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A good historical question is broad enough to interest you and, hopefully, your classmates. Pick a topic that students in the class and average people walking down the street could find interesting or useful. If you think interracial relationships are an interesting topic and you find the 1940s to be an equally fascinating time period, come up with a question that incorporates both these interests.

For example: "How did white and African-American defense plant workers create and think about interracial relationships during World War Two?" This question investigates broad issues—interracial romance, sexual identity—but within a specific context—World War Two and the defense industry.

WARNING: Avoid selecting a topic that is too broad: "How has war affected sex in America?" is too broad. It would take several books to answer this question.

A good question is narrow enough so that you can find a persuasive answer to it in time to meet the due date for this class paper.

After selecting a broad topic of interest, narrow it down so that it will not take hundreds of pages to communicate what happened and why it was important. The best way write a narrow question is to put some limitations on the question's range. Choosing a particular geographic place (a specific location), subject group (who? what groups?), and periodization (from when to when?) are the most common ways to limit a historical question. The example above already contains a limited subject group (whites and African-Americans) and a short time period (WWII, 1941-1945); simply adding a place, such as "in the Bay Area" or "in Puget Sound" further narrows the topic: "How did white and African-American defense plant workers in the San Francisco Bay area create and think about interracial relationships during World War Two?" is a much more manageable question than one that addresses all defense workers.

WARNING: Avoid a question that only looks at one specific event or process. For example, "What happened on Thursday, Dec.12, 1943 at the Boeing bomber plant in Albany, California?" is too narrow. Perhaps there may have been several important events that day, including a fight over an interracial relationship. However, this question does not position you to explore the larger processes that were taking place in the plant over time, nor why they are important for understanding sex, race and gender in American history.

A good historical question demands an answer that is not just yes or no. Why and how questions are often good choices, and so are questions that ask you to compare and contrast a topic in different locations or time periods; so are questions that ask you to explain the relationship between one event or historical process and another.

Examples (why and how, compare/contrast, explanatory):

• "Why and how did Latina women in Texas challenge their traditional sexual identities in the 1960s?" or "Why and how did captivity narratives define interracial romance in colonial America?"
• "Gay liberation over time and space: The Stonewall Uprising and Harvey Milk assassination protests compared;" or "Sex and gender after the war is over: The contrast between the post-World War One and World War Two eras."
• "Go West, Young Woman: the rise of the popular newspaper, western boosterism, and the origins of women in professional journalism;" or "Sit-coms, kitchens, and Mom: TV and the redefinition of femininity and domesticity, 1950-1975."

A good historical question must be phrased in such a way that the question doesn't predetermine the answer.

Let's say you've decided to study the Tillamook Ku Klux Klan. You're fascinating by the development of the Klan, and repelled by its ideas, so the first question you think about asking is "Why was the Klan so racist?' This is not a good historical question, because it assumed what you ought to prove in your paper that the Klan was racist. A better question so ask would be "What was the Klan's attitude and behavior toward African Americans and immigrants, and why?"

28. Specific Facts.

This is one of the most important aspects of the content of your paper. The
facts you use must be specific! If, for instance, you say, "Using
their legions, the Romans conquered many lands," you leave a great deal
in question. How did their legions achieve such dominance? Whom did they defeat,
and when? Were legions the sole agents responsible for Rome's triumphs, or did
issues of leadership and management in the wake of conquest play a role in Rome's
dominion, too? As stated above, this weak, vague generality undercuts your argument.

Instead, cite particular names, people, places and events from the past: the
deft courage of early Roman generals like Cincinnatus, the cunning of Fabius
who avoided battle with Hannibal, the reforms Marius instituted in recruiting
legionaries which led to improvements in combat and retention, and the skill
and bravery exhibited by Caesar's soldiers at the Battle of Alesia. These concrete
fixtures are the common heritage shared by all who study and debate history.
Any of us can utilize them to underscore and bolster our notions about the past—assuming,
of course, the facts do, in fact, advance our arguments. Think of it this way.
Fabius, Marius and Julius Caesar are the public property of everyone who studies
classical antiquity. Anyone can and should use the particulars of history in
structuring our collective understanding of the past.

