Ready to run in History and Political Science

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Ready to run in History and Political Science?

• Essay writing how to get started

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At the starting line

• Whats the most important thing to remember?
• read the question
• analyse the question
• research the question
• answer the question
• Essays are not about finding information
  theyre about answering the question (solving a
  problem) and arguing for your answer which is
  what professionals do)

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Step One Analysing the Question

• What does the question really want you to do?
• - Break the question down into terms
• - Identify the action words (these are clues
  to answering the question)
• - Identify the search terms (use these to find
  information)
• - Read a good general introduction to the topic
  so you understand the question (eg. your text
  book)
• - and if all else fails talk to your lecturer
  or tutor!

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Step Two Research the question

• Go to the best quality sources you can find The
  Experts. (Your librarian lives to help).
• Beware
• The Internet (no quality control) (Wikipedia
  aargh!)
• Curriculum books (for kiddies)
• Newspapers and magazines (no quality control)
• General encyclopaedias and dictionaries (OK for
  an introduction, but often not The Top Experts)

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Wikipedia on the Palmer Goldfield an example of
internet history (?)

• Accounts from the time point to several
  confrontations and battles between the settlers
  and the Aborigines from the area. One famous
  place is Battle Camp where many of the first
  settlers were killed in a fierce battle with
  Aborigines. When the first party arrived at
  Cooktown, several of the men were keen to get to
  the discovered goldfields, and took of a day
  ahead of the main landing party. They were never
  seen again, ambushed at what was then to be
  called Battle Camp. It was an ambush point on the
  way to the goldfields from Cooktown.
• In fact, a Government-led group on its way to the
  Palmer was challenged by Aborigines and wiped out
  the attackers. No white people were killed.
  Aborigines did not try open attack again in this
  area, and no further attacks of any kind occurred
  at this place.

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So what are the best sources?

• Academic journals (use the databases on the
  Library web page to find articles Infotrac,
  Proquest, Oxford Journals Online, and for
  Australian content - Informit)
• Books by reputable publishers
• Government and University sponsored websites
  (most of the time)
• More reliable media (ABC, SBS, Sydney Morning
  Herald, Australian)
• But read everything critically

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How can I read critically? I dont know
anything!

• Use a comparative approach. Read as widely as you
  can and compare your sources.
• If youre feeling insecure, ask your tutor or
  lecturer to check a list of your sources. They
  will warn you if youre not getting good sources
  for comparison.
• (Part of becoming a professional is learning how
  to recognise good quality sources)

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Step Three note taking

• Always note the bibliographic information
  (author/s, year of publication, title of book or
  article, title of journal, page number of
  information, etc.). Your subject guide should
  tell you what to look for.
• Never summarise!

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Note taking continued

• The golden rule TAKE NOTES THAT WILL HELP YOU TO
  ANSWER THE QUESTION
• (reading the source through first and jotting
  down page numbers of useful information as you
  read will cut down the amount of useless stuff
  you end up with)

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Note taking continued

• If youre a long-hand note taker
• Leave a margin so you can brand or classify the
  information when youre ready to write (or have
  lots of highlighters for photocopies)
• If youre a computer note taker
• Try to come up with some answers to the question
  ASAP. Set up a file or page for each answer and
  put your notes in the right place. If you change
  your headings, cut and paste to put the info in
  the right place.

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When do I stop taking notes?

• When youve read it all before!
• (By the way collect more than just words eg.
  photos, graphs, tables, maps, drawings/paintings,
  cartoons they are all evidence you can use in
  your essay)

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Step Four coming up with answers

• Do a concept map. Put down every possible
  answer to the question, based on your research.
• Decide which answers are the most likely.
• Eg. How does smuggling occur in the Torres
  Strait? How can it be stopped?

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How does smuggling occur in the Torres Strait?
How can it be stopped?

• Answer 1 smuggling people, wildlife, drugs and
  quarantinable objects by
• dinghies
• fishing vessels
• aircraft
• Answer 2
• by dinghies? increased air and sea patrols
  strengthened search legislation research and
  training to distinguish suspicious vessels from
  others
• By fishing vessel? all of the above, plus more
  stringent customs searches in port
• By aircraft? increased electronic surveillance
  spot checks of remote airfields

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Step Five communicating your answer

• Is the most important part of communication
• Using the right words?
• Developing the right sentences?
• Using correct punctuation, spelling and grammar?

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Whats the most important part of
communication?...

