Guidelines
for Writing Scholarly Papers
Department of History and Political Science
Ashland University
Style Sheet for
Student Papers
Writing, even just a brief essay, is one of the most
difficult tasks that you will face in college.
It comes more naturally to some than to others, but it is almost never
easy. And like everything else, writing
clearly and effectively requires practice.
This handout seeks to address the basics of writing, but there is no
substitute for actually sitting down and putting your thoughts on paper in
logical and coherent form.
Scholarly writing has its own set of rules and conventions
that are different from those of creative or technical writing. Written work in this class will be expected
to conform to these standards, the most important of which are outlined below.
The introductory paragraph should engage the
reader’s interest by setting out clearly the question that the paper is
attempting to address, how you plan to address it, and why it is worth
addressing in the first place. Often it
is wise to begin with a brief story or anecdote, or a particularly powerful
statistic, or an appropriate quotation.
The key here is to make the reader want to keep reading.
The thesis statement is a summation of your
main point; this should generally appear at the end of the introductory
paragraph. Before writing, try phrasing
your thesis as a simple assertion (“The planet is running out of manganese”),
and then develop it as you write by being as specific (and, indeed, as
provocative) as you can: “Thanks to
over-mining by American corporations, there is a very real possibility that the
next generation will be forced to live in a world without manganese.”
You should then provide background information,
basic material about the subject, to provide context for the reader. Continuing the above example, you would want
to say something about what manganese is and what it is used for. Depending on the amount of background you
think is necessary, you might want to include this in the introductory
paragraph; for longer essays a separate paragraph (or more) may be required.
The real “meat” of your paper will be the actual points
of discussion. These will be a
series of paragraphs that support your thesis statement, with each point
occupying one or two paragraphs, depending on the essay’s overall length. In this case, one might showcase statistics
on how much manganese there is left in the world; another could contain
statistics on how quickly the manganese supply is being depleted. The actual number of points, of course,
depends on how much you have to say.
One of the hallmarks of good writing is the ability to
move back and forth smoothly between general statements and concrete
details. Each paragraph should start
with a generalization—sort of a miniature thesis statement. The rest of the paragraph should provide
specifics to back it up; these might include reasons (Corporations have been
over-mining manganese because….), examples (The supply of manganese in Zaire is
at an all-time low….), expert testimony (Joe Baggadonuts,
considered by some the father of the modern manganese conservation movement,
says….), or statistics (In the past twenty-five years more than 20 million tons
of manganese have been taken from the earth.).
Always remember, however, that every sentence in any given paragraph
should be devoted to making one individual point, and nothing else.
The concluding paragraph should flow logically
from the rest of the essay, but it should be more than simply a restatement of
what you have done. For a paper of more
than three or four pages, you might want briefly to summarize your main
points. The concluding paragraph might
also offer some guidance for action (The time has come to stop the rampant
depletion of the manganese supply….).
In general, the same sorts of strategies employed in
writing an introductory paragraph—using an anecdote, a quote, or a telling
statistic—apply to conclusions as well.
However, although your conclusion should refer back to your thesis
statement, if should not merely be a rewording of what you said in the
introduction. Ideally, your conclusion
should convince the reader that he has not been wasting his time, and that
there is something that he can take away from your essay.
Contractions:
Words like “didn’t,” “couldn’t,” and “wouldn’t” should not appear in scholarly
writing. Instead use the full
words. Apostrophes should only be used
to indicate possession (for example, George Washington’s presidency).
Passive Voice:
“Washington chopped down the cherry tree” sounds a lot better than “The cherry tree
was chopped down by George Washington.”
The former is simple and straightforward; the latter is wordy and
clumsy. Occasionally you will have no
choice but to use passive—for instance, when the subject of the sentence is
unknown—but in most cases you should use the active voice.
First or Second Person: In scholarly writing, the author is assumed to have
“distance” from his or her subject. You
should therefore write as an outside observer, not a participant, and you
should treat the reader in the same way.
This means that pronouns such as “I,” “we,” or “you” are
inappropriate. Note that this document
is not an example of good scholarly writing (it is, rather, a piece of technical
writing).
Incomplete Sentences: Every sentence must
have a subject and a verb, unless it is part of a direct quote. There are no other exceptions to this rule.
Imprecise Language: Use words that express your point exactly. If you write, “Theodore Roosevelt was a good
president,” the reader will probably be left wondering what you meant by
that. You might have meant that he was
an effective president, or a strong president, or a morally upright
president. Therefore the words
“effective,” “strong,” or “morally upright” are all far preferable to “good.”
Slang: In
conversational English it is perfectly acceptable to use phrases such as
“bumped off” to describe a killing, or “laid back” to describe someone with a
relaxed attitude toward life. However,
such language has no place in scholarly writing (unless it is part of a direct
quote). In general, try to imagine how a
reader one hundred years from now would react to your words. What would your reaction be to a paper that
referred to something as the “bee’s knees” (an expression that was in vogue one
hundred years ago)?
