ESSAY WRITING GUIDELINES
All essays MUST conform to the following guidelines. This is not an
attempt to make your life miserable; being able to apply the standards of
historical writing (such as a thesis statement or footnotes) to your own
work is an essential part of a history degree. Attention to detail in the finer
points of presentation and style contributes to the overall professionalism
of an essay, and lends more credence to its contents. Here is a brief survey
of some of the more important elements of a history essay.
1. The Writing Process
2. Format
3. Plagiarism and Referencing
4. Common Grammar and Punctuation Mistakes
PART 1 THE WRITING PROCESS
Writing an essay is not just a matter of sitting down with a pile of books and a blank
sheet of paper in front of you. It involves three main stages:
1. Pre-writing
2. Writing
3. Re-writing
1. Pre-writing
This stage is sometimes called the ‘planning stage’ of writing and most historians
would argue that this is the most important part of writing an essay. With good
planning and preparation, writing and re-writing are made much easier. What does
planning to write an essay involve?
1
a. doing research and finding sources of information
Once you know what your topic or essay question is, the obvious place to start is your
textbook. Use the index to find any relevant pages and read them first. You can also
use your booklist to find additional books, as well as the computer cataloguing system
in the library, the OPAC.
• don't forget, your textbook will have a bibliography at the back which you can
consult. It will contain a list of all the books used in the preparation of the text. Using
these references you can check in the OPAC if our library has copies.
• you can also use the OPAC itself as a finding aid. Not only can you hunt up specific
titles, you can also do ‘subject’ and ‘keyword’ searches. If you are doing an essay on
Irish nationalists, you could try a ‘keyword’ search using the term ‘nationalism’. You
will find lots of books this way, most of which will not have a direct Irish connection,
but might be useful for definitions of nationalism or for European parallels. As well,
once you have found a specific reference which you have found relevant, there is a
‘find books on a similar subject’ option. This is called a ‘class number’ search, because
the computer simply looks for books with the same class number as the one you have
been looking at.
There are, however, many other ways of finding relevant sources.
• browse the shelves in the Irish history section of the library. [DA900]
• browse the shelves in the section of the library which holds the Irish history
journals. Journals have several articles in each issue and one might have an article of
use to you, so it would be worthwhile to scan the indexes of several of these
periodicals. In Irish history the class number for journals is DA900.
• As a student you are entitled to gain access to two on-line databases which are
useful for tracking down material, especially articles and book reviews. They are
called ‘Web of Science’ and ‘FirstSearch’ and a user name and password can be got
from the Information Desk in the library.
And finally, don’t forget the standard reference work. There are many dictionaries of
Irish history which will give you brief summaries of important people, places and
events. Some entries will also give you the most important book or article concerning
the subject.
S.J. Connolly (ed.), The Oxford companion to Irish history (Oxford, 1998).
J.E. Doherty and E.J. Hickey (eds), A chronology of Irish history since 1500 (Dublin, 1989).
Idem., A dictionary of Irish history since 1800 (Dublin, 1980).
Kate Newmann, Dictionary of Ulster biography (Belfast, 1993).
2
b. reading and taking notes
Once you have found a source, don’t feel you have to read it through the whole way,
looking at every word. You need to be aware of several things about your source before
you even start reading:
• be aware of the publication date: is this an old book? is it out of date? is the date a
historically significant one? has it taken into account recent interpretations of the
topic?
• be aware of the author: is s/he an historian? a journalist? a clergyman? how will this
affect their treatment of the topic?
• be aware of the publisher: is this a book published by a big academic publisher (like
Oxford, Routledge or Macmillan) or is it published by a local historical society? the
quality of the research will vary accordingly, so you need to be careful about where
your sources are coming from
• be aware of the audience to which the publication is aimed: is this a textbook? is it a
propaganda pamphlet? is it a scholarly monograph? textbooks tend to be easier to read
than complex and involved monographs. However, they tend to lack detail and
analysis, which you will find in a more specific work. You need to balance the two.
Once you've ascertained the ‘background’ to the source, you can start reading. In
general, you should be reading critically and concentrating on the information
which pertains to your topic. Thus,
• be selective in what you read: Use the table of contents and the index to help
you focus on those sections which appear most relevant. Read the introduction,
which will give you a general idea of the book's main arguments (and sometimes
the main arguments of each chapter). Skim read, looking for relevant keywords:
don't feel the need to plough through every word and sentence, just keep reading,
skipping over bits you don't understand in order to get a general impression of the
author's intent.
