History Research Paper////how to format your paper first let’s start off with the introduction all right uh so your introductory paragraph should be about half a page to three-fourths of a page long you don’t want to overdo it and put too much into the introduction or you don’t want it to be too short either so what do you put in your introduction so you want to have some historical background and historical background just about two to three sentences roughly and you want to make sure that this historical background is is significant it’s relevant to what your topic is so say for example if you are writing about the downfall of the roman empire you want to give some historical background that’s relevant uh to that time period when the roman empire was going into decline right you wouldn’t want to give a historical background about the beginning of the roman empireor or something random like i don’t know prostitution in the roman empire uh you know what i mean like you want your historical background to be specifically on or around the topic that you’re going to be writing on for the rest of the paper okay so uh the reason why you’re giving historical background is to let your reader know a little bit more about the topic so say if i’m reading your paper and if i don’t know anything about the roman empire and its downfall uh well then i want to know a little bit about what was going on around that time

like what’s the background story you know what’s happening at that time that the downfall is occurring uh so that’s why you’re giving some historical background and just real brief just two to three sentences uh okay so what else is going in your introductory paragraph uh your main claims okay your main overarching claims you should have about three main claims that you’re going to be making in your paper all rightand those main claims may have a number of subclaims under them right so like for example you may have uh one main claim and for that main claim to prove that claim uh you may have three four or five uh paragraphs that have sub claims in them uh that all work towards proving one of your main claims all right so you wanna briefly just state uh your three main claims uh in your in your introductory paragraph right so you don’t want to go too in-depth in them you’re going to do that in the body paragraphs uh you also want to include your historical question all right i want you to actually put the question itself in the introductory paragraph so we know uh the question that you’re going to be answering in this paper and then you want to include your thesis and the thesis is basically uh your argument it is your answer to that historical question all right so for example back to the example of the roman empire say my question was uh what were the factors that brought about the downfall of the roman empire so that’s my historical question and I want to find out the answer to that question well i will give you my thesis so my thesis is my answer to that question and the thesis follows the format of uh making an assertion and then giving three supporting reasons uh that prove that assertion okay i give a separate example here uh as if i was you know writing a paper on facebook uh and so i give an example on that so i have my assertion uh facebook takes away the privacy of its users in multiple ways that’s my assertion that’s what i’m trying to prove and then i have three supporting reasons that support that assertion right

including the selling of their information to third-party companies that’s one comma allowing uh government agencies to view their profiles there’s two and allowing the public to see portions of their information as three so that’s my three supporting reasons

that prove my assertion that facebook is taking away the privacy of its users in multiple ways all right moving on uh so after the introduction you’re gonna have your body paragraphs so you’ll have a number of different body paragraphs and the point of each body paragraph is to is to prove one specific claim all right uh i mentioned earlier that you will

