NOTES ON
WRITING ESSAYS
Including the rules and procedures for submission of work and
assessment in the History discipline
History and Classics Program
School of Humanities
University of Tasmania
2014
NOTES ON WRITING ESSAYS
HISTORY RULES AND PROCEDURES …………………………………...Page 2
1. Assessment
2. Submission of written work
3. Grading and return of work
PREPARING WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS…………………………………Page 6
1. Format of Written Work
2. Guide to Writing a History Essay
3. Use of Quotations
REFERENCING……………………………………………………………...Page 11
Plagiarism
General Information on Footnotes
Constructing Footnotes
Constructing a Bibliography
1
HISTORY RULES AND PROCEDURES
The History discipline in the School of Humanities has some general rules and
procedures relating to assessment and the submission of written work. Unless you are
advised otherwise by the lecturer in charge, these general rules and procedures will
be deemed to apply in all history units, in all campuses, and in all modes of teachings.
1. ASSESSMENT
1.1
All written work submitted for assessment must be the student‟s own work,
with all sources properly documented.
1.2
You are not permitted to resubmit work already presented for assessment in
another unit, or from a previous attempt at the same unit.
1.3
Essays will be given either a numerical mark or a grade. Marks and grades
correspond with awards (High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass and Fail)
in the following way:
Award
% Mark
Grade
High Distinction
87+
83-86
80-82
A+
A
A-
Distinction
77-79
73-76
70-72
B+
B
B-
Credit
67-69
63-66
60-62
C+
C
C-
2
Pass
57-59
53-56
50-52
D+
D
D-
Fail
47-49
42-46
36-41
0-35
E+
E
EF
2. SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN WORK
2.1
Attach the Faculty of Arts cover sheet properly completed and signed.
2.2.1 The essay must also have a title page containing:
your name;
the name of your tutor;
your tutorial group;
the essay topic;
and the number of words used (include quotations in the word count but not
the footnotes and bibliography).
2.3
You must always retain a copy of your work.
2.4
Submission of written work by the due date:
Hobart:
place the essay in the appropriate unit box outside Arts
Student Central, Level 2, Social Sciences Building.
Launceston:
place the essay in the appropriate unit box outside the Arts
Faculty office.
Cradle Coast: hand the essay in at the office.
Distance:
follow the instructions provided by the Distance Education
Office, Faculty of Arts, Launceston.
Email:
in some unusual circumstances, essays may be accepted by
email. This must not be assumed and you should contact your
lecturer or tutor in advance if submission by email seems
necessary. Lecturers reserve the right to refuse permission.
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2.5
Students are expected to submit all assignments on or before the due date and
time specified in the relevant Unit Outline. Any assignment received after the
due date will be deemed to have been received the following day.
2.6
Students with special circumstances may apply for an extension.
2.7
Late submission of assignments without an approved extension will incur the
following penalties:
 5% of the total possible mark for that piece of assessment for each
business day past the deadline and 5% of the total possible mark for that
piece of assessment for each period of consecutive non-business days
including weekends, long weekends, Easter and/or Christmas break.
 The penalty will be deducted until the maximum possible mark for that
piece of assessment reaches to zero (0%), unless otherwise specified by
the unit co-ordinator.
 Assignments will not be accepted after assignments have been returned to
other students, unless a prior arrangement is made with the unit coordinator.
2.8
A medical certificate or other supporting documentation is required where
extensions are requested due to illness or bereavement.
2.9
In addition to the due dates, each unit will have a deadline after which work
submitted without an extension will not receive any mark at all. Unless
advised by the lecturer otherwise, that date shall be deemed to be the end of
the study week prior to the exams.
2.10
All written work required for assessment must be submitted, regardless of
whether it is too late to gain marks. The School deadline for such late work is
the end of the examination period.
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3. GRADING AND RETURN OF WORK
3.1
All written work submitted for assessment will be assessed, carefully
appraised, and graded in conformity with the scales in 1.5. If a lateness penalty
has been imposed, the original assessment and the penalty marks deducted will
be separately indicated.
3.2
As well as making written comments on the assignment, teachers are available
for further consultation. Students wishing for additional feedback on their
work, grades or progress should seek an appointment with their tutor or the
lecturer in charge, and remember to take their essay with them.
3.3
In a student‟s first semester of history (whether HTA101 or HTA102) a failed
first assignment, on a student‟s request, may be re-submitted for assessment on
a pass/fail basis.
3.4
Work that has been submitted on time will normally be returned to students
within three weeks.
5
PREPARING WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
1. FORMAT OF WRITTEN WORK
1.
Essays are to be written on one side of the paper only. If your essay is typed or
word-processed the lines must be double-spaced. The School does not insist
on typewritten or printed work, provided the handwriting is legible.
2.
Each page of your essay should have a right hand margin of 5 cm. for
comments and adequate space at the bottom for footnote references.
3.
Do not use plastic binders or folders to present your essay.
4.
The essay should provide accurate and precise references in appropriate places.
2. GUIDE TO WRITING A HISTORY ESSAY
Note that this is a guide only – there are many different ways to prepare a good
essay – but the guide should contain helpful suggestions.
UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION
1.

Divide the question into key areas.

Look only for these key areas when doing your reading.
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2.
BROAD READING/NOTE-TAKING

Follow the guidelines provided by your lecturer but in general refer to your
Unit Reader and/or prescribed textbooks.

Use general books from essay question and from „further‟ reading, using the
titles to guide you.