• read actively: When you are reading you should be consciously on the lookout
for arguments, key ideas, and supporting evidence. Look out for parallels or
contradictions which are being made with other author's you have read. Don’t be
afraid to be critical: just because arguments/evidence are in print doesn't mean
they are well expressed or well-founded.
• take good notes: You should try to summarize the main arguments or ideas in
your own words. Any direct quotations which you think are relevant should be
copied out word for word for future use (or else put a page reference in so you
know where you found it). Always keep track of the page number on which you
got the information. This will allow you to cite your sources accurately.
3
c. preparing an outline
Once your reading is done and your notes taken, now is the time to compile your
ideas and evidence into a skeleton structure of how your essay will be written. To
help you with your organization, there are several techniques you can adopt:
• try brainstorming: Scribble down on a rough sheet of paper any key words, ideas,
stray thoughts that you have. Draw circles, lines, boxes around and connecting
these ideas, trying to pull more major points together.
• try writing the question out at the top of the page, then, underneath, write out
your thesis statement. Polish this, if you need to. Then, scribble down the general
headings you think the information falls into (background, point a, point b, etc.).
You can take this outline one step further by listing the books/notes you will use for
each section on the same page. This will help you find information quickly, while
you are writing.
With your plan/outline in place you already have, in your head (and roughly on
paper) what the essay will look like from start to finish. This will help you to stay on
track, and not to wander off on a tangent. It will help you to avoid writer’s ‘block’,
when you can’t think of what to say next. It will also help you to remember which
sources you plan to use and where.
Your plan/outline can be as rough or as elaborate as you wish. Some simply put
down the main points, because they have all the details in their heads. Others like
to sketch out, in point form, the basic structure of each paragraph. You need to find
a system that works for you and which you feel comfortable with.
2. Writing
Once you have a fairly detailed plan, most of the hard work is already done. You have
already thrashed out where you are going to discuss point A and whether point C
would be better off coming before point B. All of this should be decided BEFORE you
sit down to write out a first draft. Thus, with your plan in front of you, and relevant
source books nearby, you can start to write. At this point you should be concentrating
on your style and expression, making sure that you are expressing your ideas clearly,
and that they logically follow on from each other. Make sure you introduce your
characters properly, and that you give basic explanations of relevant events. Try to
stick to the point as outlined in your plan, and don't go off onto tangents. If ideas occur
to you as you write (which often happens), scribble them down on another piece of
paper and include them in the relevant spot later on. The object in this stage is to get a
reasonably coherent draft together which can then be worked on in the final stage.
4
Your essay should have three main sections: introduction, body and conclusion. Each
one has its own purpose and function, so it should be written with that intention in
mind:
• introduction
An introduction is an essential part of a good essay. It sets up the
thesis and tries to capture the reader's attention. A common technique is ‘the funnel
approach’.1 Start the essay with a general statement concerning the subject under
discussion (e.g. ‘In the early nineteenth century, the Catholic church was still living
under the legacy of the penal era.’) and then lead gradually into a narrower, more
specific description until the thesis is stated (e.g. ‘The very public and political activity
of parish priests in the campaign for Catholic emancipation represented the emergence
of the Catholic church as a self-confident and influential institution.’). A brief outline
of the main points supporting this thesis should then follow. A decent introduction
should be at least 5-8 sentences long.
• body
An essay is the exposition of a reasoned argument to support a point. It
is not a recitation of facts nor is it a summary of events. Analysis and your opinions
should be the driving force behind the narrative, not the other way around. It is in the
body of your essay that you should use the factual details and events which you have
discovered in your research to give your arguments strength. Your arguments need
to flow logically on from one another and together they should provide a coherent
whole. Try to link your arguments together using ‘signposts’ or ‘transition signals’.
Make sure that you have not
only explained your evidence (that is, written it down), but that you have explained
why it is relevant to your argument. This is a very important point. You must be
explicit, and show your reader exactly WHY you feel that this piece of evidence is
relevant to your argument. Such statements are generally made at the end of a section
or paragraph.
• conclusionThe best way to conclude an essay is to use the inverted funnel’. Restate
your thesis in different words and allude to the main points you used to support it.
Then move away from this narrow focus to the wider implications of your thesis (i.e.