have three main claims right well those

three main claims are all going to have

sub claims underneath them all right so

uh one of my main claims may have four

different sub claims that work together

to prove that larger main claim

so all of your body paragraphs in your

paper are all trying to prove uh one of

your sub claims right and your sub

claims are working together to prove uh

one of your main claims right

all right so uh with the body paragraphs

this is the format that i would like you

to follow all right you’ll have your

topic sentence let’s start with that

the topic sentence is the first sentence

of your body paragraphs

and basically it’s introducing the topic

of that paragraph to the reader now in

your topic sentence i want you to state

your claim to clearly and specifically

all right i’m emphasizing those words

clearly and specifically stating uh the

claim that you are going to be proving

in that body paragraph all right and so

you’ll state your claim one claim only

you know don’t put two or three in there

i know it’s tempting right we want to we

want to load it up with a bunch of

claims but uh we’re just going to be

focusing on one claim at a time per body

paragraph all right

so you state one claim that you’re going

to be proving in that paragraph uh when

you state the claim make sure that it

specifically tells the reader what you

will be arguing you don’t want to be too

broad with it sometimes uh it could be a

little vague and i’m not sure you know

specifically what you’re going to be

arguing there so be as specific as

possible uh and

so you want to uh so that’s what i mean

down here where i say avoid being too

vague or or too broad okay

all right so that’s your first sentence

of each of your body paragraphs is going

to be stating a claim if your first

sentence is not stating a claim uh then

you got to go back and make sure that it

is all right so many times i read uh you

know papers like that where it’s the

first sentence is not really telling the

reader what you’re going to be trying to

prove it what you’re going to be trying

to prove in that in that body paragraph

and so the body paragraph becomes kind

of like

a little confusing you know you don’t

know what the point is of it what’s the

topic of it

and so that’s the whole point of having

a topic sentence to direct the reader so

that they know

okay they’re going to be trying to prove

this point in this in this paragraph all

right

okay so after you do the first sentence

the topic sentence then you’re going to

start introducing your evidence and your

evidence is what you get from uh your

research from your sources

okay

uh and so you will be using your sources

to provide evidence that proves the

claim that you stated in your topic

sentence all right

uh and so you i want you to provide at

least two pieces of evidence per body

paragraph so that uh we’ll have you know

at least a couple of pieces of pieces of

evidence that show that the claim that

you’re making is is true okay this the

whole point here is we’re trying to

prove to the reader uh that what you’re

claiming is actually true that it

actually went down that way all right so

you introdu so you uh you will have your

two pieces of evidence in your body

paragraph uh you also want to have some

analysis of that evidence uh sometimes

the evidence will be straightforward and

the reader will you know will get it

right off the bat but sometimes you have

to really show the reader how the

evidence proves the claim that you were

making in the topic sentence okay you

got to tie it together for them and

really just kind of think of it as

you’re holding the reader’s hand as you

walk them through that body paragraph

and you’re trying to prove this point to

them you’re showing them some evidence

and then you’re showing them how that

evidence proves your point that’s your

analysis

okay

in addition you may have some historical

background in that paragraph if it’s

needed if it’s not then you don’t have

to include it

but sometimes you got to let the reader

know a little bit of background what was

going on at that time in relation to

that point that you’re making

in the topic sentence right they need

they may need to know a little bit more

in order to understand

uh and really be convinced uh that you

that your point is true

all right and so after you have all of

that you will end uh each body paragraph

with a concluding sentence and the

concluding sentence is basically just

reaffirming the point that you made in

your body paragraph

and then also you can you can include a

transition uh to the next paragraph i

sometimes will include my transition in

the topic sentence uh going from one

paragraph to another uh but you can also

include it in the concluding sentence

it’s up to you

all right so that’s that’s your

structure for all the body paragraphs uh

in your paper all right so uh just so if

you’re not familiar you know the papers

structure includes an introduction which

introduces the topic to the reader and

then it includes a number of different

body paragraphs that are all aimed at

proving different points that ultimately

prove your overall thesis right and your

thesis has your assertion and your three

reasons your three reasons being your

three main claims same thing

uh and then you’ll have your conclusion

uh which ultimately reaffirms all the

points that you made i mean not

everything but you’re just kind of

summarizing the main points that you’ve

made in your paper and then maybe

stating uh the significance of

your overall thesis okay so let’s go

ahead and take a look at an example of a

body paragraph so you could actually see

what i’m talking about

this

paper here was written

by me a long time ago when i was a

student so uh you know it’s not perfect

but it’ll give us an idea of the

structure that i’m talking about so

before i start reading the uh the

paragraph let me just give you a little

bit of background on what this paper is

on so that you kind of understand the

topic right i gotta give you a little

historical background right uh so uh

this paper is basically talking about