Specific facts are important in another way, too. By referencing the particular
data that support and comprise our common knowledge of Western civilization,
you are, in effect, meeting your readers halfway, on neutral ground so to speak.
That is, to begin your paper in a place to which we all have equal access makes
it just that much easier for someone to walk along with you wherever you're
headed, because in building your ideas on well-known, precise, mutually agreed-upon
data, you start the trek toward new ideas in territory everyone's familiar with.
From there, others can follow you more readily.

In sum, the specific data constituting our understanding of the past form the
basis of all historical and scientific inquiry. The bytes of information we
share in common are the elemental vocabulary of any discipline. Therefore, if
you mean to write a paper arguing for any larger trend in history and hope to
persuade sensible people to see things your way or even if you wish only to
convince others you have a handle on the past, you must use specific facts in
building your case.

Repeated Facts. Repeating facts is a completely different matter. It's
far more deleterious to your argument than monotonous phrasing, because by bringing
up the same fact twice or more you leave the impression that, as far as you
know, there are no other facts supporting the case. With so few data
underlying it, how strong is your argument then? If, on the other hand, there
are more and you know them, why aren't you citing them? The reader
will conclude that either your case or your preparation is shaky, which doesn't
help advance an argument. Instead, construct a better case and include more
data, or re-modulate the argument so you can include more corroborating evidence.
But whatever you do, don't repeat the same fact in a paper!

Please note that this pertains only to the body of your paper. For instance,
it's perfectly fine to repeat facts in the conclusion when you're recapitulating
your argument and reviewing the data at the end of the paper. There, in fact,
you should repeat the specific information you've cited in the body.
Just don't repeat facts anywhere else.

All in all, persuasive writing ought to encompass as wide a range of data as
possible. The broader the array of facts and the more abundant they are, the
more comprehensive an argument will seem and the more convincing it will be

26. Narrative.

Many students think I want them to prove in their papers that they've read
the assignment and "know the story." I do not! I have exams
and various other means of assessing your knowledge of the details. What I'm
seeking from your written work is whether or not you've listened in class and
read and absorbed the assigned material. Papers tell me something very important
and very different from other types of assessment. They show me not just what
facts you know but that you've thought about what you've learned!

Thus, students who write about the success of the Romans and lapse into a narrative
account of the history of the Roman Republic tell me only that they can regurgitate
the story, not that they've tried to make sense of it. But making sense out
of historical data is the ultimate goal of studying the past. The struggle that
comes of trying to impose some order on the often discordant data surrounding
past events is the way we learn about history, human nature and, above all,
ourselves. So, don't write just to show what you've learned but to teach, especially
yourself, about life then and now!

Remember this, too. I know the history we're studying in this class fairly
well. There's no need to teach me anything about that. Inform me, instead, about
something else just as important, your way of organizing the past. Thus, a mere
reference to the Gracchi as Roman revolutionaries is usually sufficient, if
your point is that Republican government in Rome was flexible enough to withstand
severe internal disruption. Conversely, going on and on about the Gracchi is
debilitating on two counts: it's unnecessary for your argument, and it skirts
one of the central goals of writing in this class, that you set the data within
some sort of coherent structure, your theme, your answer to the big questions
about life.

So, don't let yourself get lost in details and forget the big picture. Cite
an example as concisely as possible, and then return immediately to your main
point. That is, don't start story-telling! Aim at saying what you think,
not just what you know.

23. Narrow Themes.

In a recent class of mine where students were allowed to choose their own paper
topics, one essay launched off with the claim that "the role of women has
been important in Western Civilization all throughout its history." My
initial reaction was—to quote your own generation—"Well, duh!"
After all, without women where would any of us be? Who doesn't have a female
relative who's made that point at least once? But that's not the real problem
at hand here. The trouble is the general importance of women in history is such
a huge theme I doubt sixty volumes, much less one paper, could even begin to
do it justice.

