HIST3445 ESSAY GUIDELINES 1 HIST3445 WITCHCRAFT AND THE WITCH-HUNTS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE Fall 2013 Additional Guidelines for the Text Analysis (please use these guidelines in addition to the guidelines that I gave in the course outline) Analysis and Research In addition to briefly summarizing the text s contents, you could consider some or all of the following questions: Questions for demonological treatises: i) What kind of text is it and for what purpose was it published? ii) What is the author s background and how may that have affected the text itself? iii) How does the text manifest elements of the cumulative concept of witchcraft, so described in the Levack book? iv) Is there anything unique about the text? v) What was its overall contribution to the formation of the cumulative concept? Questions for Case Studies i) How does the particular witch-hunt reflect some of the dominant characteristics of witch-hunts as described in Levack s book? ii) Was it a typical trial, or was it atypical? iii) How did the immediate geographical setting and historical context determine the nature of the trial? iii) What was the overall significance of this particular hunt? Of course, you are not limited to these questions (others may manifest themselves as you read and work through your chosen text, but be sure to keep everything relevant). Format for the Written Assignments The essay must be written in formal style; they must be fully documented with footnotes and they must contain a bibliography, applying the format outlined in the Chicago Style Manual. Please remember to provide citations for the primary historical documents as well. Also, each paper must contain a clear thesis statement. It is preferred that you type each paper (please print double-sided), although essays written in doublespaced longhand will be accepted. Do be careful when using and citing sources. To be fair to other students, I penalize cases of plagiarism and then report them to the division chair. Be sure to retain a copy of your papers on disk (if you write either paper in longhand, make a photocopy of it). Also note that assignments will not be accepted by e- mail attachment. Late papers will lose 2% of the essay s grade per business day (except those that are late due to a documented medical reason).
HIST3445 ESSAY GUIDELINES 2 Finding and Citing Sources Keep in mind that the focus is on analyzing the text. You need consult only two or three secondary sources in order to obtain some information on historical context. Secondary research will help you anchor the documents in its proper context and will help avoid the application of anachronistic comments. Again, remember to focus on the texts (most of your footnotes should be for the primary text or case study). For secondary sources, you could start with the bibliography in the Levack textbook. I also recommend the use of the following four databases (in addition to the MUN library catalog): Historical Abstracts (which is now run by EBSCO), Iter, JSTOR, and Academic Search Premier (of course, there are other databases that you could consult). Please follow these instructions to access the databases: i) Go to the SWGC home page; ii) Under the library option, choose Article Indexes ; iv) On the list Indexes by Subject, choose History. That will take you to the databases themselves (from there, you can merely click on the appropriate database). You can perform searches by subject and keyword and then hopscotch onto other potential articles (through author searches, etc.). Also remember to consult the bibliographies of the secondary sources that you find. You will notice that, often, EBSCO does not tell you exactly where the materials are located in the MUN Library system. If there is no direct link to the scanned article itself, you will need to determine if the MUN library carries the journal in which the article is cited. JSTOR and Academic Search Premier have links to the scanned versions of the articles themselves (particularly JSTOR). If the article is not available through the MUN library system or there is no online copy, order it through document delivery (it will arrive in your e-mail inbox in a few days at no charge). Be sure to avoid the excessive use of encyclopedias and general-level textbooks, and be very careful with material found on websites (those websites associated with universities or museums are usually reliable; but stay clear of wacko websites like those that have a swastika next to the title). Please do not use more than one website in your assignment (also, refer to the guidelines on the use of websites in the course outline). Please use an accepted method of citing sources in Historical Studies as you would when drafting a bibliography, as opposed to the format used in the bibliographical aid (for more details, consult the Chicago Style Manual, available in the Ferriss Hodgett Library).
