Essay Instructions
Introduction
Below are instructions for writing an essay in this history class. For the specific topic of an essay, go to the Modules page of the class website. Find the module with the essay, and read the introduction to that module. The essay topic will be there.
An essay is different than discussion board posts and the discussion assessments. Forum posts are like face-to-face class discussions. On the other hand, an essay is a formal writing assignment. Compared to the forums and discussion assessments, the essay has different instructions, standards, and grading criteria. Read these instructions carefully.
Just like different employers have different employee policies, different academic disciplines (and classes) may have different formatting standards. Historians usually use the Chicago Manual of Style (and a shorter style guide based off of it called A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian) as their guide. The is no need to search the web for the Chicago Manual of Style, just follow the instructions below when writing the essay for this class.
Please send questions to me, your kind and friendly instructor, if you do not understand something in the instructions. Send me questions through our class website. Ask questions as soon as possible. If you wait too long to ask a question, I may not have time to reply before the essay is due. I am here to help, and I look forward to receiving your questions.
General Instructions (The Basics)
- Write the essay on the assigned topic.
- The essay should be 1,000 words longexcluding citations, heading and other such auxiliary information.
- Base your essay only on the assigned readings.
- Demonstrate that the assigned readings have been carefully studied.
- Demonstrate analytical and critical thinking skills.
- An organized essay should have an:
- Introduction paragraph
- Three main paragraphs
- Conclusion paragraph
- Make sure the introduction paragraph has a thesis sentence.
- The essay should smoothly transition from one idea to the next.
- Formatting can be tricky when submitting assignments on the web. Skip a line between each paragraph. If one is unable, or unsure, if indenting or skipping a line is possible, place five asterisks (*****) at the beginning of each paragraph.
- Cite information as shown in these instructions (see citing instructions below).
- Make sure to cite specific information, even if not in direct quotes, used in the essay (see citing instructions below).
- Use direct quotes sparingly and avoid lists in short essays, but still make sure to use, and cite, specific information.
- Use standard spelling and grammar.
- Single space the essay.
- Use a standard font and type size.
- Use black type.
- Proofread the essay before submitting it.
- I encourage students to answer each written assignment in a word processing program (like Microsoft Word or WordPerfect) and then cut and paste the essay into the submission box.
- Follow the college’s academic honesty policy.
Do the Following in the Essay
- Regarding numbers and dates:
- Spell out whole numbers zero through one hundred (except for dates, see below).
- If a number begins a sentence, spell it out.
- When writing about a decade there is no apostrophe. For example, “The American Civil War occurred in the early part of the 1860s” not “the 1860’s.”
- Write years in numerals as in “1776” and “1941.”
- Write out dates like “July 4, 1776” and “December 7, 1941,” and not like “July fourth seventeen seventy-six.”
- When a year begins a sentence, the year should be spelled out as in “Eighteen sixty-one was an eventful year,” and not “1861 was an eventful year.” However, it is best to avoid beginning a sentence with a year if at all possible. It would be better to write, “The year 1861 was an eventful time.”
- Chapters
- When stating a specific chapter number, capitalize the word “chapter.” For example, “As stated in Chapter 8 of the secret report, the president was not informed about the alien spaceship that crash landed on Mount Shasta.”
- Know the Difference between easily confused words
- The word “its” is a possessive. For example, “‘Where is the space alien’s ship?’ you ask. ‘Its spaceship is now at a secret military base disguised to look like a community college.’”
- The word “it’s” is a contraction meaning “it is.” For example, “It’s going to be a crazy day when the world learns there is an alien spaceport inside Mount Shasta.”
- “There” is a word that indicates a place as in, “The space ship landed over there behind that mountain.”
- “Their” indicates possession as in, “The space ship landed on their farm.”
- “They’re” is a contraction as in, “They’re going to go look for the space ship that landed on their farm over there.” (Remember to avoid the use of contractions, like “they’re, in formal essays like the one assigned in this class.)
Avoid the Following in the Essay
- Personal pronouns:
- Using first person and second person personal pronouns (like I, we, us, you, me, my, our, and so on) because they weaken the objectivity of the answer.
- Using personal pronouns makes assumptions about the reader that may not be true. For example:
- “We all know America is the greatest country in the world.” Do we? What is your evidence for that?
- “Growing up, we all heard the story of George Washington and the cherry tree.” Did we? How do you know what I heard?
- Contractions like: don’t, can’t, they’re, wouldn’t, won’t, and so on:
- Essays require formal responses. Contractions suggest informality. Leave contractions to the discussion boards.
