Suggestions for Final Term Papers

SIS 200 – States and Capitalism – Autumn 2003

Use a title, and use a good one. Your title should indicate the subject matter and argument of your paper. Bad Title: “Money and Guns.” Good Title: “Money and Guns: The Role of Artillery in the Mamluk Defeat of the Ottoman Empire.”

Time and Space. Make the time frame and geographic framework of your paper clear from the very beginning.

Use a map. If you are talking about complex regional interactions (wars, trade, movement of people, etc.), include a map so your reader can reference visually the places and movements you are discussing. Maps are readily available on the Internet.

Set up your Why question. Most of you have not done this sufficiently. By the time you get around to asking your Why question (and this should happen in paragraph 1), you need to have set up the puzzle that makes the Why question necessary. Don’t spring the question on your reader without creating or presenting a need for it. Ideally, your introduction, on its own, will make the readers ask the question themselves, and then WHAMMO! There is the question! and all seems right with the world (and your paper, of course).

Assumptions: Two very important assumptions you should make in writing your paper are: 1) your readers are not idiots, but 2) they do not know anything about your topic. Thus, you must provide sufficient background and explanation so the readers can understand the context of your argument.

Citations. (This is serious, so pay attention. I’ll only say it once.) You must cite your sources. This does not mean that you cite only direct quotations. You must cite every morsel of information (including facts, data, and ideas) that you gather from other sources, even if they are reworded or paraphrased. Failure to credit your sources equals plagiarism, which is a serious academic offense. Do not make this mistake, intentionally or unintentionally. Even if you start out already knowing a lot about your topic, I would expect ten citations in your paper, at the very least. Thirty would not be unreasonable for many of you. Furthermore, you must cite your sources according to academic formatting conventions, and do it consistently throughout your paper. Do not mix formats. If you do not know the proper format, ask your study group, ask your TA, ask a librarian, or consult a source on writing correctly.

Diversify your sources. You cannot write an analytic academic paper using one book as your source, or information from two pages of one book, or even two books. You must provide evidence, both through your information/analysis and your sources, that you have done rigorous research and thinking about your topic, and that you have drawn information and ideas from a diverse range of sources.

Break it up! You need to break your paper into subsections with indicative section titles. This will help you organize your paper according to a coherent outline, and it will help your readers understand the paper’s conceptual framework and the flow of its argument. Your intro/thesis should forecast the overall structure of the paper.

Use data! If you want to make your discussion, illustrations, and argumentation stronger, you need to use data (figures, numbers, charts, maps, etc.) to help give life to the events and phenomena you are discussing. Using empirical evidence will help you prove your thesis and support your argument. How much did X cost? How many people fought in war Y? How many boatloads of Z were shipped between this date and that date? How do these figures change over time?

Don’t write like you speak. These are, like, academic papers, you know. And well, like I said before, you have to write like a student, not a TV advertisement. Your topic is important. Clichés and idiomatic expressions sound goofy when you are trying to convince your readers. Don’t be cute, be persuasive and serious. Try to avoid choppy little sentences, and give your paper a flow that makes it more enjoyable and easier to read. Read it yourself (out loud). Ask other people to read it and comment on the tone of the writing.

Relate everything in your paper back to your thesis. Ask yourself at the end of every paragraph: how does this relate to the central argument? Then eliminate everything that does not contribute to supporting your thesis. Repetition is not generally advisable, but you can spell out repeatedly in your paper how each section relates to the thesis.

Transitions. Think about the transitions in your paper (between ideas, sections, paragraphs, text and quotations). They should be smooth and logical, not abrupt and nonsensical. Do not jump from idea to idea without an organizing framework behind the movement. Your reader should be able to sense that you are following an outline, and both you and the reader should be able to identify where each part of the paper fits into that outline.

Be explicit. Explain to the best of your ability everything you are talking about. If you refer to abstract concepts (trade routes, results, ideas, changes, countries, etc.), the reader wants and needs to know exactly what you are talking about. Most importantly, do not use words like it, this, that, these, those, etc. without making very clear exactly what those pronouns are standing for (and referring to) in each sentence.

Page and Time Limits. Respect and honor the page limit. Don’t even consider playing games with the due date. Do not wait to print until the day before the due date. Save your work as you go. We all know that computers behave unpredictably, so take precautions. Computer calamities are not valid excuses at the dawn of the millennium.

Formatting. You may use a title page. Include your name, paper title, class & section, date, and the TA’s name. (Big Hint: Try to spell it right.) Number the pages of your paper. Use 12-point type, double space, one-inch margins. Put your bibliography on its own page (it doesn’t count as part of the page limit).

Revise. You can never revise a piece of writing often enough. You should read and reread your paper, making revisions as you go. Use your study group: Have them read and reread your drafts. Use the JSSA writing tutors; they are waiting for you in Smith Hall, and they know the difference between right and wrong when it comes to SIS 200 term papers.

Proofread your paper. Spell-check can play tricks on you, so do not rely on it. The fact that my compute didn’t fine mistakes in thus sentence collaborates my sediment about how impotent it is to proofread.