Common Writing Problems

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Common Writing Problems

• To Avoid.

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Use technology!

• Take advantage of the spell check and grammar
  check tools in your word processing software
  program. However, keep in mind that such tools
  have limitations, so proofreading is still
  necessary.

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Eye halve a spelling chequerIt came with my
pea sea, It plainly marques four my revueMiss
steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and
type a wordAnd weight for it two say,Weather
eye and wring oar write It shows me strait a
weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maidIt nose bee
fore two long,And eye can put the error riteIts
rare lea ever wrong. Eye have run this poem threw
itI am shore your pleased two no,Its letter
perfect awl the weighMy chequer tolled me
sew. -Sauce unknown
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Avoiding common mistakes

• Be sure to carefully read Chapter 7, Writing
  Conventions, in the Marius/Page book.
• Be sure to use the History Department Style
  Sheetor a similar resource such as Kate
  Turabians Guide for grammar and citation rules.

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Avoiding common mistakes

• Read your paper aloud to yourselfor even better,
  to someone else---or the best, have someone read
  your paper to you.

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Avoiding common mistakes

• Do not refer to your reader as we, our, you
  etc. Using these personal pronouns assumes things
  about your reader that may not be true. For
  example, referring to the United States as our
  country. How do you know your reader is from the
  United States?

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The Basics

• ALWAYS number your pages.
• ALWAYS put your name on your paper (at least the
  first page).
• NEVER turn in a paper that is not stapled (no
  paper clips or folded corners).
• Print or type only on one side of each page.
• Double space all your text (unless instructed
  otherwise).

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The Basics

• 12 pt Times New Roman is the standard font for
  formal papers. NEVER use a larger font to
  lengthen your paper.
• 1 inch margins top and bottom
• 1.25 margins left and right
• Black ink on standard white 8.5 x 11 inch paper
• Double space text (single space in title and
  within footnotes)

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Self Test the final questions

• ALWAYS ask yourself, Have I carefully followed
  the directions for this assignment?and then ask
  yourself this question again.
• Meeting deadlines is important.
• ALWAYS make electronic backups and have a second
  print copy for your own records.

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Using Quotations

• Quotations are essential for writing history.
  They provide evidence for your arguments.
  However, there are best use rules for including
  quotations in your writing.
• Carefully read the section on quotations in
  Marius/Page book.

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Quotationssome quick rules

• Shorter is better.
• Always introduce your speaker.
• Use the American style for quotation marks
  History is essential, wrote Thomas Carlyle.
• Only use single quotation marks to set off a
  quotation within a quotation
• Wilcox declared, I reject Carlyles statement
  that history is essential because history is
  more or less biography.

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Quotations, contd.

• Periods and commas always go within the quotation
  marks.
• We learn from history that we learn nothing from
  history, Hegel said.

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Semicolons and colons always go outside the final
quotation marks..

• Dixon is yellow because he recklessly distorts
  Negro crimes, gives them a disproportionate place
  in life, and colors them dishonestly to inflame
  the ignorant and the credulous such was the
  judgment of Francis Hackett criticizing the the
  Reverend Thomas Dixon, author of the novel that
  served as the storyline for the controversial
  1915 movie Birth of a Nation.

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Questions marks go inside quotation marks if the
original quotation is a question.

• According to William Shakespeare, lifes major
  question is to be, or not to be?
• But the question mark goes outside of the
  quotation marks if the original quotation is not
  a question.
• Was it John Kennedy who said, Liberty without
  learning is always in peril learning without
  liberty is always in vain?

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Long Quotations

• Quotations over 3 lines in length should be
  inserted as left/right indented paragraphs (block
  quotations). HOWEVER, use such quotations
  sparingly.
• Indented paragraphs do NOT use quotation marks.
• Double-space block quotations for class papers
  unless instructed otherwise.