The lesson is: choose a narrow theme! If you think women are important, fine!
Just don't try to encompass the entirety of such an enormous issue in one paper.
Instead, explore a single facet of their importance, for example, their contributions
to politics, or economics, or industry. Then, evaluate what history tells you
about the development of their role in this one area. End by asserting that,
although the paper has addressed only one aspect of the situation, it's representative
of all areas, suggesting the general centrality of women in history.

Moreover, a narrow approach offers another advantage. When you opt to focus
on a particular aspect of an issue, it says a great deal about your priorities
and intellect, the way you see the world. That alone is important information,
and not just for your reader to know but you, too. By exploring a narrow theme,
you learn what interests you, what seems to you compelling and worth investigating.
According to the ancient Greeks, to "know yourself" is the beginning
of all knowledge. So, make yourself choose a narrow topic and you will learn
something valuable about not just the world but who you are.

Citing
Sources

Citing
sources appropriately is an essential part of good historical
writing. Properly cited sources not only make it possible
for your professor to check your work. They also make it
possible for the interested reader to pursue some aspect
of your research in greater depth. When writing essays for
history classes, you will be expected to cite your sources.
If you quote directly or indirectly from an article, journal,
interview, document, or data set you need to indicate the
source of your information by inserting either a footnote
or an endnote. Most of the major word processing software
packages make this process easy, so there is no good excuse
for not doing it. If you fail to cite your sources, it is
possible that you may be accused of plagiarism [see George
Mason University Honor Code].

This
site contains specific
examples for how to cite your sources correctly. If
you are concerned that you are not citing your sources in
the way that your professor expects, be sure to consult
with the professor.

And
now...for some fun (follow the next page link).

Body
of the Paper (continued)

A)
Assemble as much information as you can before you begin
writing. If you write a page or two, then assemble more
evidence, then write some more, and so on, your paper may
turn out choppy and hard to follow.

B)
Write several drafts of your paper. The first draft
is your first effort--not the version that you turn in.
Faculty members can almost always tell when students write
one draft and turn it in...and they typically assign lower
grades to those essays. Take the evidence you have assembled
and write what you want to say. Now that you have a first
draft, begin improving upon what you have written. Every
paper can be improved. Is your paper too long? Is it too
short? Are parts of it very clear and others very difficult
to follow?

Two
good methods for finding problems in your paper are to ask
a friend to read it and, without having them rewrite it
for you, point out the sections that are hard to follow.
Also, try reading your essay out loud to yourself. If you
have trouble reading parts of it out loud, it is very likely
that what you have written is unclear or too wordy. If you
cannot read a sentence without stopping to take a breath,
that sentence should probably be broken up into two or even
three shorter sentences.

C)
Spelling and grammar mistakes make it difficult for the
reader to pay attention to your argument. When a paper
contains many of these sorts of errors, the reader spends
all of his or her time correcting your writing rather than
assessing the effectiveness of your analysis. Do not
let your computer do the editing for you! Microsoft
Word's grammar checker contains several common grammatical
errors that may count against you. There is no substitute
for careful proofreading. Careless editing of your essays
almost always will be reflected in your grade.

Body
of the Paper

Once
you have crafted a clear introduction for your essay, you
must elaborate on the argument you are pursuing. Discuss
relevant facts, arguments and counter arguments and explain
why you think your thesis is correct. Early in the paper
you should place your topic in its proper historical context
but resist the historian's temptation to begin your essay
with Noah's adventures in the Great Flood. Go back into
the history of your topic only so far as that background
is relevant to your argument.

Do
not neglect important evidence or counter arguments that
might call your conclusions into question. At the same time,
do not spend too much time on other people's arguments.
Your argument is what the professor is generally
most interested in.

