Some Tips on Expository Writing

 

Literally, “history” means “story.”  In one sense, our objective is to explore and understand the stories of the American people.  In another sense, however, we seek to understand how that story is deciphered, and that requires an exploration of the historian’s craft.  When an historian wishes to contribute to the understanding of a part of history, he or she gathers evidence from primary sources. Primary sources are the texts that the people of the past leave to posterity.  A primary source can be a document that tells the age and sex of each passenger of a ship, a letter, or an argumentative essay. Likewise a primary source “text” can be anything else that tells us about the people we are studying, which means that a pot, a photograph, a song or a shard of broken china can be as much of a primary source as the Declaration of Independence.  From what evidence they manage to gather from primary sources, historians create secondary sources.  Secondary sources interpret the available evidence and make an argument as to what the primary sources tell us about their subject. 

As we will find, historians do not always agree in their assessments of evidence, or even in what constitutes solid evidence.  They might argue contentiously about points, but they do this because the stakes are high.  Human history is a tapestry in which we are all connected.  The past forms the foundation of how we view ourselves in the present, and how we imagine ourselves in the future. We strive to better know history because we strive to better know ourselves.

When writing your papers, please refer frequently to these guidelines.  Not only will they improve your writing, but these standards form the foundation of my grading rubric.

I.  The substance of a paper:

A.  Introduce your topic.  The introduction of the paper tells the reader what specific and precise questions you address in your paper, and briefly states your position on the issue. This gives the reader a clear mental picture of where you are going to take them.  It is very important that you are specific and not general here.  Perhaps immediately following an eloquent historical fact or anecdote pertinent to your topic, do not be afraid to come right out and say it:    “This paper will consider. . .” or “The problem at hand is. . .”  As you progress as a writer, you may wish to conceal this kind of scaffolding, but at this stage it is probably the best course for you (you decide).  Immediately state what position you are going to defend, and then briefly tell the reader why you believe your position to be correct.  You should present your evidence systematically: Each of the next three or four sentences should summarize and foreshadow a paragraph of your analysis.  The last sentence of your introduction should hit the reader between the eyes.  State again, clearly and without tentative language, the “thesis” or “position” of your paper.

 

B.  Answer the Question.  Except in the most flagrant of cases, a paper is evaluated on how well the writer defends his or her position, and not on the position itself.  It is absolutely imperative that you take a position on the question at hand.  While a badly defended thesis or a thesis made in spite of obvious evidence to the contrary may not score well, a paper with a marginal thesis and scanty evidence will almost certainly score higher than an eloquent treatise that writes around the question in general terms.  So, if you are asked to write about the Jackson Administration’s Indian policy, do not write generally about Andrew Jackson.  Do not write generally about Indians.  Do not write generally about policy.  Write about the Jackson Administration’s Indian policy.  But do not be misled.  You will need to explain certain things about the Jackson administration and its Indian “problem,” and you will need to write about the Cree Indians and their Jackson “problem,” but that description provides a canvas upon which you paint your analysis.  Work from specific facts to your conclusions.  But do not simply retell a story that I could find in a textbook.  Also, take notice of how the question is worded.  Essay questions often employ terms like “compare and contrast,” “evaluate,” “analyze,” “to what extent,” and so on.  Pay attention to these words, because whoever is grading your paper will be watching to see that you do what the question asks you to do.

C.  Do not sacrifice complexity.  Do not feel that you must reduce your argument to black and white, right and wrong.  It is entirely possible (as we shall see. . .) that two equally brilliant people can ask the same historical question, consider the same historical evidence, and come to utterly different conclusions.  Usually there is no one single right answer to an essay question.

D.  Facts do not speak for themselves.  An expository essay functions, in many ways, like a mathematical proof.  Each fact that you put in your paper has a place in determining your conclusions.  So, for each fact you present, you must tie that fact to your argument with analysis.  Include only what is relevant to your case.  If a fact has no bearing on your conclusions, you can probably delete it.

E. Paragraphs.  Each paragraph (or in longer papers, group of paragraphs) has a function.  Start the paragraph with a topic sentence, or main idea.  In other words, get to your point.  Then explain with facts and narrative.  Make sure each paragraph helps you make your case.  Also, smooth transitions between paragraphs help your paper flow well and displays an understanding of how issues relate to one another. 

F. Be specific.  Do not write “Southerners sometimes refused to comply with Federal Law.”  Instead, write “In the Exposition of 1828, the South Carolina state legislature declared that the state would not enforce the 1828 Tariff on grounds that the Constitution did not grant the Federal Government the authority to pass such a law.”  The second sentence is much more informative.

G.  Dictionary Definitions.  Some students like to use sentences like “Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines ‘republic’ as. . .”  While the dictionary is an indispensable tool for any writer (be sure to have a good one, along with a thesaurus), definitions like these are worse than useless for beginning an historical analysis. 

