The most common and most serious error in history papers is not having a clear thesis. A thesis is simply the point you wish your paper to prove, and if your paper doesn't have a point, none of your evidence and argument can do you much good. Make sure that your reader is clear in the first paragraph or two on exactly what you want your paper to show, and organize the rest of the paper around doing exactly that.

A good place to put your thesis is at the end of the first paragraph. That gives you some time to introduce your topic, but at the same time doesn't leave your reader hanging, wondering what point you're trying to make.

The goal of your paper is to convince your reader that your thesis is correct. All these rules are aimed at helping you do that effectively. All examples are taken from actual student papers.

1. Spell-check your papers.

Word processors make it so fast and easy to check your papers for spelling errors there is no excuse for not doing it. As an added bonus, the spell-check function will alert you to your use of words that aren't really words. If the spell-checker doesn't recognize your word, don't just think "stupid spell-check." Look in a dictionary.

If I get a paper that hasn't been spell-checked, I assume that the writer does not care about it. I will grade accordingly.

2. Keep your paragraphs focused.

A paragraph should be about one and only one theme. Usually, but not always, it will have a topic sentence indicating that theme. If you start discussing a new idea or a new theme, it's time to start a new paragraph.

3. Write in complete sentences (I).

In particular, avoid comma splices. Those involve taking two perfectly good sentences and joining them together by a comma and only a comma. You can join two sentences EITHER by using a semicolon OR by using a comma and a conjuction (and, but, for, so, yet, nor)

WRONG: The third excerpt is from Virginia Woolf's _A Room of One's Own_, this is an excellent explanation of why women have not advanced as far as men.

RIGHT: The third excerpt is from Virginia Woolf's _A Room of One's Own_; this is an excellent explanation of why women have not advanced as far as men.

RIGHT: The third excerpt is from Virginia Woolf's _A Room of One's Own_, and this is an excellent explanation of why women have not advanced as far as men.

WRONG: The basis for Gorbachev's _perestroika_ was derived from the years of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), this tells us much about the effectiveness of Lenin's rule.

RIGHT: The basis for Gorbachev's _perestroika_ was derived from the years of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP); this tells us much about the effectiveness of Lenin's rule.

RIGHT: The basis for Gorbachev's _perestroika_ was derived from the years of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), and this tells us much about the effectiveness of Lenin's rule.

RIGHT: The basis for Gorbachev's _perestroika_ was derived from the years of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), telling us much about the effectiveness of Lenin's rule.

4. Write in complete sentences (II).

In particular, avoid sentence fragments. In formal writing, sentences need a subject and a verb. Examples of fragments include:

WRONG: Which was definitely a view opposed to that of his son, Vladimir Lenin, who overthrew the tsarist government.

WRONG: Going from a commoner to nobility, and ending up as the tsar's Director of Public Schools for the province of Simbirsk.

WRONG: Lenin's belief that the eventual end of government must be carried out by a temporary system that uses the power of a few to ultimately shut itself down.

5. Do not make elementary mistakes of word choice.

Nothing is more irritating than reading college papers that confuse it's and its; your and you're; they're, their, and there; or to, too, and two. There is no excuse for college students' making those mistakes. If you aren't 100% sure of which of these words is appropriate in which circumstances, learn the rules NOW.

6. Use apostrophes correctly.

Apostrophes signify possession or contraction: "That's Dave's book." They do NOT mean plural. So, "Nazi's" does not mean "more than one Nazi." It means "belonging to a Nazi."

7. Avoid dangling modifiers.

This means essentially that modifiers need to be next to the things they modify. For example, the following sentence suggests that after Hitler's death at the hands of a communist, he then went on to use Horst Wessel as a martyr.

WRONG: Killed by a communist enemy, Hitler used Horst Wessel as a martyr for the cause.

RIGHT: Killed by a communist enemy, Horst Wessel became a martyr for Hitler's cause.

RIGHT: Hitler used Horst Wessel, killed by a communist enemy, as a martyr for the cause.

8. Use appropriately formal language.

Ways that you might speak or write in a letter to a friend are NOT appropriate for formal academic writing.

WRONG: The other faction was called the Mensheviks, and a guy named Martov led them.

WRONG: Lenin sure would of had trouble finding someone of Trotsky's intellect and loyalty.

In particular, avoid the use of "you" when you intend to say "any person at all." It's preferable to either use "one" or reword the sentence. "You" is fine in informal writing, and I'm using it here. For more formal writing, stick to "one."

WRONG: Depending on whom you want to reach, you will address your propaganda accordingly.

OK: Depending on whom one wants to reach, one will address one's propaganda accordingly.

BETTER: Propaganda is best addressed in accordance with the desired audience.

9. Quote appropriately and accurately.

You need to show your reader whenever you're using someone else's exact words; not to do so is plagiarism. When you quote a phrase or sentence or longer piece of text, you should do it because it's important to supporting your argument. That reason can be that the exact words of the quotation are important or interesting or eloquent, but you do need to have some reason. Don't quote just to quote.

Also, quotations don't stand alone. They are a part of your argument, so they need to fit naturally into it. For that reason, you shouldn't start your paragraphs with quotations, since you need to give context when you quote to explain how and why the quotation is important and fits into your argument. Also for that reason, don't leave quotations standing alone as sentences by themselves. Blend them in some way with your own text:

BAD: Marie Stopes believed that marriage must be between intellectual equals. "Marriage can never reach its full stature until women possess as much intellectual freedom and freedom of opportunity within it as do their partners."

BETTER: Marie Stopes believed that marriage must be between intellectual equals, for "marriage can never reach its full stature until women possess as much intellectual freedom and freedom of opportunity within it as do their partners."

10. Use quotation marks correctly.

If you're using a blocked quote (indented and set off from your text), that already shows quotation and you don't need additional quotation marks.

If you have a quotation inside a quotation, use single quotation marks for the inner passage:

RIGHT: Professor Stone said "Winston Churchill said 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.'"