how uh the traditional religions of the

nawa people and people who lived in the

andes right so these are native american

peoples uh who lived in central mexico

uh and in the andes of areas like peru

and bolivia uh the paper is about how

these people continue to practice their

traditional religions uh during a time

when uh spanish uh clergy were trying to

uproot those traditions so they continue

to practice in private that’s what the

paper is trying to prove to the reader

okay so right now we’re going to start

with one of my body paragraphs that is

trying to prove a specific claim a sub

claim to the reader okay so let’s go

ahead and see what that claim is

all right so topic sentence uh in

central mexico the small towns and

villages that were located away from the

sphere of spanish authority

acted as havens of traditional religion

okay so that’s my claim

right i’m stating it out there like it

like it sounds like it’s a fact right

but really it’s it’s a claim that i have

to prove by showing you evidence

all right uh and so what i’m just saying

that you know these little towns and

villages that are far away from where

the most the majority of the spanish

population is that’s where you see

traditional religions still being

practiced so that’s my claim i have to

prove that uh to my reader now

all right um so let’s go ahead and start

after the topic sentence i go in i’m

going to introduce some evidence all

right so uh in the mid th century uh

las casas this is this is a priest uh

las casas recognized that the periphery

would remain a stronghold of traditional

religions if the indigenous people were

not won over in their hearts

so here is a piece of evidence showing

that a priest from that time period is

saying

that yeah they’re going to practice

their traditional religions on the

outskirts in the periphery unless we

really uh convert them to catholicism

okay so that’s my that’s one of my

pieces of evidence

proving my topic sentence let’s go on uh

although the nawaz were able to practice

their traditional rituals more freely in

the periphery they still needed to keep

their devotion hidden from the secular

and regular clergy who were assigned to

their area

during the extirpation campaigns these

are just campaigns to uproot traditional

religion

uh during the extirpation campaigns of

central mexico in the early th century

spanish secular clergy acknowledged that

many practitioners of traditional

religion would return

to their practices even after being

reprimanded right after being punished

okay so i’m still making my point here

so i’m giving you some more that was

more like historical background right

so now let’s get to the point another

piece of evidence uh ruiz de arla cone

this is uh another uh you know spanish

clergy member from that time ruiz de

arla cone uh cited the example of a

person named augustine jacobo an

indigenous man from the district of ho

upon in central mexico

uh after finding that jacobo uh had been

practicing traditional incantations uh

in an effort to gain supernatural aid

for his hunting abilities ruiz

ordered him to cease immediately and he

explained to jacobo that such practices

were evil as they entailed a pact with

the devil

but

despite that chastisement of this

ecclesiastical judge jacobo eventually

resumed the ritual after moving and i’m

putting this in quotation marks away

from populated places meaning that he

continued to practice his traditional

religion away from the centers where the

spanish were in the periphery in those

small villages that i was saying so

that’s that’s basically my claim that i

was making in my topic sentence and so i

i kind of built up i gave you a little

bit of background uh on what was going

on people were practicing even though

they were punished and then i give you

some example an example of a specific

person this is evidence i’m giving you

evidence showing you that a specific

person uh actually did

go away from populated places and

continue to practice his religion

now you may also notice that i put it in

quotation marks because i use a direct

quote from the text now when do you use

a direct quote from the text this is

another point i want to make to you guys

okay use direct quotes when they have an

impact only when they have an impact um

there’s no point in in doing a direct

quote if you could simply just

paraphrase it yourself put it in your

own words if you’re just trying to

explain something something i always

tell students is you don’t want to let

the quote speak for you say you’re

trying to relate uh you know an author’s

theory or something like that paraphrase

it into your own words right

paraphrasing it means just putting it on

into your own words the only time you

really want to quote it directly

is when you want it to have an impact on

your reader to really show them hey look

at the evidence this is true okay and

that’s what i did here alright so i i

quoted from the text because it shows

you specifically that he was practicing

his religion away from populated places

and that’s my whole point in this

paragraph is to try to prove that and

and that’s why i i made that quote okay

all right so that’s when you quote uh

all right let’s continue we’ll finish

off this paragraph all right so ruiz de

arlacone related that it was common to

find uh the continued practice of

indigenous religions in and i’m doing it

again i’m giving you a direct quote

hills and deserts remote from the main

towns

so it’s common that people are still

practicing their religions uh during

this time away from the populated areas

in the hills and in the deserts okay so

again it has an impact it’s showing you

that what i was arguing in my topic

sentence is true

all right so that was it i gave you

evidence i gave you a little historical

background uh all towards proving my

point that i made in my topic sentence

see how it’s organized all around

proving one main point right each body

paragraph is organized like that let’s

finish it off with the concluding

sentence all right the distance between

rural villages and the main centers of

spanish population allowed nawaz these

