How to Write a History Research Paper

History research papers can be pretty daunting, but they're not too difficult so long as you give yourself plenty of time and structure your research and writing constructively. Here are a few tips that will help you write a winning research paper, or at least one that will give you a passing grade a few extra hours of sleep.

First, don't procrastinate! You can get away with procrastinating for other kinds of papers, but you really can't do it with research papers, especially those for a history class. Generally, for a five-to-ten page paper you're given at least two weeks to complete it. Also, if the assignment appears on the syllabus for your class then you really have no excuse to at least start thinking about it in advance. Not procrastinating doesn't mean that you have to hammer out the paper to completion the first day it's assigned. Quite the contrary. I've found that I can't sit down and work on something like a research paper for more than an hour at a time, so it's best to take things in little chunks. If you work on the paper even fifteen minutes a day for the first week then you'll be in good shape for when the deadline looms. An all nighter can turn into a mere two or three hours you have to spend finalizing the project.

Second, the library is your friend, so learn how to use it. If it seems like a number of people in your class are going to be writing on the same subject, then don't WAIT to go and get materials from the library. If you procrastinate in this respect, then all applicable materials to your paper will be gone before you have a chance to take them out. At this point, you can admit that you're completely screwed unless you want to try and track down the materials across campus. Also, in your first library run, only take out five-to-ten books that you feel will BEST contribute to your paper. This means, don't just look up titles in a database and grab the books without looking at them. You should know what the topic of your paper is by now, so take the time to peruse the chapters and the index for certain keywords. If it seems like a book contains a lot of applicable information, then take it out. If you find that you need more books in the future in order to fill in gaps in your paper, then you can always take another trip to the library. This is another reason to start work early because you won't have to try and scramble to get more material at the last minute.

Now that you have your books, you need to follow an efficient way of researching them. First of all, it is ridiculous to assume that you can read all the material in every research material you have. This is not time-effective at all and the reality is that the majority of the books you have only contain about 1% information that's applicable to YOUR paper. The two principles to take into account when researching materials are looking for the right information and record it in a way that will be easy to refer back to.

In order to find information effectively in your books, you are going to mostly be making use of the index. Consider the topic of your paper and what you hope to say. If for example you are examining the effects of the enclosure movement upon British farmers prior to the Industrial revolution, you have a lot that you can look up. You might want to look up "Enclosure Acts" or "farming" in the index. The next step once you find the information is to record it effectively. I find that the best way to accomplish this is to get yourself a cheap spiral notebook and on each page, write a topic. So, on one page you would have "Enclosure Acts" and on the other you would have "farming." On each of these pages, you will write the chunks of research that you come across. Write down direct quotes from the books (be sure to put them in quotes) and write the page number and author next to the quote. You will be thankful for doing this later when you have to cite your sources in your paper.

If you follow this method, you will have neatly categorized bits and pieces at your disposal that will make the actual writing of the paper easier. Now comes the writing part. To start off, write down a rough thesis statement in your introductory paragraph. This should guide the rest of the paper, so pay careful attention to it. You can hone the wording of the thesis during the course of your writing, but you generally want to have a solid idea of the direction your paper will be taking before you actually write it. Now comes the relatively easy and fun part of finding which snippets of your research fit well with each other. If certain points tie in together, then start to put those pieces of research into your paper. You will find that since you have the quotes and bits and pieces written down in your notebook, it's really just a matter of finding where they fit in the paper and constructing transitions between the research. Generally, for every research point you incorporate, you should include a sentence saying either why it's significant to your paper or how it relates to another piece of research. Writing a research paper with just quotes isn't a research paper because it doesn't say anything that authors have already said.

As you take pieces of your research from your notebook, take a highlighter and put a mark next to the segment. This will let you know that you've already used the quote or research piece in your paper. If your paper needs to be footnoted, then insert a footnote and write the author and page number for now. You will need to format your footnotes according to how your professor wants them (MLA, Chicago, APA), but for now you can just put a reference marker there so you know what materials you used and what page the piece appeared on.

Write your introductions and conclusions last. An introduction to a research paper consists of a general statement about the time, situation, and significance as well as your thesis statement. You can be creative in your introduction, but be careful about what you include. It is better to have a short introduction that is on topic than an overly long one that meanders and detracts from your thesis statement. A conclusion is technically supposed to be a summation of your points and thesis statement, but again you can be creative with it. Having a powerful ending sentence is a great way to add some punch to your paper as a whole.

When you've written a draft of your paper, take a break! You can even take a day or two off from it if you feel you have that kind of time. Then, print out a copy of the draft and start to edit it. Having a hard copy of the paper will help you to conceptualize the layout as a whole and it will be easier to visualize where changes need to be made. This editing phase should be where you make revisions to paragraphs, sentence placement, and other large changes. When you've finished editing, make the changes in your electronic copy and then take another break. Once again, print this version out and make any final changes that you need in terms of grammar, syntax, and other small alterations. Make these changes on the electronic copy, then take a final glance or two over the finished product.

The main thing to remember with writing a history research paper is to give yourself plenty of time. These papers can cause a lot of tedium and frustration (I know because I've written scores of them). So giving yourself extra time to vent and allow for breaks is very important in order to write a solid paper and also to save your sanity. Best of luck!