H.  Do not push your reader around.  It is often useless to tell the reader that something is “very” anything, or “important” or “significant.”  Do not write “Notice that. . .”  Write your point and let the reader notice.  Likewise, the reader will figure out what is “important” or “significant.” 

 

I.  Quotations.  Quote only what is necessary for your paper. Usually, it is best to quote fragments of sentences and weave them into your own prose.  Sometimes, especially when working with primary sources, it is necessary to quote long passages.  But when pulling quotes from secondary sources, do not just throw someone’s sentence into your paper.  You can borrow their idea, but cite it with a footnote.  Speaking of citations, you also need to cite sources when you use quotations or pull detailed factual information from a source.  In shorter (non-research) cite with the author’s last name and page number in parentheses. Example: (Vonnegut 57).  Be sure to include all sources in your bibliography. Note: If an author appears in more than one source in your bibliography, indicate which work your citation is from.  Example: (Jefferson, A Summary View. . ., 124).

J.  Conclusions.  After you told your reader where you were going to go in your paper (introduction), and you have gone there (body of paper), sum it up for your reader.  Do not simply rewrite the introduction in different words; rather, restate your evidence and finish with strong analysis.  After you finish, go back to the top and add a title that captures the spirit of your paper in a single line.  It could be simple, like “George Washington’s Second Administration, 1793-1797.” Or it could be more informative: “New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans and the Remaking of Early America.”

K.  Your Ideal Reader. Always remember that you are writing for other people. Keep them in mind.  Do not write for the teacher, who probably knows the subject matter quite well already, but instead write for someone who is intelligent and educated, but unfamiliar with your topic.  This “ideal reader” should be an actual person. 

II.  Style and Usage

A.  Subject and verb agreement.  They must agree.  If the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular.  The same goes for plural.

B.  Verb tense.  When you are writing history, your subjects almost always lived, and probably died, in the past. Write of them in the past tense.  This is different from what you learn in English class--you write of literary characters in the present.  That is just something that you need to accept. 

 

C.  Use active verb voice.  (What is this?)  College professors will be furious when you write in the passive voice, so get used to this now.  Active voice makes clear who or what is acting in a sentence.  For example, some children will explain to their parents that the “Garage window broke.”  It clearly did not break itself, so the question remains “who broke the window?”  Nine times out of ten, the child should say “I broke the window.”  It makes clear who is responsible. So instead of writing “The paper was written,” write “Professor Glover wrote the paper.”

D.  Split infinitives.  While now accepted as correct by the Chicago Manual of Style, it is still better not to split infinitives.  Splitting an infinitive is when the infinitive form of the verb (“to go,” “to climb,” etc.) is split by a modifier.  “To boldly go where no man has gone before” would be more correctly stated “To go boldly where no man has gone before” or “boldly to go.” Ask Spock.

E.  Write in the Third Person.  In formal prose, do not refer to the reader (or someone else) as “you.”  Likewise, except perhaps when you are explicitly asked to give your opinion, avoid using the first person.  “One can be certain. . .” is better than “I am certain. . .” or “You can be certain. . .”  Avoid also the first person plural “we.” 

F.  Commas.  These trouble students, but they can be easily mastered.  To wit:

1.  Separate items in a series: Berry, Buck, Mills and Stipe.  Note: It is a matter of heated and bloody controversy whether a comma would go between “Mills” and “and” in the above example.  Actually, I don’t care.  Do as you wish, or as you feel makes your meaning most clear.

2.  Separate main and subordinate, or dependent, clauses: When pressed on the issue, all but the most radical white Americans considered the African race inferior to themselves.

3.  Separate independent clauses: John Kennedy may have been the more popular president, but Richard Nixon ran a more accomplished administration.

4.  Separate opposite descriptions: Albert Einstein, who was intimately involved with discovering the principles of atomic energy, was also a pacifist.

5.  When in doubt, leave it out.  If you have severe trouble with this, find a style manual and study it.

G.  One word is better than two, or six..  There is no need to dress up your prose so that it requires a thesaurus to decipher.  Say “eyes,” not “orbs of vision.”  A professor of mine offered this example: “The mounted denizens of the Plains could not contain their mirthful appreciation of the Eastern immigrants” really means “The cowboys laughed at the tenderfeet.”

III.  Editing matters.

A.  Very long quotations.  Only when necessary, as stated above. If a quote is more than 3 lines or so, separate it from the rest of the prose.  Indent both sides 1", and single space it.

B.  Dashes.  Two consecutive hyphens, no spaces between them, or between it and the words which precede or follow it.  Thomas Jefferson declared three fundamental rights--life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness--in the Declaration of Independence.