Words Out of Proper Proximity: We see
sentences like this all the time, and they are frequently good for a
laugh. For example, “Witnesses described
the thief as a six-foot-tall man with a mustache weighing 190 pounds.” What weighed 190 pounds? This sentence would lead one to believe it
was the mustache, when clearly the author meant the thief.
Excessive Wordiness: Do not use more words than you
absolutely need to in order to make your point.
For instance, do not write “time period,” when either “time” or “period”
will suffice. Do not write “due to the
fact that,” when a simple “because” will do.
Students do not get extra credit for using extra words.
Excessive Quotation: Often writers who have yet to
develop their own “voice” have a tendency to use a lot of direct quotes from
other authors. This is tedious for the
reader, and likely to leave him wondering whether you have anything original to
say. Wherever possible, paraphrase the
work of other authors instead of quoting them directly. Limit quotes to instances where the author
uses a particularly striking turn of phrase, and where his or her precise
meaning would be lost in a paraphrase.
Dumb Mistakes: College students ought to know better than to confuse
“its” with “it’s,” “there” with “they’re” or “their,” and “who’s” with
“whose.” At the college level students
should know that subjects must agree in number with verbs, and pronouns with
their antecedents; for example, “Each of them had their own ideas” is
wrong. “Each of them had his [or her]
own ideas” is correct. Errors like this
will cause the reader to question the basic intellectual capacity of the
author.
Plagiarism: Most are familiar with the notion that it is
wrong to pass of another author’s work as one’s own. However, there are more ways of doing this
than simply by copying another author’s words (or cutting and pasting from the
Web). Some seem to think that by
changing a few words one can avoid an accusation of plagiarism. This is wrong; avoiding plagiarism means
citing every single source that you used in writing a paper—and “use”
means draw any sort of fact (except those which are common knowledge) or
interpretation. Plagiarism is the worst
form of professional misconduct that there is in the discipline of history, and
I will punish it to the fullest extent.
Use Proper Style for Notes and Bibliographies: If a
particular writing assignment requires the use of footnotes or endnotes, make
sure they, as well as your bibliography, conform to the proper style. In the discipline of history that means Chicago
style (sometimes referred to as “Turabian”).
Your best bet is to obtain a copy of Kate L. Turabian,
et al., A Manual for Writers of Research
Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9th revised edition, Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2007), and follow its standards rigorously.
Pay Attention to Tense: By
definition, historical events are things which happened in the past;
therefore it only makes good sense to use the past tense when discussing
them. The only exception to this rule
comes when you are referring to a primary source of some kind, such as an
important document, a book, or a piece of art.
For example, you would write, “The Declaration of Independence states
that ‘all men are created equal.’”
Staple: Using paperclips, or folding back the pages on one corner, isn’t
enough. I will not accept papers that
are not stapled together.
Use Page
Numbers: This way, if your pages do become separated,
I’ll easily be able to reassemble your paper.
Proofread: If there is one rule that every writer
(scholarly or otherwise) will agree on, it is that the first draft is never
the last. Go back over what you have
written again and again, until you are completely satisfied with the
result. Ask yourself some hard
questions: Is my introductory paragraph
sufficiently enticing to the reader? Are
all of my statements (and particularly my thesis statement) clear and easily
understood? Have I given the reader
enough background to understand my argument?
Do all of my points of discussion back up what I said in the thesis
statement? Does my concluding paragraph
follow logically from the rest of the essay?
Also, be sure to check spelling, grammar, and
usage. Spell-check is a handy feature,
but it will only get you so far. Matters
like subject-verb agreement and word choice may sound petty, but they are
vitally important. Sloppiness in this
regard will suggest to your reader—even if it is only your instructor—that you
have not taken your subject seriously.
And if that is the case, why bother to read your work at all?
Sources:
Gilderhus, Mark T. History
and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.
Rampolla, Mary Lynn. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 1998.
Troyka, Lynn Quitman.
Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Style Sheet for Student Papers
Ashland University
Department of History and
Political Science
Quotations: Place quotations of three lines or fewer into the
text, beginning and ending with quotation marks. Place quotations of four lines or more in
block format, without quotations marks, as follows:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth a separate and
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them.5
Quotations of either length shall be followed by a
footnote citing the authority. Footnotes
shall be numbered sequentially. The
format for footnotes should be as shown in Kate L. Turabian,
et al., A Manual for Writers of Research
Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9th revised edition, Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2007). Footnotes in
short student papers should not be used for incidental comments or digressions,
but should be limited to citations of authorities.
Footnotes: The most common footnotes are for a book. This must include the author’s name, full
title (including subtitle) of the book, the place of publication, publisher,
year of publication, and page(s). The
style for this is as follows:
Donald Kagan, On the
Origins of War and the Preservation of the Peace (New York: Doubleday,
1995), 150-157.
The last page should be a bibliography, listing all
sources alphabetically according to author’s last name.