Writing Tips For History
Thought I would share what I instruct my undergraduate history students to do in their writing. I think that particulars and specificities help historians make arguments and tell stories. Here they go!
Use the past tense to describe historical events.
Ensure your statement is specific. Never use such phrases as: “Throughout history” “Back in the day” “Mankind” or “humankind”. Designate the time and place of where you are talking about.
Never say “History shows…”
Gender: Never use “she” to designate a country. Never use “he” or “man” to designate an individual.
Treat religion critically. You are writing as historians—not about all Christians, all Jews, all Muslims, all Chinese. Think about the context—where and when?
ALWAYS make sure your story is situated in a specific time and place. Instead of “Christianity has a reputation for religious war.” Say “In Europe in the 1100s, Pope Urban II called on Europeans to fight a crusade in the name of Christianity. This was the beginning of centuries of wars that Christians waged on behalf of their religion.”
Correlation and Causation: It is a very common error to misattribute the cause of certain phenomena. “Christianity began losing influence in the 1500s, which prompted a religious war between Catholics and Protestants.” No. Instead state what happened that truly started the Reformation, according to what other researchers have found: “Historians tend to cite Martin Luther’s 95 Theses as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. His protest of indulgences resonated with many people, and began a movement that caused over 100 years of wars between Catholics and Protestants.”
If you don’t know why something happened, never guess. You may ask the question in your paper.
Avoid talking about religion in general unless you are discussing the secularization thesis or something.
Generalities: “religion” “history” “time” “people”—these words should never be the subject of a sentence.
Don’t try to connect everything together in a neat way. If they don’t connect, don’t force it. Or ask if they do.
After you write each of your example paragraphs, then add a sentence or two to transition from paragraph to paragraph.
Avoid the past imperfect—“Christianity has been blah blah blah throughout the years.” (Don’t make anything last from medieval Europe to now automatically.)