‘The emergence of an independent and assertive Church did not bode well for the
future of religious tranquillity in nineteenth-century Ireland.’). Try to end on a strong
note: with a stylistic flourish; with a good, strong point; or with a relevant quotation.
1
Sheridan Baker, The practical stylist (New York, 1983), p. 24.
5
3. Re-writing
This stage is sometimes called ‘editing’ or ‘proof reading’. The important thing to
remember is that no one, not even John Grisham, gets it right the first time. It always
amazes me how hard it is to actually say in words what we are thinking in our minds.
Because our minds run on ahead of our hands, it is important to go back over what
we've written, to make sure that what we are saying is comprehensible to the outside
world. In order to ‘see’ our mistakes, we need to practice our editing skills. We need
to have a critical eye for errors and to have the courage to trash rubbish and start
over. Yes, it is difficult to bin sentences that took hours to construct, but if they don't
make sense then sometimes it is better to just start over. Thankfully, it is always
easier the second time.
Once you've got a first draft, leave it alone for a few days (ideally, of course). Then go
back and read it over. You’ll be amazed at what you can see wrong with it. Be
merciless. Be especially watchful for unfinished sentences, where the idea isn’t
expressed clearly enough. Watch out for assumptions. Make sure the point that you
are driving at is made CLEARLY, and not left to the reader to infer. Try to ‘connect’
your sections together, to string your argument throughout the whole essay. Check
spellings and sentence structures ruthlessly. Tidy up references and footnotes. If you
want to be even more rigorous, get someone else to read your essay, and insist that
they are TOTALLY honest with you if they find a passage muddled or confused.
Now is the time to change your essay. Remember, the reader can only read what is in
print on the page in front of her/him. They can’t read your mind and can’t infer what
you were TRYING to say. You cannot assume that people will ‘know what you mean’.
You have to tell them what you mean.
Some Basic Writing Tips
• use a dictionary to clarify your understanding of the meaning of any terms you are
unsure about
• use a relatively formal style of writing. Try to avoid slang expressions and too much
use of the first person. Aim the 'tone' of the essay at an intelligent reader who is not an
expert in this field. Think about writing the essay for your friend who is not taking
history. How would you explain this topic to him/her?
• when working out your plan, keep reading and re-reading the question, just to make
sure that you've understood it properly and that you are still heading in the right
direction. After you've written a section, re-read the question and ask yourself, ‘Does
this section relate to the question? If so, how?’
6
• once you have a plan, break down the total word limit, and assign a word limit to
each section. This will make the 2000 words seem much less intimidating. Thus,
assign 100 words each to the introduction and conclusion. Now you've only got 1800
words left, and say you have 4 sections, that means only 450 words per section (or about
1 and a half pages). Isn't that a lot more manageable? While it may seem petty to
approach writing this way, it does help you get over the psychological barrier of a
rather intimidating word limit.
• when you go to start writing, do you always get stuck? To avoid this, write your
introduction last. You don't have to write it first. In fact, it might turn out better if
you leave it to the end, then you'll have a better idea of what the essay looks like, and
how to best introduce it. As well, you can get it to ‘match’ your conclusion by using
similar constructions, or using a similar metaphor in both paragraphs.
• try to write in a clear, direct style. Remember the golden rule:
1 idea = 1 paragraph
• always introduce new characters fully when you first mention them. Don’t just
start telling the reader about Redmond's enthusiastic support for the First World War,
give his first and last name and a brief explanation of who he was (the leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party which was, in 1914, the 'official' voice of Irish nationalism).
• at the end of a section, in order to keep the thread of argument going, include a
sentence or two of summary in which you reiterate what your thesis is and how this
section has worked to support it
• always remember that prose can be manipulated. Don't be afraid to chop, change or
reword. If a sentence sounds kind of ‘wordy’ or awkward to you, try to rephrase it.
Move the words around, try to find alternatives which are more concise, or, if all else
fails, start over.
One final word of advice. If you are really interested in improving your writing, you
might think about purchasing or borrowing from the library one of the many books
which have been published in this area. Some of them are of a more general focus
whilst others are specifically directed to History students. A couple are in the library
now, others are on order.
Strunk and White. The elements of style (3rd ed., New York, 1979). [the classic text]
Turabian, Kate. A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (var. edns, 1973, 1982,
1996).
