Paper Tips

HI 372
Analytic paper pointers

The analytic paper is both one of the easiest and most difficult papers you will write at Boston University. It is easy because the analytic paper should only be 4-6 pages long, and because you can essentially write your paper based on the information contained in the books and lectures that form this course. It is difficult, because we are asking you to develop your own detailed analysis of a primary source, instead of merely rephrasing the opinions expressed in various secondary sources, or summarizing the books contents. It is very important that you DO NOT use outside sources. To make this very clear, Wikipedia, for example, is not something you should cite in your papers!

The following is a list of principles to keep in mind while writing your paper.

· Why is this source historically significant? Is this new?
· What does it reveal about the time period in which it was written and the people who wrote it?
· What are the themes within the book?
· Why were they important? What are the relevant events that provide historical context?
· Do you accept the analysis of events contained in the book? Why or why not?
· How did the document evaluate the recent and long-term past?
· Did the document make any recommendations on how events should unfold in the future?

Obviously, these queries are somewhat vague, because there is no one set checklist provoked by each source. Each book evokes its own set of questions but the most important thing to remember is that these are meant to get you to analyze your source, NOT summarize it.

Writing the paper

· Introduce and develop a central argument that you will sustain throughout the paper’s body and conclusion.

· Be specific in introduction, and outline the major evidence that supports a thesis.

· In each paragraph, develop transition sentences to help flow from one point to another while supporting one central argument.

Once you have finished writing your paper, make sure to proofread and edit it thoroughly. If possible, give your paper to a friend, and ask for their editorial commentary. Avoid inserting lengthy, block quotations, and try not to quote your textbooks (you can write information much better than those boring textbooks) as these consume large amounts of space, and run contrary to the analytic focus of this paper. Make sure that you introduce and engage your source up front in your paper.

Grammatical elements
There are a few grammatical elements you should try to avoid in your paper. Passive voice, for instance, is something you should limit your use of in this assignment. Passive voice is when you structure your sentence in such a way as not to indicate clearly who or what was responsible for an action. For example, the following sentences are in passive voice:

A lecture was given. or The data was analyzed.

While the sentences communicate some information, they are not specific. Who gave the lecture? Who mugged me? These are important facts if I am trying to reconstruct and evaluate some event in the past. It is possible to indicate this information within a sentence with the addition of a prepositional phrase. For instance:

A lecture was given by Professor Keylor. or The data was analyzed by the researcher.

However, these are long sentences, and in a 4-6 pp paper, you want make your point in as few words as possible, so as to leave space for analysis of other topics. It is better to rephrase the sentences as follows

Professor Keylor lectured. or The researcher analyzed the data.

You should also make certain that when your sentences refer to events in the past the verbs in those sentences referring to action or thought in the past are themselves in past tense.
One way to avoid grammatical errors is to read your paper aloud. Many times, if you hear a sentence spoken, you will know if it is in correct English without explicitly knowing the rule in question. However, if at all possible, you should have someone else read your paper because after reading your paper several times, it is probable that you will miss some errors that another person will not.

Citing Sources

If what you have written is either not common knowledge, or is a quote or a paraphrasing of another source, you need to indicate in your paper the source that you quoted or paraphrased, by using footnotes (parenthetical documentation is not acceptable); if you do not cite your sources, you will be penalized. The following are several templates for citing the various sources available to you in this course:

Citing a Lecture:
William R. Keylor, “The Ideological Division of Europe, 1945-1949”, Boston University, 18 Jan. 2007.

Citing a Secondary Source:
William R. Keylor, The Twentieth Century World: An International History. 5th ed. (New York: Oxford, 2006), pp. 22-3.

Citing a Primary Source:
Mao Tse-Tung, “Statement Proclaiming the People’s Republic of China, October 1, 1949,” in The Cold War: A History Through Documents. Edward Judge and John Langdon. Eds. (Upper Saddle River, N-J: Practice Hall, 1999), p. 56-57.





Plagiarism
Plagiarism is grounds for a failing grade and disciplinary action through the Dean’s Office, and can result in the total loss of academic credit for a semester. Simply defined, it is the intellectual theft of ideas, analysis, sentences, paragraphs, even papers whose origins do not lie completely with you. If you use an author’s exact words without quotation marks and citation, that is plagiarism. If you misrepresent a concept or an interpretation you acquired from a secondary or primary source as your own intellectual property, that is also plagiarism. If you submit a paper that you did not write, that is plagiarism. If you collaborate with other students in the writing, format, and/or analysis of your paper (beyond asking them to proofread one of your drafts), it will be considered plagiarism. Information that is considered common knowledge—e.g. the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919—is not plagiarism and does not need to be cited. If you would like further clarification as to what is and is not plagiarism, please consult the B.U. History Department Writing Guide, the Student Academic Code of Conduct, and your Teaching Fellow. The History Department Writing Guide can be found at http://www.bu.edu/history/writing_guide.html