Here are some important tips on writing papers:
These are not meant to be "rules to be followed" but to give you some tools to work with. They can each be challanged in their own terms as you get better in writing papers, and even turned upside down or completely disregarded if there is a good reason.
- Start with an interesting title. Sometimes, looking for a good title for the paper you plan to write gives you good ideas about how to structure the paper and how to make it interesting. The title must give a good idea of both the content of the paper, and perhaps hint at your central argument. I usually recommend using two part phrases, in which the first part is short and catchy, the second part reveals the content. Here are some examples:
- Reading the body: representation and remains in the archaeological record.
- The Leopard's tale: Revealing the mysteries of Catalhoyuk
- Women of Babylon: gender and representation in Mesopotamia
- A good introductory paragraph (or paragraphs) introduces the reader a map of your essay so that he/she can easily navigate through your text. You should attempt to give some hint to your reader here as well about your main argument in the paper, without actually revealing too much, without getting ahead of yourself. Such sentences work best towards the end of your introduction and are written usually after you complete writing the essay.
- Never address your paper to your professor. This is not only important in terms of your writing style, but also for the content of the paper: do not assume that your reader is your professor who is already knowledgable in that field. Do not omit crucial contextual discussion, thinking that your professor already knows about it. Write to a general albeit educated audience (do not dumb it down to a "Near East for Dummies" level either).
- Make your argument strong and interesting and let it unfold itself throughout the paper gradually.
- Try to avoid lengthy quotes and epigraphs. If you need to quote someone in a lengthy paragraph, introduce the original work to the reader and give appropriate reasons for your use of this text. When you use a quotation, do not let the quote speak for itself, discuss the significance of what you have quoted and tie it well with the rest of your argument, weave it into your own narrative text. Always reference the precise page numbers of the quotations you use.
- Try to avoid first person singular or limit it to a few critical points, where you want to make sure that what you will say is indeed your own subjective thought or opinion.
- Avoid colloquialisms.
- Research paper is not a newspaper essay. It should not look like or read like one!.
- Take your conclusion seriously and help your reader remember the complex process through which you have come to this conclusion, and the way it was introduced in the essay. Don't be lazy, make sure to warp up your discussion while you fire your final blow that will reward your reader who has made it all the way to the end of the paper.
- Develop a good referencing system, with a complete bibliography of all cited sources at the end of the paper, in-text references and footnotes. Here is the handout I distributed in class for this purpose:
Referencing with the Author-Date Style in the Humanities. For more detailed questions on referencing, go to the Chicago Manual of Style.
- Make sure to produce a draft much before the final submission and have your professor read it, get feedback.