Benjamin, Jules. A student's guide to history (3rd ed., New York, 1983).
Hellstern, Mark, Scott, Gregory and Garrison, Stephen. The history student's writer's manual (New
Jersey, 1998).
Marius, Richard. A short guide to writing about history (3rd ed., New York: Longman, 1998).
Chicago Manual of Style: www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html.
7
Peck, John and Coyle, Martin. The student’s guide to writing (London: Palgrave, 1999).
PART 2
ESSAY FORMAT
Essays must follow the following format. They are the standard rules of
practice within the historical establishment.
• typed
In the computer age we all live in, typed essays should no longer be impossible. The
use of computers is available free to everyone in the university. If, however, you
cannot use a computer, essays can be hand-written. They must be written neatly, in
ink, using every line and one side of the page only. You should leave 1” margins on all
four sides (this is so your tutor has room for comments).
• double-spaced
The text should be printed on every other line and on one side of the page only.
• length
Standard undergraduate essays are generally about 2-2,500 words long (approx. 6-7
pages). For HIS101 and HIS307 the word limit is 2000 words.
• page numbers
Here, practice varies. Page numbers are commonly placed in the top right-hand corner
or are centered at the bottom of the page.
• sufficient margins
The standard practice is to leave 1” on all four margins.
• using direct quotations in your text
If you are quoting directly from a book or article, and the passage is less than 30 words,
it should be placed in quotation marks and kept within the flow of text. If the excerpt
is longer than 30 words it should be separated from the main body of text by a blank
line, then indented and single spaced, without quotation marks. In both cases the
quotation must be footnoted. In neither should the quotation be bolded, italicized or
otherwise highlighted in any way.
Look at the following example, taken from Michael Laffan's book The partition of
Ireland, p. 64:
8
Arguing against holding a plebiscite Balfour later remarked that 'Ireland is not like a conquered state,
which we can carve up as in Central Europe'.5 Behind the government's decision to impose selfdetermination on all sides, whether they wanted it or not, lay its constant anxiety to be free of Irish
problems. The removal of responsibility for all local affairs to two home rule parliaments would ease the
lives of British politicians and end what Balfour described as
all the troubles which we have had at Westminster during the forty years between the advent of
Parnell on the political stage in 1878, and the blessed refusal of the Sinn Feiners to take the oath of
allegiance in 1918.6
The unionists had never sought a separate parliament and had always wanted Ulster to remain an
integral part of the United Kingdom with her status quite unchanged....
• title page
It should include the title of the essay, your name, registration number, course name,
tutor name, date of submission.
• footnotes/endnotes (see below)
• bibliography (see below)
PART 3
PLAGIARISM and REFERENCING
What is plagiarism?
‘Any time you take another person's words and claim them as your own, you are
plagiarizing. ... Plagiarism includes both using the words or phrases of another person
and restating another’s thoughts in slightly different words. For instance, it is
plagiarism to take credit for Shakespeare’s "To be, or not to be: That is the question.” It’s
also plagiarism to modify his sentence without credit to “The question is: to be, or not
to be.”’2
How can it be avoided?
Plagiarism among students is usually inadvertent, simply because they did not know
how to ‘cite’ their sources of information properly. In order to give credit to your
sources, you must use a system of referencing, which tells the reader where you got
your information from, so that he/she can check your sources and verify the accuracy
of your information. Thus, you should use a reference (sometimes called a ‘citation’)
when you want to:
Sara Cormeny, ‘A word on plagiarism’ in Washington Post, 14 Feb. 1996. Available [Online]:
http://wpl.washingtonpost.com [4 Jan. 1999].
9
2
• indicate the source of a direct quotation (when you use someone else's words
exactly)
• indicate the source of particular or specific information, which you have used in
your own words, but which you got from someone else (like specific details about a
government policy, or statistics)
• to provide additional information which you can't fit into your text easily3
Format for references
There are several ways of referencing your sources. These are called ‘styles’. Some styles
place the source of the reference directly in the text, and separated by brackets, like so
(Holmes, 1996, p. 43). This is more common in the sciences and social sciences, but you
will see it in some history texts. In arts and humanities subjects it is accepted practice to
use a system of numbers (arabic), which you put at the END of the sentence, or at the
END of the phrase, in which you make your reference. Superscript the number (raise it
slightly above the text, like so4) and number the references consecutively (1, 2, 3 and so
on). Each number should correspond to a matching endnote or footnote which contains
details about the source used.