Above
all, analyze.
Do not recite a series of facts in the form, "This
happened, and then this happened and then this happened,
etc., etc. . . . " The purpose of your papers is always
to analyze a text, a series of events, or a set of data.
Your professor already knows what happened. What he or she
wants to know is your analysis of the events, sources, trends,
etc., in question.

At
the end of your paper there should be a conclusion. In the
final paragraph you should sum up, without simply restating,
the arguments you have made. One good way to make sure you
have remained true to your thesis is to compare your concluding
statements to the thesis. Be sure they agree with one another.
If you began your paper blaming the Catholic Church for
the lack of opportunity for French women and concluded your
paper by blaming French men, you have a problem that needs
to be dealt with.

As
you can see, writing a paper is a balancing act. You need
to include as much relevant information as possible without
cramming every piece of information you can find into your
paper. Much of what you learn you simply may have to leave
out of the paper because that extra information is just
not necessary to the task before you. Likewise, if your
argument is a controversial one you may need to provide
enough information to convince the reader that you really
do know what you are talking about.

So
how do you manage to achieve this balance? Read on...

Thesis

Every paper must have a thesis. Your thesis should be stated
clearly at the beginning of your paper so that the reader
is not left to wonder just what argument you are making.
If you cannot say what you want in one or two sentences
your thesis is probably unclear or too broad and your essay
will reflect that lack of precision.

For
example: Let us say that you are trying to write your paper
about the changing role of women in France at the turn of
the century. You need to begin your paper by telling the
reader what exactly you intend to prove, demonstrate or
illuminate in your paper. One example of how your thesis
could be written in this paper would be: The
Catholic Church in France was the agency most responsible
for preventing French women from achieving greater social
advancement at the turn of the century. This
simple sentence leaves the reader with no doubts about the
main point you intend to make.

The
thesis statement does not have to be the opening sentence
of your paper (although it can be) but it should appear
somewhere on the first page of the essay. In the paragraph
that contains your thesis you also should mention the sort
of evidence you are going to offer to support your argument
and how your topic fits into a broader context.

Credibility


How credible or believable is the source? Consider: 

• 
  Credentials: academic background, institutional affiliation, or previously
  published work. 
• 
  Arguments: Are arguments for the author's point of view logical and well
  reasoned? 
• 
  Documentation: Are facts and arguments supported by references to existing
  scholarly literature by reputable authors? 

A source may have excellent credentials and yet be of limited value. In
some cases, a source with less impressive credentials may turn out to be
highly valuable. 

Bias




• 
  Does the source seem to have a hidden agenda, or rigidly narrow point of
  view?
  
    
• 
  Does the source distort other points of view, or dismiss them out of hand?
  
   
• 
  Does the source accept advertising? If so, does the advertising appear
  to bias the information?
• 
  Is there an conflict of interest? Does the source stand to profit financially
  from a particular point of view? 

Although financial motivations can cause information to be biased, keep
in mind that many corporate sites are excellent sources of free, valuable
information. Just remember to look at the information in context. 

Engaging in historical inquiry, in order to develop an understanding of the broad picture of the past, is a cyclical process that begins with the asking of guiding historical questions. These questions are investigated by locating and analyzing traces of the past - historical sources. It is vital to recognize that these records and relics, primary and secondary historical sources, are:







• leftover remains and traces from the past, and that we do not have access to every single record or relic from the past;
• products of very different times and contexts from today, and we must make every effort to try to understand the people, places and times that produced these sources; and
• not always developed to serve as intentional evidence of the past, but they can still be analyzed in an attempt to draw credible and worthwhile inferences and claims about the past to help answer historical questions (Lee, 2005, p. 58).







The systematic and sophisticated process of analyzing these historical sources in the light of guiding questions results in historical evidence. This historical evidence, which at times can often be complex and contradictory, is then used to construct credible claims/narratives about the past, or in other word, historical interpretations, that seek to provide answers to the guiding historical questions. These interpretations often open up new avenues for the development of further historical questions and mysteries to be explored.