Avoiding Common Mistakes in History Papers

Past tense: Use the simple past tense whenever possible. When you are speaking
of other historians who are still alive, you may use the present tense. At all other
times, we write history in the past tense. In addition, make sure your tenses are
consistent throughout your essay.

In addition, eliminate the subjunctive tense. Using the subjunctive tense is a
common mistake.
For example: After the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln would issue the Preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation, framing it as a military necessity.
More Effective: After the victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued the Preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation, framing it as a military necessity.”

Spell out numbers up to 100. One, two, three, and so on.

Avoid contractions in formal writing. Instead of saying “isn’t” say “is not.”

Avoid sentence fragments.
A sentence fragment is not a complete sentence because it does not contain a
subject, verb, or modifying clause.
Example: Lincoln, who served as president of the United States during the Civil
War.
More Effective: Lincoln, who served as president of the United States during the
Civil War, faced an unprecedented political crisis.

Avoid comma splices, a form of run-on sentence, which occur when two clauses
are joined improperly with a comma. Break the clauses into independent
sentences, or add a coordinating conjunction.
Example: Lincoln was elected President of the United States in 1860, he later
issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
More Effective: Lincoln was elected President of the United States in 1860. He
later issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Avoid run-on sentences. Run-on sentences are independent clauses that have been
improperly joined together. Most often, the author is trying to fit too many ideas
into one sentence. Break these long sentences up into shorter, coherent ones, or
add a coordinating conjunction.
(see Hacker for examples).
Style

Avoid redundancy. “However,” is one such over-used term. It is best used in the
middle of a sentence, set off by commas before and after the word, rather than at
the beginning of a sentence.

Avoid the word “very.” It is not only over-used, but it weakens the impact of your
words. Use a more precise term-- very angry (irate), very sad (depressed).

Use “between” with two things or people and “among” with three or more.

Use a comma to separate phrases and a semi-colon to separate two otherwise
complete sentences. A colon appears before a list of items or a quotation.

Avoid referring to yourself (avoid “I”).

Define key concepts.

Avoid rhetorical questions—answer the question.

Try to be concise. Cut out all excess words.

Write in active rather than passive voice.