The differences between a footnote and an endnote are minimal:
• footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page
• endnotes are listed at the end of the essay or chapter
The style which is recommended here is a modified version of the style which is
most commonly used in Irish history. It was developed by T.W. Moody in a 1975
issue of the journal Irish Historical Studies. Many scholars dislike this style because
of several illogical rules, like modernizing all spellings and abandoning capitals
except on place names. Despite these drawbacks, it is, for undergraduate purposes,
an easy style to learn and use. If you are familiar with another style, feel free to use
it on two conditions: that you are CONSISTENT and that you include all the
required basic information.
Information in references
The basic format for footnotes/endnotes is that they should read like a sentence.
Information should be separated by spaces or commas, not full stops, and it should
be listed in the following order:
Margot Northey, Making sense: a student’s guide to writing and style (Toronto: Oxford UP, 1983), pp
95-6.
4 Don’t forget, numbers should increase consecutively throughout the text.
10
3
For books:
•
•
•
•
•
author's name: first name then last name
title of book: underlined or italicised
place of publication: along with publisher’s name and date, placed in round
brackets (or 'parentheses')
date of publication: usually found on the back of the title page
page number of the reference: 'p.' is used for one page, and 'pp' for several
pages, like so: p. 24; pp 10-15
For articles:
•
•
•
•
•
author's name: first name then last name
title of article: placed in single quotation marks
title of journal: underlined or italicised
volume number, and issue number, followed by date of publication in
parentheses
page number of the reference
FOOTNOTES/ENDNOTES: EXAMPLES
BOOK BY ONE AUTHOR
Books should be listed with the author, title (underlined or italicised), place and date
of publication (in parentheses). In ‘pure’ IHS style, only the first word of the title is
capitalised, all the rest are in lower case. If you prefer capitals, that is acceptable, as
long as you are consistent.
Sean Connolly, Religion and society in nineteenth-century Ireland (Dundalk: Dundalgan, 1985), p. 12. OR
Sean Connolly, Religion and Society in Nineteenth-Century Ireland (Dundalk: Dundalgan, 1985), p. 12.
BOOK BY TWO AUTHORS
Paul Bew and Gordon Gillespie, The Northern Ireland peace process 1993-1996: a chronology (London:
Serif, 1996), pp 2-4.
BOOK WITH SEVERAL VOLUMES
Note that the volume number is placed after the publication information, and that it is
in Roman numerals.
Peadar Mac Suibhne (ed.), Paul Cullen and his contemporaries (5 vols., Naas: Leinster Leader, 1961-77),
II, p. 11.
3
11
BOOK WITH SEVERAL EDITIONS
4
D.G. Boyce, Nationalism in Ireland (3rd ed., Dublin: Routledge, 1994), p. 45.
ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL
Articles should be listed with the author, title of article (in single quotation marks),
title of journal (underlined or italicised), volume number, issue number, year of
journal (in parentheses), page numbers.
4
J.C. Beckett, ‘The government and the Church of Ireland’ in Irish Historical Studies, 2 (1941), pp 281-4.
ARTICLE IN AN ANTHOLOGY
An anthology is a collection of essays, written by different people and edited by one
or more individuals. They usually relate to a single theme (like the famine, for
instance, or Daniel O'Connell), but they can also be conference proceedings or essays
written in memory of a particular person. It is important, therefore, when citing an
article in an anthology, that the author of the article itself is placed first, then
followed by the title of the article (and not the title of the collection). Then, the
editor(s) of the collection is listed, followed by the title of the anthology and its
publication details.
Geraldine Grogan, 'The colleges bill 1845-9' in Maurice O'Connell (ed.), O'Connell: education, church and
state (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1992), p. 25.
H.F. Kearney, 'Fr. Mathew: apostle of modernisation' in Art Cosgrove and Donal McCartney (eds),
Studies in Irish history presented to R. Dudley Edwards (Dublin: UCD, 1979), pp 169-71.
A QUOTE FROM A PERSON QUOTED BY SOMEONE ELSE
F.S.L. Lyons quoted in J.J. Lee, Ireland 1912-1985 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989), p. 258.
7
8
Edward Carson quoted in Alvin Jackson, Edward Carson (Dundalk: Dundalgan, 1993), p. 24.