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Block Quotation

• A renowned American professor who worked in
  France during 1957 wrote the following about
  his experience Teaching in France
  taught me more about American history
  than I could have learned by staying in
  the United States. Being in another
  country highlighted the effects of
  the Cold War on the American
  experience.1
• Many professors teaching abroad express similar
  sentiments.
• Question 3

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Ellipsis

• Ellipsis (. . . or . . . .) A punctuation mark
  used most often within quotations to indicate
  that something has been left out.
• Use the three point ellipsis (with a space
  between each dot) to indicate word(s) deleted
  from and within a single sentence.
• Use the four point ellipsis to indicate missing
  words and the end of a sentence.
• Do NOT use ellipsis at the beginning or end of a
  quotation.

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Brackets

• The use of brackets indicates inserted
  and/or deleted words that are not a part of the
  original quotation.
• Shakespeare asked, are you my brother?

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sic

• A Latin word for thus, used to indicate that an
  apparent error is part of quoted material and not
  an editorial mistake The learned geographer
  asserts that the capital of the United States is
  Washingtown sic.

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Footnotes or Endnotes

• When to use footnotes/endnotes
• Provide the source of a quotation that is three
  or more successive words
• Another persons ideas
• Source for factual information that is not
  common knowledge
• Explanation or additional information
• Provide historiographical information (point the
  reader to additional sources that offer specific
  historiographical context.

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Format

• Remember that footnotes and bibliography
  citations do NOT follow the same format.
• 1 Frederick A. Pottle, James Boswell The Early
• Years, (New York McGraw-Hill, 1985) p. 113.
• Pottle, Frederick. James Boswell The Early
  Years. New York McGraw-Hill, 1985.
• Question 4

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Secondary Footnotes

• Use a shortened citation after the first mention
  of any source.
• First Mention
• Frederick A. Pottle, James Boswell The Early
  Years, (New York McGraw-Hill, 1985), p. 113.
• Later mention
• Pottle, James Boswell, p. 120.

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Ibid.

• An abbreviation for ibidem, a Latin word meaning
  in the same place You SHOULD use Ibid, but only
  in cases with the EXACT same citation as the
  immediately previous footnote. The only exception
  is that a page number may be different from the
  first footnote citation.
• 1 Frederick A. Pottle, James Boswell TheEarly
  Years, (New York McGraw-Hill, 1985), p. 113.
• 2 Ibid., p. 115.
• Question 5

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Proper Names

• Always use the full proper name at first mention
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• Use at least the first and last name, plus middle
  initial (or name) if available.
• You may refer to the individual by last name only
  after the first mention. Roosevelt talked to his
  advisors.

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Proper Names, contd

• Official earned titles such as Bishop, President,
  General, etc. are the only acceptable titles that
  may be used as part of a proper name.eg
  President Theodore Roosevelt
• It is ok to refer to someone as the president,
  but not the President.In other words, lower
  case is almost always correct when using titles
  to refer to an individual other than as part of
  their proper name.
• Avoid social status titles such as Mr., Mrs.,
  Miss, Ms., etc.

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Pronouns

• Organizations, countries, institutions, states,
  governments, ships, planes, and trains (etc.)
  should be referenced as itnot her, she.
• When the Titanic sank below the surface, its crew
  went down with the ship.
• Their is appropriate only when referring to
  organizations, etc. in the plural.
• When ships such as the Titanic sank, their crews
  often drowned.

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Pronouns, contd.

• Carefully watch pronoun references.
• Nurses who worked in hospitals during World
  War II saw many wounded and dying men. In fact,
  they saw more suffering than many soldiers.

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Numbers

• Spell out numbers under 100.
• Sixty-six, seventy-three, seven, etc.
• Use Arabic numbers for those over 100.
• 451
• Use commas for those 1,000 and over.
• 2,533

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Percentages

• 60 percent or 60 is correct, just be consistent
• 5.1 percent or 5.1 is correct, just be
  consistent
• Note that you should use Arabic numbers with
  percent or even though the number is under
  100.

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Other issues

• Write about past events in past tense.
• Avoid passive voice The ball was hit by the
  bat.
• Keep subjects as close to verbs as
  possible.American marines attacked the enemy
  with great force. (Subject, verb, object)
• KISSshort sentences
• Put your thesis in the first paragraph or as
  close to the first paragraph of your paper as
  possible.

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Final Words of Advice

• Write something every day.
• Drafts and revision are a good writers friend.