HIST3445 ESSAY GUIDELINES 3 The Introduction The introduction should be about three-quarters of a page in length. The introduction will indicate the text chosen, outline the essay s focus and approach, and provide a thesis statement as well as a clear idea of the essay s structure. Don t forget to include the annotated bibliography! I will hand these back to you with feedback and suggestions to help you with the essay itself. It is preferred that you type the assignment (please print double-sided), although essays written in double-sided double-spaced longhand will be accepted. Guidelines regarding the Use of Websites The Internet has ingrained itself so much into our society that it seems that we can simply go to Google and find an answer for anything (including the meaning of life!). However, Internet sources must be used with great caution and in fact over the years I have moved increasingly towards discouraging their use in academic papers. Be very careful in your choice of websites because, unlike hardcopy published sources, websites are not always subjected to academic scrutiny before being made available to the public. Anyone, even Sasquatch, can concoct anything and throw it on the Internet. Moreover, even when the information is accurate it is often too general and cannot give you the necessary detail of a solid monograph or article. Please do not use Wikipedia. Try to avoid running simple google searches on your topic, which will make available all sorts of what I call wacko websites and google garbage. Instead, you could try the filtered version of google for scholars: http://scholar.google.com Websites associated with universities, museums, or other educational institutions tend to be sound. Of course, scanned scholarly articles downloaded from Historical Abstracts or JSTOR are perfectly legitimate (I do not consider them to be web sources, because they were originally distributed in print form and were digitized later). Overall, use web sources sparingly in your papers, not more than one web source for any one written assignment (the bulk of your bibliographies should be comprised of hardcopy material such as books or articles). Note the following example of correct bibliographical references for an article, using the Chicago Style Manual format: i) For an article: Peterson, David S. Out of the Margins: Religion and the Church in Renaissance Italy. Renaissance Quarterly 53, no. 3 (2000): 835-879. ii) For a book: King, Margaret. The Death of the Child Valerio Marcello. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
HIST3445 ESSAY GUIDELINES 4 Remember as well that the databases may have different ways of presenting bibliographical references. Be sure to adapt the references accordingly to the format required for this assignment. Paragraph Construction The body of the essay should be composed of a number of separate ideas one idea per paragraph that are linked to the thesis statement in the introduction. Each paragraph typically is linked to the preceding paragraph and to the one following it through the use of linking words and phrases like however, in addition, furthermore, and so on. Each paragraph should not be more than three-quarters of a page in length (otherwise, the effectiveness of your point is lost in a sea of indigestible information). Treat each paragraph as a kind of miniature essay. The first sentence is the introductory statement that conveys what the paragraph will address. The following sentences expand and develop that statement. The final sentence makes a final point and anticipates the next paragraph. It is important to link each sentence carefully within each paragraph, so that the argument flows from one sentence to the next. Before writing a paragraph, quickly jot down on paper what the paragraph should contain. That will help you organize your thoughts more carefully and will make the process of writing more enjoyable (like painting!). Then, after you have written that paragraph, give it a quick read to ensure that it makes sense. More detailed editing can come later. Finally, vary the length of your sentences for greater effect. Use short concise statements to hammer home a point, and longer statements for descriptive detail. Extensive strings of long sentences that are overloaded with subordinate and relative clauses tend to exhaust the reader. Editing Please do not rely on MS Word to edit your paper. Bill Gates cannot express what you need to say and how you want to say it (and the grammar checking function on that program is not foolproof). In fact, a good paper will emerge only after having been edited several times. Even a sharp eye cannot catch all the grammar mistakes or problems with just one read. That means reading over every paragraph to look not only for spelling errors and minor grammar mistakes, but also for faulty paragraph construction, punctuation problems, poor development of an argument, and awkward phrasing. Plagiarism Please be careful when citing and using sources. Remember that unless you are putting a phrase or sentence in quotation marks, you must put the author s words into your own words (even if you insert a footnote for the sentence). By showing that you can paraphrase, you convey the idea that you understand what the author is saying well
HIST3445 ESSAY GUIDELINES 5 enough to explain it to someone else. Besides, perhaps you could explain it even better! Remember to include proper documentation for the text as well as the secondary sources. Writing Guides If you would like to refine elements of your writing style and grammar, you might find the following guides helpful: Burchfield, R.W. The New Fowler s Modern English Usage. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985. Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. Seventh Edition. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Messenger, William E., and others. The Concise Canadian Writer s Handbook. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Stilman, Anne. Grammatically Correct: The Writer s Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage, and Grammar. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer s Digest Books, 1997. Williams, Joseph M. Style: Towards Clarity and Grace. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1990. Students also might want to book an appointment with the writing centre on campus. Other Points to Remember i) Be sure that the introduction has a thesis statement, one that is clear, specific, relevant, and cohesive; this statement also must accurately reflects the message and argument of your paper; ii) The essay must contain documentation (footnotes or endnotes); iii) Please remember to make backup copies as you type the paper (only morons do not back up their work); likewise, hold onto that backup copy after you submit the paper; iv) Late assignments will lose 2% of the essay s grade per business day (except those that are late due to a documented medical reason); v) Assignments submitted by e-mail attachment will not be accepted;
HIST3445 ESSAY GUIDELINES 6 vi) Please (what the hey! I must ve said please about a hundred times in this handout!) ; where was I? Oh yes, please do not slip the essay underneath my door. vii) We live in a very noisy world; try to find a place to write where you won t be interrupted or distracted by TV, Facebook, cell phones, etc.; viii) You need big chunks of time to write (one hour here or there will result in a disjointed paper). Let me stress that if you have any questions, feel free to send me an e-mail or come to see me during my office hours. I would be more than happy to look at your paper s introduction, parts of the body of the paper, and its overall argument. Good luck!