SUBSEQUENT REFERENCES
If you are referring to the same book or article several times, there is no need to
copy out all the same information over and over again. For second and subsequent
references, just use a shortened version of the author's name followed by the
relevant page number. If you are using two books by the same author, use a
shortened version of both the author's name and the title of the book (see 5. below).
12
J.J. Lee, Ireland 1912-85 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989), p. 457.
1
Ibid., p. 92.
['Ibid.' means 'in the same place'. In a footnote, it means that the source used here is exactly the same as that quoted in
the footnote directly preceding it. In this case, the source was p. 92 of J.J. Lee's Ireland 1912-85.]
2
David Burnett, 'The modernisation of Unionism, 1892-1914?' in Richard English and Graham
Walker (eds), Unionism in modern Ireland (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996), p. 54.
3
J.J. Lee, The modernisation of Irish society. 1848-1918 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1973), p. 25.
[This reference to Lee is from Ireland 1912-85 and NOT Modernisation]
4
Lee, Ireland, p. 359.
5
6
Burnett, p. 60.
Ibid..
[This means that both the source AND the page number are exactly the same as in the preceding
reference.]
7
CITING INTERNET SOURCES
Information that you have obtained from the Internet/WWW must be cited, just like
the books and articles that you use. Because this is a relatively new area, there isn’t
really one definitive ‘style’ for citing websites or URLs. One excellent, and exhaustive
guide can be found at:
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~mcrouse/elcite.html
Here are some examples of the most common internet sources, and how to cite them
(using Crouse’s style).
ENTIRE WEBSITE
Author, Title of Website (last date site updated). Available [Online]: http://rest of
address [date you looked at the information].
Maurice Crouse, Citing electronic information in history papers (25 October 2001). Available [Online]:
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~mcrouse/elcite.html [18 September 2002].
ARTICLE WITHIN A WEBSITE
If you have used a particular article (or ‘page’) within a bigger website, you need to
cite it, and its specific address.
Author of article (if relevant), ‘Title of article’, in Author of Website, Title of Website (last date website
updated). Available [Online]: http://rest of address [date you looked at this article].
‘Chief Secretary’s Office’ in The National Archives of Ireland (30 Aug. 2002). Available [Online]:
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/cso.html [18 Sept. 2002].
13
‘Robert Whyte's The Ocean Plague: The Diary of a Cabin Passenger, 1847’ in Liz Szabo, Interpreting the
Irish famine, 1846-1850 (2 May 1996). Available [Online]:
<http://www.people.virginia.edu/~eas5e/Irish/Whyte.html> [18 Sept. 2002].
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
A bibliography is different from a footnote or endnote in its function and style of
referencing. It is an alphabetical listing (by last name) of all the books or articles
which you read while preparing the essay, even if you did not quote directly from
them. This is not an excuse to ‘pad’ your bibliography with books you did not read.
You should include only those books which you read, or which gave you
information relevant to the essay.
The information contained in these references is pretty much the same as for
footnotes/endnotes except:
• the sources are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name
• the punctuation used in the references are not commas, but full stops
• if the source is a book, page numbers should not be listed
• if the source is an article, there should be page numbers which refer to the
pages on which the article starts and finishes
For example, look at this sample bibliography, based on the sources used in this
guide:
Bibliography
Beckett, J.C.. 'The government and the Church of Ireland' in Irish Historical Studies. 2
(1941), pp 281-97.
[NB: when citing an article in a bibliography, you list the page numbers on which the article starts
and finishes]
Bew, Paul and Gillespie, Gordon. The Northern Ireland peace process 1993-1996: a
chronology (London: Serif, 1996).
Boyce, D. G.. Nationalism in Ireland (3rd ed., Dublin: Routledge, 1994).
Burnett, David. 'The modernisation of Unionism, 1892-1914?' in English, Richard and
Walker, Graham (eds). Unionism in modern Ireland (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996),
pp 48-65.
‘Chief Secretary’s Office’ in The National Archives of Ireland (30 Aug. 2002).
Available [Online]: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/cso.html [18 Sept. 2002].
14
Connolly, Sean. Religion and society in nineteenth-century Ireland (Dundalk:
Dundalgan, 1985).
Crouse, Maurice. Citing electronic information in history papers (25 October 2001).
Available [Online]: http://www.people.memphis.edu/~mcrouse/elcite.html [18
September 2002].
