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Back to TABLE OF TOPICS: WRITING ASSIGNMENTS IN HISTORY COURSES

Guidelines for Clear Writing

Whether your assignment is to write an in-class essay exam, a take-home essay exam, a review essay, or a research paper, follow these simple guidelines for clear writing:

The subject of each sentence must be clear.
The action of the subject (what the subject is saying, feeling, or doing) must also be clear.
Avoid writing in the passive voice. When writing history, identify an actor or an agent of change whenever possible.
History "happened." Write about historical events in the past tense.
If you have several points to make, write several shorter sentences rather than one long one.
Be sure that each sentence adds something of substance to the one before it.
Make certain that each sentence is logically connected to the one before (and after) it.
The sentences of each paragraph must be logically linked (don't jump around).
Each paragraph (group of linked sentences) should focus on a single point and make its point clearly.
When you begin a new point, start a new paragraph.
Create transition sentences to help your reader understand the connection between two paragraphs. See Connecting the Parts of an Essay.
As each sentence in a paragraph should be logically connected to the one before it and the one after it, so each paragraph in an essay should be logically connected to the one before it and the one after it.

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