Effective Reading and Academic Writing for History Students, Schemes and Mind Maps of History

Download Effective Reading and Academic Writing for History Students and more Schemes and Mind Maps History in PDF only on Docsity! How to Plan and Write Good Coursework History Subject Group 2016-17 This guide is designed to act as a companion to writing a successful university History essay. To make it accessible, the guide is broken down into three different sections – i) Before, ii) During, and iii) After. It is not intended to act as an exhaustive essay-writing manual. As such, throughout this guide there are some useful website links that provide you with the opportunity to learn more. A neat, clear and effective writing style is also a skill that employers value, so taking the trouble to develop such a style will benefit you in terms of employability, as well as being an important study skill. Point 3  Paragraph 1  Paragraph 2  Paragraph 3 Conclusion - partly a reiteration of your introduction. Summarise key points and do NOT introduce new information in the conclusion. Be imaginative - good writing goes a long way! As well as summarising your argument, you also need to evaluate it. A good way of doing this is to think about all the points your essay has made to answer the question, and think about which one or two points are the most important of all. Try briefly to justify why you think these are particularly important points. Being able to evaluate (i.e. place a particular value) on certain explanations will show enhanced analytical ability. Be Flexible You might find that when you begin writing your essay that your argument or structure does not make sense or does not flow as you had hoped. This is perfectly normal, so be aware that you might have to change either or both in the process of writing. During Paragraphs Paragraphs are not used only to break up your writing. Each paragraph should serve a function towards the overall purpose of your essay and will not necessarily follow that standard format below: Q: Which of the following do you believe was MOST IMPORTANT to the Industrial Revolution: population increase, agricultural revolution or the transport revolution? [Pgph 1] population increase [Pgph 2] agricultural revolution [Pgph 3] transport revolution Remember paragraphs are about ONE thing and they should rarely exceed three quarters of an A4 page (double-spaced). If you are consistently exceeding this length then it is likely you are trying to cram too much information into each paragraph. Visually, paragraphs are marked by an indentation or a line break. In academic writing, paragraphs start with a topic sentence, which tells the reader what the paragraph will be about. For example, ‘It was not only inefficiency that encouraged a change in attitudes towards crime and punishment.’ It will also sometimes link the paragraph into a previous discussion in your essay. Linking paragraphs is a great way to demonstrate a coherent and logical argument, i.e. you are not simply stopping at one point, and starting at another. Supporting sentences follow which explain your argument clearly and concisely; they include examples, quotations, references and statistics. Structurally, this will strengthen your essay, make it easier to read and help you avoid repetition. Sentence Structure Ideally, when composing a sentence, you want to be as comprehensive as you can, as directly as you can. You will be trying to express some complicated themes and arguments within a limited number of words, so effective sentence structure will be necessary. The meaning of every sentence should be clear and there should be no unnecessary words. You can use your class reading lists (other than textbooks) to see how sentences in academic writing can be formed. Common problems in sentence structure are: Sentence fragments: Incomplete sentences i) missing a verb, ii) missing a subject or iii) containing only a dependant clause (starting a sentence with ‘because’ for example). Right example: The German army leadership was contemplating an alliance with the only political party that appeared to have the potential to command popular support—the Nazis. Example of mistake i): An alliance with the only political party with the potential popular support—the Nazis. Example of mistake ii): With the only political party with the potential to command popular support—the Nazis. Example of mistake iii): Because the Nazis were the only party with the potential to command popular support. Run-on sentences: Parts of a sentence are inappropriately joined. This is most commonly done through misplacing or excluding commas. Right example: The army leadership was contemplating an alliance with the only political party that appeared to have the potential both to command popular support and to stop the communists—the Nazis. Many of the army’s conservative-minded senior-most officers had serious doubts about the Nazis, particularly given the left-wing economic radicalism of some of its elements and the brutal, unruly thuggery of its storm troopers. However, the Nazis had long trumpeted their belief in militarizing German society. Example of a run-on sentence: The army leadership was contemplating an alliance with the only political party that appeared to have the potential both to command popular support and to stop the communists, the Nazis, many of the army’s conservative-minded senior-most officers had serious doubts about the Nazis, particularly given the left-wing economic radicalism of some of its elements and the brutal, unruly thuggery of its storm