Grogan, Geraldine. 'The colleges bill 1845-9' in Maurice O'Connell (ed.), O'Connell:
education, church and state (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1992), p. 15-36.
Kearney, H.F.. 'Fr. Mathew: apostle of modernisation' in Art Cosgrove and Donal
McCartney (eds), Studies in Irish history presented to R. Dudley Edwards (Dublin:
UCD, 1979), pp 165-87.
Lee, J.J.. Ireland 1912-85 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Idem.. The modernisation of Irish society. 1848-1918 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1973).
['Idem' means 'the same author'. Thus, you are saying here that the author of Modernisation is exactly the
same as the author directly preceding it, in this case J.J. Lee.]
Mac Suibhne, Peadar (ed.). Paul Cullen and his contemporaries (5 vols., Naas:
Leinster Leader, 1961-77).
‘Robert Whyte's The Ocean Plague: The Diary of a Cabin Passenger, 1847’ in Liz Szabo,
Interpreting the Irish famine, 1846-1850 (2 May 1996). Available [Online]: <http://
www.people.virginia.edu/~eas5e/Irish/Whyte.html> [18 Sept. 2002].
PART 4 COMMON GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION
MISTAKES
• sentence fragments
Sentences without the proper subject/verb combination. In this excerpt it is the last two
sentences which are problematic. The middle sentence is missing both a subject and a
verb, while the last is missing a subject.
i.e. ‘I’ve given a number of priests’ and parish retreats along that west coast of Scotland. To
Catholics who had just learnt to hold their heads high. Stood on streets where 50 years ago a
Catholic couldn’t walk.’ - Sunday Tribune. 22 Sept. 1996.
15
• run-on sentences
Fairly self-explanatory, they are sentences trying to express too many ideas. It occurs
when independent clauses are run together without any punctuation or conjunction.
Try separating the clauses with a semi-colon or start an entirely new sentence.
• using an apostrophe
Apostrophes indicate the possessive case. This means they indicate ‘belonging to’
singular nouns
use apostrophe ‘s’
i.e. the farmer’s land, the government’s plans
use an apostrophe, with no following ‘s’
i.e. politicians’ efforts
plural nouns
NB: Possessive pronouns (like his, her, its, our, your, their) do not use an apostrophe.
Avoid the common error of writing ‘it’s’ (a contraction for ‘it is’) instead of ‘its’
(possessive). Think of the slogan for Senator's Amber Sherry:
‘Made its way - the way it’s made.’
• avoid use of the passive voice
The passive voice is an indirect way of expressing action in a sentence and it is easily
recognized. The verb contains some form of the verb ‘to be’, followed by a past
participle and the conjunction ‘by’. It turns the direct object into the subject of the
verb. For example:
i.e. Fenians were criticised by Cullen because of their commitment to physical force nationalism.
It is generally a weak construction because it tends to obscure the doer of the action or
the action they describe. Instead, try to use more direct, assertive language.
i.e. Cullen critcised the Fenians because of their commitment to physical force nationalism.
• trouble with tense
Historical writing is conducted primarily in the past tense; be careful to avoid the
present tense, unless stating the opinions of a living historian or writer
i.e. The Third Home Rule crisis began in 1912.
i.e. Emmet Larkin calls the changes in the Catholic church a ‘devotional revolution’.
• quotation marks
Marks should be placed around passages quoted directly from another source. In
Britain and Ireland, the common usage is to use single quotation marks ( ‘’ ). For a
quote within a quote, use double quotation marks ( “” ).
16
• avoid using the first person
The use of constructions like ‘I intend to prove’ or ‘I will argue that’ or ‘This essay will
show’ are awkward and unsightly. If possible, eliminate them and express your ideas
in a more detached fashion.
poor: Therefore, I believe that I have shown that the rapid growth in Belfast’s population led to a
rise in sectarian tensions within the city.
better: As a result, the rapid growth in Belfast’s population led to a rise in sectarian tensions within
the city.
©Janice Holmes, September 2002
Acknowledgements
Colin Harper, Assignments (UUJ handout, 1997).
Colin Norman, Writing essays: a short guide (2nd ed., Kingston: Queen’s UP, n.d.).
Margot Northey, Making sense: a student's guide to, writing and style (Toronto: Oxford UP,
1983).
Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Writing academic english (2nd ed., New York, 1978).
17