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History 2710

Monday January 25, 2021

Dr. Heather Stanley

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Writing
Bootcamp
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Schedule of Events
 Part 1: Basic Essay Construction and Adjusting the Formula to Different Assignments
 structure
 thesis statements

 Part 2: Research and Finding Sources

 formulating a research question and narrowing down your topic
 finding good sources
 some research hacks

 Part 3: Writing and Editing Your Term Paper

 the process
 basic tips

 Part 3: Chicago Formatting and Citation

 footnotes and endnotes
 bibliography
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The Basic Formula for a Humanities
Essay
 formula for the standard argumentative essay can be scaled up or down for almost any writing
assignment
 a well structure essay can be visualized as an hourglass shape
 THE TOP – your introduction (about 10% of your word count)
 draws the reader in from the most broad to the specific  your thesis statement

 THE MIDDLE – the body of your essay

 totally focused on supporting your thesis statement  everything in here works to support your thesis
 contains your evidence and analysis
 80% of your word count usually divided equally into informational chunks

 THE BOTTOM – you conclusion (about 10% of your word count)

 starts narrow with thesis restatement
 gets slowly broader as you ease the reader out
 a strong conclusion can save (or at least partially redeem) wobbly essays
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Wait! What the heck is a thesis
statement?
 a concise assertion of your argument (what you are trying to
convince the reader of)
 AND

 a road map of how you plan to make that argument within the
essay
 there are basically two different types of thesis statements 
specific and general
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Specific Thesis Statements
 A good thesis statement not only tells the reader what you are going
to argue but also how you plan to do it.
 There are basically two forms of thesis statements:
 SPECIFIC THESIS STATEMENTS:
 “Despite “junk” foods’ reputation as subpar cuisine the truth remains that of all the foods
those placed at the top of the food pyramid are among the most enjoyable to consume.
When evaluating these foods a clear hierarchy emerges. Arguably the most tasty of all
foods in this category are donuts, followed by candy, and lastly pizza. ” This thesis
statement not only tells you what the author is going to argue – that junk food is very
tasty and that he/she is going to discuss the ranking of three examples of such food.
 This thesis statement also lays out the structure of the essay as the body of the essay
should start by explaining why donuts are the best, then move on to talk about candy,
and finish with pizza.
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General Thesis Statements
 A good thesis statement not only tells the reader what
you are going to argue but also how you plan to do it.
 General Thesis Statements:
 These are harder to work with than specific thesis statements.
 They still tell the reader what they are going to argue and how.
 “Though many people dismiss “junk” food as not really food, foods in this category
remain amongst the most tasty to eat. When we look at junk food closely this superiority
is not only clear but a distinct hierarchy amongst junk foods unfolds.” 
 Thus the difference between specific and general thesis statements is that the structure
of the essay is not revealed .We just know that the author is going to talk about
different kinds of junk foods in an attempt to demonstrate that junk food is tasty but we
don’t know exactly how they are going to go about doing so.
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Going from the Blank Page to the
Finished Essay

 start with your research question

 at its most basic this is a historical question you want the answer to

 for your term essay  you have been prompted with the wider
topic you signed up for
 research question might pop out at you right away
 OR you could know some aspect of that topic you want to focus in on
 start doing research on that specific topic to find your question
 OR if you have no ideas start with basic research works on your topic
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The Research Question and Your
Primary Source Assignment

 your research question is “If I were a historian looking

at this what kind of historical data can I get from this
primary source?”
 then see what you could argue based on that
evidence you have in the source
 see the assignment sheet I emailed to you today
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Refining Your Research Question

 ask yourself  “Can I answer this research question within the

given assignment format and with the resources available?”
 the sources to answer the question might not have been written yet 
refine your question or chose a new direction

 ask yourself  “Is the scope of this question appropriate for

the assignment?”
 too big? too small?
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The Proposal Assignment

 first part is a 350 word essay

 introduce your research question

 prove to me that this is a meaningful and important question

 AND

 that you can achieve the answer to that question within your
term essay
 if you have a thesis statement  give it a dry a run

 keep it formal  no “I will do X”

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The Proposal Assignment

 second part of the proposal assignment is a

bibliography of 3 out 5 minimum required sources
 allows me to direct you:
 if your source is out of date or otherwise inappropriate

 if you are missing an important key source

 do the sources fit your research question?

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Finding Scholarly Sources

 your sources need to be scholarly  this

mean they have been through the peer
review process
 ensures the work is factually correct, used proper
sources, and research methodologies
 NO blogs, newspaper articles, websites, popular
histories, lectures, or information from your
textbook
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Finding Scholarly Sources

 how do I know if the source is peer reviewed and scholarly?

 published by university press?  needs to say University Press as part
of the title
 is the author associated with a university in some way?  should be
somewhere in the book or bio OR google
 the article is in a journal NOT a magazine
 google the journal title (not the article title) e.g. “Is the Bulletin of Medical
History peer reviewed?
 ask the librarian for help
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Finding Scholarly Sources

 remember it might take some trial and error  the first hit is
not always the best match  you need to read the description
 chose different key words if you are having trouble

 PLEASE NOTE: the algorithm on the university website for to

limit results to peer reviewed doesn’t work for history sources
 don’t use it!
 remember don’t be shy to ask the librarian for help through
IM, or over the phone, or through email  it is their job to help
you
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Finding Scholarly Sources