• NO! its developing a good essay structure!
  (and knowing what youre talking about)

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Step 5 continued structuring your essay

• You can structure
• Chronologically (narrative structure)
• Thematically
• Points in order of importance (most important to
  least important)
• Wide to narrow (general points first, details
  later)
• Any combination of the above

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So, for our smuggling question, one possible
structure might be

• 1. How does smuggling occur?
• Dinghies (examples of whats most commonly
  smuggled by dinghies, and how)
• Fishing vessels (examples)
• Aircraft (examples)
• 2. how can it be stopped?
• It cant. You can only decrease it, and this will
  cost up to x million.
• Dinghies increased air and sea patrols
  strengthened search legislation research and
  training to distinguish suspicious vessels from
  others, and keep up with smuggling techniques.
• Fishing vessels as for dinghies, and a larger
  customs service for regular searches in ports.
• Aircraft increased electronic surveillance spot
  checks of remote airfields
• Each of your points becomes a paragraph (in this
  case, your paragraphs are also arranged in
  sections)

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Paragraphs you need as well as the content
paragraphs

• At the beginning
• .Introduction tells the reader about the topic,
  the problem, and your solution (answer).
• It also can put limits on your answer eg.
  geographical area and time period covered (in
  our example, Torres Strait includes the shores of
  Cape York down to 12º latitude and youll look at
  smuggling in the last 10 years)
• .Background paragraph (optional) gives the
  reader some idea of the context. (For our
  smuggling question, explain why smuggling is a
  problem large number of islands, close to New
  Guinea, people use dinghies like cars and ignore
  borders)
• At the end
• .Forecasting the Future (optional) tells the
  reader the long term implications of what
  happened.
• .Conclusion summarises your arguments and
  re-answers the question. (Hint dont include new
  material)

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Step 5 continued the paragraph

• Each answer (or point in your argument for your
  answer) becomes a content paragraph
• Paragraphs deal with only one point or answer
• All material on a point should be in the same
  paragraph

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Even more about paragraphs

• Paragraphs must have a TOPIC SENTENCE which
  states the point or answer that they are dealing
  with
• Paragraphs must have EVIDENCE to back up the
  point or answer
• Paragraphs might have to EXPLAIN or DEFEND your
  point
• Paragraphs might need to RELATE BACK to the
  previous paragraph, or the question, or RELATE
  FORWARD to the next paragraph

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Example paragraph how to stop smuggling by
dinghies

• Smuggling by dinghy is very difficult to stop,
  but could be decreased, with the level of
  decrease determined by the resources available
  (topic sentence). Air patrols can keep track of
  dinghy use, backed by sea patrols to stop and
  search all vessels crossing the border. However
  air cover would need to be continuous along the
  border, given that dinghy use is so common in the
  Torres Strait. Adequate cover would cost x
  million, and this proposal would meet with strong
  public protest. The alternative would be
  genuinely random checks using slightly increased
  levels of air and sea coverage (see Table 3 for
  costings). Both options would require changes to
  the legislation to give adequate powers for
  search, and consultation with communities. Air
  spotters would also need more training in how to
  detect signs of smuggling activity. This needs to
  be backed by continuing research into smuggling
  methods, which are changing all the time.

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and still more about paragraphs

• You cant do everything a paragraph needs to do
  in just one sentence!
• There is no such thing as a one sentence
  paragraph (except in newspapers and novels)

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Other things about communication

• Who is your audience? your lecturer, other
  professionals in your field, the general public?
  Find out.
• If its your lecturer or other professionals,
  you wont have to explain concepts they will
  probably know. (But dont use this to leave gaps
  in your argument).
• If its the general public, you will have to
  explain unusual terms, give more background, and
  introduce the people you write about.

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Communication other things

• Are spelling, grammar, punctuation and gender
  neutral language really important?

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Can you read this? (Has communication occurred?)

• Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy,
  it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a
  wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the
  frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The
  rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed
  it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not
  raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a
  wlohe. Ceehrs.

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Well, yes, but

• You dont want to look like an ignoramus (use
  every trick you can to sound persuasive)
• You dont want to irritate your readers
• You dont want to make your readers work too
  hard
• Gendered language do you want the reader to
  concentrate on your arguments, or you? (What does
  gendered language, eg. using he and him when
  you meant everyone, say about you?)

