your topic. You may choose any topic related to the Ameican Civil War. You should choose a topic or issue that you find interesting and important to understanding some aspect of the war. You will want to consider how other historians and writers have dealt with the topic. How do you want to contribute to the discussion?
2. Research and note-taking. Take notes on 4 x 6 cards. Try to limit yourself to one idea per card. Make sure that you include all the necessary bibliographic material that you need on a separate sheet or card. I then use a shorthand form on my notecards (i.e. just the author and short title). Try not to simply copy out the material you are taking notes on, unless it is a particularly irresistible quotation. Paraphrase at all other times--this makes you think about the material and assimilate it more thoroughly.
3. Begin to frame your thesis. Consider why you have phrased your thesis the way you have. Think carefully about the evidence that will support your thesis. What about negative evidence? Do not simply ignore material that contradicts your thesis. Think about why you were not convinced by negative arguments or evidence. How can you discount them? Do you need to modify your argument to account for some of the negative evidence? (Be careful though, you do not want a wishy-washy argument.)
4. Organize your argument. Do not start writing until you have planned an outline for your essay. Think about the best way of stating your thesis and of presenting your evidence. Do not try to fit every piece of information that you have collected into your essay. You will have to discard some of your research. This is normal. The framework of your topic will change as you progress and will make some earlier avenues of research irrelevant to the final scope of the paper.
5. Writing your paper.
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a. State your thesis somewhere near the beginning (within the first page or two) of your essay--a precise and succinct statement of the central argument of your paper.
b. You might want to use the first one or two paragraphs to provide background and context for the issue under discussion and to rouse the reader's interest. Make sure the reader knows when and where she is located.
c. Write for the general reader. Do not assume too detailed a knowledge of the topic. Fully identify all persons the first time they appear in your narrative--full name and something on what they do.
d. Separate your arguments into distinct paragraphs and think about the order in which you present your ideas. Do your paragraphs flow logically one from the other? Do you have smooth transitions between paragraphs? Do you have a topic sentence in each paragraph? Are you trying to include too much material in each paragraph?
e. Provide concrete evidence and examples to support your argument. Do not simply make unsubstantiated generalizations. Every point you make needs to be supported by evidence. Do not forget to provide a citation for the source material.
f. Include a conclusion--not simply a restatement of your thesis but rather a synthesis of your argument.
g. Once you have finished the first draft of your paper, put it aside for a few days, then reread it and start to revise the paper. Every paper needs several rewrites.
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6. Mechanics and grammar. Strunk and White, Elements of Style is a good but short manual of style. Just a few pointers:
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Use the past tense when discussing historical events
Avoid the passive voice (The US was forced to fight ....) and the verb "to be"
Use the active voice
Avoid unneeded qualifications ("In my opinion ....")
Try to write in crisp clean prose--avoid overly complex or run-on sentences
Avoid colloquial or slang expressions
Check for spelling and typographical errors
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7. Footnotes and Bibliography. Provide a citation for every idea or piece of material not your own. It is better to have too many footnotes than too few. Make sure that your style is consistent. There are several very good manuals that you can use including the Dartmouth College manual, Sources. For the web version of Sources go to Sources. Other manuals include Kate Turabian's, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, and The Chicago Manual of Style.  | 