troopers, however the Nazis had long trumpeted their belief in militarizing German society. Simple and ‘loose’ structure: Using too many simple sentences to express your ideas means you are not using transitions to link these ideas, and you will likely lose marks for the coherency of your arguments. You must therefore strike a balance in your use of sentence structures. Using ‘and’ too often can also obscure the meaning of your writing. Poorly ordering phrases is also a problem, i.e. connecting several clauses in one sentence where two or more sentences were necessary. It therefore also follows that you shouldn’t make your sentences too long, but rather break them up into shorter ones. Writing Style - Common Errors Avoiding passive writing - Your writing should avoid lapsing into vague language as much as possible. Avoid overusing phrases such as:  Somewhat...  Perhaps...  The historian suggests...  Puts forward the notion that...  Might be taken as...  To some extent…  To a large extent…  It is possible that…  Most historians…  Some historians… Learning Development Centre The LDC at GCU is there to help students develop their skills in many areas including academic writing. If this is something you feel you would benefit from, you can make an appointment with an Academic Development Tutor. This can be done one-on-one, in small groups, and in person or by telephone or email. Find more information here: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/gsbs/ldc. After Presentation Following the presentation guidelines provided in your course handbook is vital. Simple tasks, such as double-spacing your work and using an approved font size are crucial to putting the marker in a good frame of mind before they read your essay. Poorly presented essays that ignore clear guidelines will automatically raise doubts in the marker’s mind about the level of effort you have applied to your work. On the flip side, well presented work demonstrates to the marker that you have taken care over your work and thus puts the marker in a positive frame of mind before beginning to read the substance of your essay. While all markers endeavour to achieve objectivity in their assessment, a well presented essay will almost always outscore an identical essay that is poorly presented. Basic rules of presentation  Font Size - 11pt or 12pt  Font Style - Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman for the main body. Nothing too extravagant for the headings.  Either 1.5 or Double spacing  Print only on one side  Page numbers  Correct referencing  Proofreading to avoid silly mistakes Proofreading Tips At this stage, get into the habit of proofreading ALL coursework before submitting it. Do not proof-read just after spending hours writing an assignment. Take a break and come back to it later. Do not trust Microsoft Office or other writing software to catch all the mistakes. You can: Print it out: easier to catch mistakes here than on a computer screen. Be armed with a red pen. Read aloud (and slowly!): you won’t be able to ‘skip ahead’ this way and will catch more mistakes. Another pair of eyes: have a family member or a friend look over your writing, looking for mistakes and clarity only. If you ask a class-mate for example, this can quickly turn into a discussion about the analysis within your essay rather than the technicalities of your writing. Appendix: Referencing Your Work (reproduced and adapted from History and Politics Coursework and Assessment Handbook, 2016-17) To illustrate a professional attitude to your work and avoid plagiarism, all continuously assessed work should use scrupulous standards of referencing. References should be given in substantiation of factual statements (including statistics), especially obscure ones, or when citing an opinion that is not your own, - and above all in quoting. A certain amount of judgement has to be exercised; it is not necessary to give references for facts which are well known and in the public domain, e.g. the date the Battle of Waterloo or of the outbreak of the First World War. NB. HISTORY ESSAYS SHOULD USE THE FOOTNOTE OR NUMBERED NOTE SYSTEM RATHER THAN HARVARD Good referencing is vital to achieving higher marks in academic essays. The following rules indicate how to write an appropriate footnote for each of the different resources you may use in an essay and it is crucial that you understand them and apply them in your work. Some people seem to get confused when dealing with footnotes, and generally this is because they have been taught different styles or get confused about the choices you have to make when using footnotes. The choices that need to be made at the beginning of your essay and remain consistent throughout: 1. Either use footnotes or endnotes. Footnotes appear at the bottom of each page of your essay, while endnotes appear at the end of your essay in a numbered list style. 
 2. Either use italics or underline the titles of your material within your footnotes. 
 3. Most footnotes come in the font size 10. Some computers may have different settings, so decide what font size you will you will use throughout. 
 Book An example:
A.G. Squid, Wrecks of the Firth of Clyde: My Part in their Occurrence, (Ardrossan, 2015), p. 345. An explanation:
Initials of author separated by full stops, full surname of author followed by a comma, italicized or underlined title of the book, open brackets and include the place the book was published and the date of publish and then close brackets, comma, use ‘p’ to signify page number followed by a full stop, page number again followed by a full stop.