 Some “hacks” that might help:

 found a great book source?  scroll down the entry to virtually browse the
shelves by that work  you might find another great book on your topic nearby
 found a great book source?  check out the subject headings  they might take
you to other sources on your topic
 found a great source (journal article or book)?  if it is fairly recent (within the
last 10-15 years) look in their bibliography to find the secondary sources THEY
used
 our textbook has a ‘suggested reading” for each chapter  might give you a
place to start
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Get Your Argument Settled Before You
Write
 go through your sources until you have enough data to
convincingly answer your research question  it may have
shifted a bit during the research process
 almost NOBODY can write a quality paper the night before 
writing is better treated as a process
 do some active thinking/brainstorming e.g. I do word clouds
because I can’t draw
 at the end of this process your research question should have
become an argument  remember you need to prove
something to me NOT describe something to me
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The Different Steps in Writing Your
Paper
 create your outline  this is going to be YOUR roadmap to
writing the essay  more time spent on this step usually means
a cleaner, clearer essay
 start with your thesis statement

 how are you going to group your evidence  thematically?

chronologically?  odd numbers make for more pleasing
essays in general
 try to put your strongest evidence first, your second strongest
last and your weakest in the middle
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The Different Steps in Writing Your
Paper

 write the paper

 how this looks (e.g. lots of short
sessions or a couple of big long
ones etc.) varies person to person
 citations now or later?  up to
you
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The Different Steps in Writing Your
Paper
 You aren’t EVEN CLOSE to done yet!
 in an ideal world you would read over and edit your paper
at least three times before handing it in
 FIRST EDIT
 this is the time to fix the big issues:
 did you prove your argument convincingly?
 does your essay make sense?
 are there awkward passages or places where the writing
feels wrong?
 make notes of grammar and spelling but don’t get too
hung up on it
 OKAY FIX ALL THAT
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The Different Steps in Writing Your
Paper
 SECOND EDIT
 this is the grammar, spelling,
typo edit
 get someone else to read it if
you can (this isn’t allowed on
your exams BTW)
 no editing partner?  trying
reading it aloud
 FIX ALL THAT STUFF
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The Different Steps in Writing Your
Paper
 THIRD EDIT
 make sure the changes you have made
haven’t messed up the essay (e.g.
accidently deleting a paragraph etc.)
 are your citations correct?
 do you have:
 a title page with a title and your name on it
 page numbers
 Times New Roman 12 point font
 saved it with the proper title (on the
syllabus) to make your professor’s life
easier
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Some Tips and Tricks (and Warnings)

 unless stated footnotes/endnotes and the bibliography

doesn’t count towards your word count  never does in
this class
 all the little tweaks to make your paper look longer or
shorter have been tried before and we are aware of them
 10% rule of thumb  you can usually be 10% above OR
below the stated word count and still be okay
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History Department Grading Scale

https://www.uleth.ca/artsci/h
istory/department-history-
grading-system
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Citing in the Chicago Style

 NEVER use a citation generator or one provided by the publisher (they

are almost always wrong)
 either use footnotes or endnotes BUT not both (I prefer footnotes)
 footnotes/endnotes are counted with regular numbers (1, 2, 3)
 every computer program has a footnote/endnote creator  you need to
find your and figure it out
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Citing in the Chicago Style
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Citing in the Chicago Style
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Citing in the Chicago Style

 click on Citation Quick Guide for almost all sources you will be
referencing!
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Citing in the Chicago Style
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Citing in the Chicago Style

 scroll through the options and figure out which of the examples fits the source you
are trying to cite
 all the most common sources are on this list  for other ones go to the larger list
BUT unlikely you will need to
 e.g. citing your primary source would be chapter or other part of an edited book
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Citing in the Chicago Style

• You use the long note

form the first time.

• After the first time you cite

your source you can use
the shortened form.

• The third entry is the

format for that particular
type of source for your
bibliography.
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Knowing When to Cite

 WHEN IN DOUBT CITE!!!!!  you will not be penalized for overciting but you
will lose marks for not citing when you need to
 ALWAYS when you directly quote something
 if the quotation is less than 3 typed lines you plug into your writing surrounded
by quotation marks
 e.g. The 1950s in Canada were a time of hope when Canadian society arose out of long period
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of “disruption, deprivation, and deferral of expectations.”

 always goes punctuation, then quotation marks, and THEN the citation
number
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Knowing When to Cite

long quotations (more than 4 lines of text) are offset from the text with no
quotation marks

e.g. Shopping malls were an important part of postwar urban life in Canada.
They created brand new spaces that exercised never before seen management
of consumers.

One of the distinctive characteristics of the mall was the ability to control
the internal spaces in all senses, thus producing a distinctive shopping culture
within its walls. Physical climate could be controlled, emotional climate could be
managed with soothing music (“muzak”) and an absence of timepieces, and
the extent of competition could be controlled by the choice of tenants and co-
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ordination of sales, advertising, and events in the enclosed space.
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Knowing When to Cite

 you don’t need to cite:

 your own opinions and thoughts
 fact that are “common knowledge” e.g. World War II started in 1939 or Frozen
was a popular movie with young children.

 you need to cite:

 direct quotations (like we just talked about)
 any time you are using opinions of, or research completed by, another author
 ****to show where your evidence came from and borrow authority from your
sources*****
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Bibliography

 remember you use the third example to

format your bibliographical entries for each
source
 it goes on a separate page
 organized alphabetically by last name
 the second and all lines after than are
indented
 not numbered
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Questions???