Hist. 321 Home | Schedule of Readings and Assignments

Guidelines for Written Assignments

  • Submit all assignments to the instructor. Do not hand in any essays to the staff of the History Department. It is not their job to receive assignments from students.

  • Essays sent by electronic attachment will not be accepted.

  • All essays must be typed, paginated, and double-spaced with all margins set at one inch.

  • Use a twelve-point font for the entire essay, including footnotes / endnotes.

  • Provide a title page with your own title and include your e-mail address on the title page in case I need to contact you.

  • Staple your essay together. No paper clips please!

  • Do not exceed the word limit assigned to each essay assignment. I will not read beyond what you are required to write.

  • When citing your sources, supply footnotes or a separate page (or separate pages) for endnotes. (I prefer footnotes.) Alternatively, you may cite direct quotes from or references to the book in question by indicating page numbers in brackets within your own text. Do not forget to cite your source precisely! Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.

  • For all matters of style, including the correct format for footnotes and bibliography, please consult the most recent editions of either The Chicago Manual of Style or of Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. For help with style, see also William Strunk, Jr. Elements of Style. Examples of footnote and bibliographical form required for this course may be found here.

  • Superior essays will be written with correct grammar and idiomatic usage. Above all, they will directly address the relevant question and will be based on a clear, well-defined thesis statement sustained with logical consistency and by compelling evidence taken from the relevant source(s) in the form of quotations and/or specific references. Your written work should be the organized and intelligible record of your own thinking about a particular problem. Avoid stringing together the ideas of others, and especially avoid plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of the words or ideas of another author. For more information on plagiarism point your internet browser to http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/writing/plagiarism.htm. This site links to the SFU Library plagiarism tutorial. In 2005, I came across at least three papers in which students had used without acknowledgement material from printed or internet sources. Every paper received an F. Every paper marred by plagiarism deserves an F. I am an expert at detecting plagiarism. Do not plagiarize!

  • Keep all the notes that you take and all other preparatory work (e.g. outlines) for your essays until I have returned your essays. If you use outside sources for the final essay, return all books to the library before submitting your essay so that I can check your references.

  • Avoid the most common stylistic problems of undergraduate essays: Aim to express your ideas clearly and concisely. Write in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Do not use colloquial language or contractions. Avoid convoluted, run-on sentences. Wherever possible use the active voice, not the passive voice. (If you do not know what these terms mean, find out!) Know what words mean before you use them. Consult a dictionary regularly to help you use and spell words correctly. Use authoritative dictionaries, e.g. the various Oxford dictionaries. Avoid internet dictionaries. Do not rely on spell-check programs.

  • Use your sources correctly. All page references must be accurate. Quote accurately and do not misrepresent your sources. Adapt your prose to quotations from your sources, not vice versa. Do not quote fragments that make no grammatical sense. Do not alter the text of your source when quoting from it by replacing words in or adding words to the text. Provide a context for your quotations so that they make sense to your readers. Do not expect your readers to guess the connection between a quotation and an argument you wish to make. Essays that violate academic honesty will be penalized.

  • Do not hand in assignments late. The midterm essay will be late if not handed in at the beginning of class. Late midterm essays will receive a penalty of 2% per day late, and I reserve the right simply to provide grades without comments on these. You may not hand in the final essay (due 1 August at 9:30 in AQ 6230) late. Students who do so will receive an "N" for the course. An "N" signifies that you have not completed the requirements for the course and is equivalent to a GPA of an "F."

  • I will gladly allow for extensions for the term essay without penalty but only if you have a significant and urgent reason for not handing in the paper on time (e.g. illness, family tragedy) and if you speak with me before the deadline for submission. As a rule, e-mail requests for extensions will not be considered.

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