are the native people of central mexico

uh to maintain some of their religious

traditions all right it’s just

reaffirming the point that i made in

that body paragraph

okay uh so that is an example of how to

structure your body paragraphs you’ll

have multiple body paragraphs in your

paper

uh and they should all follow a

structure similar to that okay

okay uh next i want to talk a little bit

about citation when do you cite when do

you need to cite your sources

well

i give you three different times when

you need to cite so always cite when and

i you know

put this all in uppercase letters

because i want you to really pay

attention to this

always cite when using a direct quote

obviously right and that’s when most

people do make their citations is when

they uh do a direct quote

uh and don’t forget to use those

quotation marks so that happens i see

many people like you know quoting but

they forget to put the quotation marks

they put one quotation marks and and not

the other you know so always put those

quotation marks that’s definitely one

time when you’re going to be citing your

sources but that’s not the only time uh

to cite your sources all right there’s a

couple of other uh instances all right

so another time where you would cite

your sources is if you’re paraphrasing

any information or ideas from that

source

okay meaning that say uh you know

there’s a lot of information in the

source and you want to put it into your

own words rather than use a direct quote

which i encourage i think you should do

a lot more paraphrasing than quoting i

don’t really care for papers i have a

lot of quotations because it’s kind of

like letting them speak for you uh so

put it in your own words show me that

you understand and comprehend uh what

you’re writing about so paraphrase it

put in your own words now any time you

paraphrase you have to cite where you

got that information from all right you

so that i could look back in your source

and say oh okay yeah they got it from

this page you know so very important to

cite that information anytime you put

something into your own words okay

uh and lastly uh when you’re summarizing

any information or ideas from a source

you have to cite it as well so say you

read like i don’t know two or three

pages and you want to just summarize all

that into a couple of sentences

uh and that’s fine you should do that

but you have to cite what pages you got

that from so basically any ideas any

information that you get from a source

you have to cite where you got it from

otherwise you’re claiming responsibility

for that information or those ideas and

that is considered plagiarism right uh

and so you cannot do that uh and so

these are the three times when you cite

information okay uh and so uh keep in

mind you know when it’s your idea it’s

something that you’re coming up with

yourself like say your topic sentence

that’s gonna be your claim uh you don’t

have to cite that all right so i

shouldn’t see citations in the topic

sentences because that’s the claim that

you’re making any time that you’re

analyzing evidence and showing how it

proves your point that’s you that’s your

ideas you don’t have to cite that either

okay uh so any times it’s your ideas or

your uh your own thinking your own

points you don’t have to cite it

but if you get it from somewhere else

any information doesn’t even matter if

you’re just it doesn’t matter if you’re

directly quoting it or not any

information you have to cite where you

got it from okay

all right and so uh

about quotes a little bit more about

direct quotations uh i want you to

always introduce your quote uh don’t

just insert your quotes as a standalone

sentence this is uh comments that i make

uh quite a bit right because a lot of

times people will just put a quote in

without saying anything about it is just

there as its own sentence um you want to

let the reader know what is this quote

what’s the point of this quote in what

context was the quote made right uh who

is saying the quote those are all ways

to introduce the quote to your reader

okay

uh so before we stop with citation let’s

go ahead and go back uh to this example

here and i’ll show you what the citation

looks like

okay so

in this sentence right here i got this

from a book right it wasn’t my own

thoughts i actually you know got it from

a book and so i have to cite it and i

put it in my own words i did there’s no

direct quotation in this sentence right

but i got the information from a source

so i got to cite it

so here is where and how to do a

citation in mla format

uh okay so at the end of the sentence

right i did a space

and then you have your your parentheses

and then after the pres the parentheses

you just put the author’s last name in

this case it’s la casas

and then after the last name you do

another space

and then you put the page number or page

numbers where you got that information

from this is the in-text citation in mla

format and then you finish that off with

a end parenthesis uh and then your

period comes after

the citation okay

after it’s important you know sometimes

people will put the period before uh and

so that’s it that’s your citation right

that’s the format for in-text citation

uh little you know of course there’s

different a format for your for your

bibliography

or works cited page

but this is what it looks like inside of

the text okay so last name space page

number page numbers all right all within

parentheses period at the end all right

uh and that is pretty much it here’s

another example of it here okay

all right and the last thing i want to

talk about is the conclusion all right

this is the last paragraph of your paper

uh and so in the conclusion you’re

you’re basically just reaffirming the

main points that you made in your body

paragraphs just showing the reader how

you prove the argument that you had

introduced in your introduction

and then you also may want to say what

the significance of your thesis is right

why should they care about it you know

why why should the readers be interested

in you proving this point in the first

place right so why is it important to

them.