- Too many or long direct quotes:
- A few short direct quotes may be helpful, but in most cases, answer in your own words; however, still cite specific information even if it is not in the form of a direct quote.
- Block quotes
- Creative writing in an academic essay:
- A number of students seem to take this class in conjunction with a creative writing course. This class is not a creative writing course. 🙂
- Avoid the temptation to write something like the following in the essay, “Imagine you were a twelve-year-old girl during the Great Depression.”
- Actually, avoiding the word “imagine” altogether in formal academic writing, like what is required in this class essay, is a good idea.
- Using outside sources:
- The assigned readings include more than enough information to complete each written assignment.
- Bullet or numbered lists:
- Essays in this class are short, so lists are not useful.
- Long quotes
- Rants, stay on topic
- Bold or other highlighted forms of type
Citing Instructions
Demonstrate that you have read and thought about the assigned readings by having specific cited examples in your answer. This does not necessarily require direct quotes. Cite all the specific information used from the assigned readings in the essay. Cite all specific information. Of course, cite direct quotes. Also cite specific information even if the information is not in a direct quote.
Cite your information in the body of the essay at the end of sentences.
Cite your information in the following ways:
- Book citations for “real” books (books the physically exist) should be in the following format:
- Cite book information with the author’s last name, date of publication and page number. (There is only a comma after the date of publication.)
- If there are more than three authors (as is the case with most textbooks), give the first author’s last name, the abbreviation “et al.,” date of publication, and page number.)
- Here are some examples:
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (Demos 1970, 85).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (Beals 1994, 205-06).
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (Harris and Platzner 2008, 546).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (Mack, Roberts and Bush 1921, 333).
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (Faragher et al.2008, 76).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (Hunt et al. 2016, 325).
- Book citations for ebooks should look like this:
- First, using an ebook is usually not a good idea. Retention of information from ebooks is lower compared to retention from “real” books.
- If an ebook is used, citations are required in a manner that a reader can use to easily locate the source of the information.
- Cite ebooks with the author’s last name, date of publication, chapter and paragraph from where the information is taken.
- If there are more than three authors (as is the case with most textbooks), give the first author’s last name, the abbreviation “et al.,” date of publication, and chapter and paragraph.)
- Here are some examples:
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (Demos 1970, Ch 5 Par 7).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (Beals 1994, Ch 19 Par 10).
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (Harris and Platzner 2008, Ch 23 Par 81).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (Mack, Roberts and Bush 1921, Ch 19 Par 32).
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (Faragher et al. 2008, Ch 14 Par 2).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (Hunt 2016 et al., Ch 10 Par 4).
- Website citations should look like this:
- If citing from an assigned website, place the URL and the paragraph number from where the information came in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
- Here are some examples:
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (http://newdeal.feri.org/carbonhill/index.htm, Par 9).
- last words of the sentence with a direct quote” (http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/WhyStudyHistory.htm, Par 5).
- last words of the sentence with specific information but not in a direct quote (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html, Par 3).
General Tips on Completing the Essay
Begin working long before the due date. Read the essay topic before reading the book. As you read the book, think about how the essay topic might be approached. Do not rush, but set aside time to write, proofread, and rewrite the essay before submitting it. Write the essay in a word processing document and then cut and paste the essay into the submission box. Submit the essay at least a day before the due date, so there is no chance the deadline will be missed because of an unexpected event.
Include specific cited examples from the assigned readings. Realize that as I read each essay I will be asking myself, “Has this person carefully studied the assigned readings?” Including specific cited examples (but not necessarily direct quotes) from the assigned sources will help me answer “yes” to this question. Use quotes sparingly. Having specific cited examples does not require direct quotes. Do not string a series of quotes together and call that an essay.
Buy a copy of English Simplified by Blanche Ellsworth and John A. Higgins to use when composing essays.
Always Turn in Something
No matter what, always submit what you have completed. It is better to earn some points than no points at all. Earning eighty points out of 150 points is better than earning zero points out of 150 points. At the end of the term, just a few points could be the difference between a “D” and a “C” or the difference between a “C” and a “B” course grade.
Specific Grading Criteria
See the “Essay Grading Rubric” in the Important Class Information module for the grading rubric that will be used when I grade the essays.
Conclusion
Do your best and answer the question asked or discuss the assigned topic. Write about what is required and not about what you think should be the required topic of the essay. Make sure to carefully read and follow the formatting instructions detailed in this document. Always turn in something; any number of points is better than a grade of zero.
Reread this document before writing your essay and again before submitting the essay.
If you have questions, ask long before the due date, so I have time to respond. Send me a message through the class website’s private messaging system.
You can do this!