• Theory on Formal Paper Writing
• Writing and Grading Guidelines
• Presentation of the Paper
• Content
• Citations
• Academic Dishonesty

A formal paper is an exercise in respectful communication. Your job is to convince me that you have taken this assignment seriously and that your thesis, your definition, and your argument are accurate and persuasive. You must also demonstrate that you appreciate the value of my time by presenting an essay that is easy to read and understand. Furthermore, you must honor the authors you are using in your paper by providing complete, accurate, and frequent citations. Every spelling, grammar, and punctuation error slows down my ability to follow your argument, and worse, leads me to believe that you have not been respectful of your argument or my time. When you use another person's ideas without giving them credit, you are showing disrespect for their scholarship. Therefore, a well written essay demonstrates your respect for your abilities, the works of other scholars, and for the person grading the essay.

Pre-writing Anxiety: Talk to professors concerning any and all aspects of your paper during office hours, by appointment, on the phone, or over e-mail.

Rough Drafts: Please take your initial paper seriously.  Resubmission in no way guarantees a higher grade. Only the papers demonstrating substantial improvement in all deficient areas will receive additional points.

Formal writing is based on respectful communication and should conform to formal language standards. If you have questions concerning the parameters of formal writing, there are several ways to get information and help:

• The UCCS History website Research Toolbox
• Formal Writing Guides like Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference (Boston: Bedford Books), available in the UCCS Bookstore and other new and used bookstores around town and on the World Wide Web.
• The Writing Center at UCCS

History standards:

1. Keep your language in the context of the time period (1866-1920). In other words, metaphors using jet engines or atomic bomb references would be anachronistic to an essay on this time period.
2. Do not refer to we, you, or us in your argument (for example: WE kept women from achieving equality. History treated US poorly). This is also anachronistic because WE are observers of the past, not participators in these events.
3. Watch your use of past and present tense. Because you are analyzing history, stay in the past tense as much as possible and do not jump between past and present tense!

Common Errors in Formal Writing (Several of these were taken from Pam Cowen's list of Writing Dos and Dont's in Essay Writing):

1. Do not use contractions: don't, couldn't, wouldn't, etc..Write the words out: do not, would not, etc...
2. Do not use slang: "Her ideas were cool," "He was dissed," etc... Remember, you are writing a formal essay based on respect.
3. Books do not talk, people talk: "The book talked about..." is not accurate. Books have authors who relate, claim, and discuss information. Refer to the author(s) not the books as the creators of arguments.

Your paper must conform to the following presentation standards:

1. Your paper must be typed.
2. Double spaced
3. 1"margins
4. 12 point font size
5. You must provide a cover page.
6. Please number your pages.
7. You must staple your paper once in the upper left-hand corner.
8. PLEASE do NOT place your paper in a plastic cover or binding.
9. PLEASE do NOT print your name anywhere but the cover page.

Your paper must conform to the following content guidelines:

• The majority of your evidence must come from the sources outlined by the assignment.

The rest of your evidence should come from other assigned readings. Evidence from materials outside of class is acceptable as long as it is used to augment not replace evidence from the assigned class readings.

1. You must provide footnotes or endnotes in your paper that conform to Turabian style standards.
2. You must provide citations for every quote, paraphrase, and reference to evidence in your paper.
3. Your paper must include a Works Cited page at the end listing the sources used in your paper.
4. When in doubt, CITE! There is no penalty for OVER citation, but the penalty for NOT citing information taken from another scholar is an F on the paper, an F in the course and possible dismissal from the university!

Contact me at any point during the writing process if you have questions concerning my grading policies or the information presented in this guide. I am very interested in your success as a critical thinker and an analytical writer.

By turning in work that you have not created, you are showing the greatest disrespect to your fellow classmates who did spend the time and the energy to produce original essays. You are essentially proclaiming that you deserve a grade without doing the work that the rest of the class has done. No professor or instructor will not tolerate academic dishonesty in any form.