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History and political science arent hard
sciences like physics

• so that means you need to persuade your reader
  through
• Good arguments
• Good evidence
• Sound research
• Good communication

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Referencing

• Why do we need references?
• To acknowledge other peoples intellectual
  property (ideas, words, research) and avoid being
  accused of PLAGIARISM
• To make my work reliable (you can check my
  sources I didnt make it up)
• As a service to the reader who wants to know more
• If youre using footnotes and end-notes to give
  more information

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Referencing how?

• History uses footnotes and end-notes in the
  Chicago system, but in first year at Cairns
  Campus you can use any recognised referencing
  system
• Footnotes and end-notes can be found in Windows
  under Insert (then Reference)
• Political science uses any recognised referencing
  system
• When in doubt check your subject handout

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Footnotes example

• Full employment, immigration and attracting
  industry became major policy determinants after
  the war. The result was a manufacturing boom in
  Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia and
  an agricultural and mining boom in all states and
  territories. Between 1960 and 1990, for example,
  Queenslands area under crop nearly tripled.11
  In the 1940s and 1950s there was little concern
  about the impact that development might have on
  the environment because Australians were still
  caught up in a frontier mentality, believing the
  country was too vast to be impacted by its small
  population. Pollution was something that happened
  in Europe or the U.S.12
• 11 Richard Grant and Elim Papadikis,
  Transforming environmental governance in a
  laggard state, Environmental and Planning Law
  Journal 21, 2 (2004) 147.
• 12 Whitelock, A Dirty Story, 83 Powell, Plains
  of Promise, 313, 363.

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When dont you need a reference?

• If its your own idea
• If its general knowledge in this field of study
  (its in nearly all the sources you read for this
  essay)

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Bibliography or reference list?

• A reference list is a list of the books,
  articles, websites etc. which you used in your
  references
• A bibliography is a list of every source you read
  for this essay (not just the sources in your
  references)
• Which one do you use? look at your subject
  handout. History uses bibliographies.

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Bibliography extract

• Jakeman, A. and Simpson, R., June 1986, Towards
  more effective environmental quality control
  policies A technical perspective for air and
  water pollution, Environmental and Planning Law
  Journal, vol. 3, no. 2., pp. 124-136.
• Jordan, Matthew, 2002, Procuring Industrial
  Pollution Control The South Australian Case,
  1836-1975, Jubilant Gains, Adelaide.
• Keim, Stephen, 1992, Bordering on Pollution, in
  Environmental Law Service Volume 1, John Haydon,
  et al. (ed.), Queensland Environmental Law
  Association, Brisbane, pp. 5.1.57-5.1.58.
• Kellow, Aynsley and Niemeyer, Simon, 1999, The
  Development of Environmental Administration in
  Queensland and Western Australia Why are they
  different?, Australian Journal of Political
  Science, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 205-222.
• Kemp, D.E., 1987, Environmental Law in
  Queensland Water Quality, in Proceedings of
  the Symposium on Environmental Awareness Course,
  Brisbane 5 October 16 November 1987,
  Institution of Engineers Australia, Queensland
  Division, Brisbane, pp. 1-10.

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The Law of Quotes says

• Use quotations only to back up something you have
  already said. Never use them to make a statement
  for you.
• Quotes must be an exact copy of the original. If
  you want to leave anything out, use an ellipse
  (). If you want to change or add something, put
  these in square brackets . If you want to
  emphasise something, use italics and add my
  emphasis.
• Short quotes are in inverted commas. Long quotes
  are indented.

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Quotes at work (spot the ellipses)

• An instrumentalist perspective towards
  legislation would suggest a presumption that
  laws, once enacted are thus regarded as somehow
  independent of their political and social
  contexts.1 There are obvious difficulties
  with this approach, as it has been observed that
  
• It is one thing to point to the introduction of
  a new legal rule and then point to a change in
  peoples behaviour it is another thing to say
  that the former caused the latter. Can we be
  certain that behaviour which appears to be in
  compliance with a particular rule is brought
  about by that rule? Other factors may explain
  the conduct moral pressure, habitor
  self-serving interests all of which may simply
  be reinforced by the rule in question.2
• 1 Bottomley and Parker, Law in Context, p.
  188.
• 2 Ibid, p. 191. Their emphasis.

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Some general advice

• Never be afraid to ask for help.
• Read the instructions.
• Feedback on your essay isnt a putdown. Its
  designed to help you improve. Professionals want
  to constantly improve.
• Dont try to impress your readers. Communicate
  with us. Keep it clear and concise.
• Keep jargon to a minimum.

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Jargon

• The piscine aquatic biota exhibited a 100
  mortality rate
• Or
• All the fish died