Read mainly for background – don‟t get bogged down at the start on specific
details.

Take notes just on the main broad arguments, not on specific details yet.
3.
SPECIFIC READING/NOTE-TAKING

This will vary, depending on the unit, but it will involve consulting both
primary and secondary sources.

Use specific works from essay question list if one has been provided.

Follow up references from your earlier readings, to find extra primary and
secondary sources.

Use the Library catalogue, including databases, to find sources, including
journal articles (see point 5 below).

Take notes only on essay question‟s key areas.
4.
RE-ORGANISE YOUR NOTES

Which ideas/themes keep popping up in your notes?

Select 3-5 most common themes – these are your essay‟s main paragraphs/main
themes.

Rearrange different examples – both primary/secondary – under these themes –
these are your essay‟s supporting evidence.

Every theme must have supporting evidence.

Go back and conduct more research/reading where needed (this re-working and
re-researching is a critical element of the entire essay process).
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5.
USING THE LIBRARY
 History Subject Guide
The Library‟s website has a History Subject Guide at
http://www.utas.edu.au/library/info/subj/history.html, or go to the Library
home page and click on the link to „Subject Guides‟ under „Information
Resources‟, then click on „History‟. Here you will find a listing of the
university's reference material/databases/etc that are specifically for History.
 Library Reserve
In researching your assignments in the library, make an effort not only to
access books and articles on the open shelves but also in Library Reserve.
Unit coordinators place books and material in Reserve to ensure that all
students have access to important scholarship.
6.
SAMPLE PARAGRAPH
This is a basic model for paragraphs in the body of the essay (i.e. not the
introduction or conclusion). In practice, don’t worry if your paragraphs tend to
diverge a bit from the model every now and then, but do try to include all 5
elements in every paragraph.
A. Topic sentence – usually will not have footnote
B. Background material, common scholarly views, possibly a few sentences
C. Example(s)
- Primary example, paraphrase and/or primary quotation – primary footnote(s)
- Another supporting primary example – primary footnote(s)
D. Analysis, your views on the significance of the primary examples and how they
confirm/deny/modify the secondary arguments – won‟t have footnote
E. Summary, what has paragraph demonstrated overall? – won‟t have footnote
Sample Paragraph:
MOCK QUESTION: ‘THE RISE OF THE CAROLINGIANS HAD VERY LITTLE TO DO
WITH EVENTS IN FRANCE. THE REAL CATALYSTS FOR THE EARLY
CAROLINGIANS’ SUCCESS WERE EVENTS ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE AND THE
MEDITERRANEAN WORLD. CRITICALLY ASSESS.’
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[A] A second reason for the Carolingians‟ rise was the Lombard threat in Italy.
[B] Rising to prominence in the early-sixth century, thanks in part to support from the
Byzantine emperor Justinian, the Lombards had entered northern Italy in 568 and
quickly established a strong monarchy.1 By the early eighth century, Lombard
dominance in Italy was increasing even further and moving further south and southeast.2 For example, the Lombards regularly occupied Ravenna, one of the old Roman
Empire‟s capital cities.3 As Lynette Olson has argued, this territorial advance worried
the papacy.4 The popes in Rome were used to running their own affairs, and they
feared that the Lombards would try to dictate church policy. In response, the popes
invited the Franks in to Italy to defeat the Lombards. [C] As the Royal Frankish
Annals report: „In that year [753] Pope Stephen came to King Pepin at the villa called
Quierzy advising the king that he defend the pope and the Romans against the
aggression of the Lombards.‟5 Another source, the Third Continuation of Fredegar,
argues similarly.6 It reports that Pope Stephen took the trouble to visit Pepin at Pepin‟s
villa, and that Stephen requested assistance against the Lombards. As the Third
Continuation has it, Stephen particularly resented having to pay tribute to the
Lombards. [D] These examples indicate that the Lombards were both a military threat
and an economic threat to the papacy, and they also suggest that the Frankish Pepin
was seen as a suitable person to solve the problem. [E] In conclusion, the fact that the
papacy‟s appeal to the Franks appeared in multiple primary sources indicates that the
Lombard threat was seen both as a very real problem at the time and also as a key
reason behind the Carolingian Franks‟ rise.
A third contributing factor to early Carolingian success was…
1
Roger Collins, Early Medieval Europe 300-1000, 2nd ed. (Houndmills and New York, 1999), ch. 12.
Ibid., ch. 13.
3
Lynette Olson, The Early Middle Ages: The Birth of Europe (Houndmills and New York, 2007), p.
85.
4
Ibid.
5
„Royal Frankish Annals‟, in Bernhard Walter Scholz, Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals
and Nithard's Histories (Ann Arbor, 1970), p. 40.
6
„Third Continuation of Fredegar‟, in Alexander C. Murray, From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A
Reader (Peterborough, Ont., 2000), p. 653.
2
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3. USE OF QUOTATIONS
You are encouraged to quote directly from primary sources in order to support a point
that you are making.
However, quoting directly from secondary sources is not desirable, except
occasionally if a writer has used a particularly pithy turn of phrase or you wish to
demonstrate a particular point about their argument. At all other times, it is preferable
to use your own words to express yourself. By doing this, you also minimize the risk
of committing unintentional plagiarism (see below).
Direct Quotations:
 Must be reproduced with complete accuracy and must be referenced with a
footnote.
 Must not stand alone – introduce them or incorporate them into a sentence.
 Short quotations must be included in the body of the text and enclosed in
single quotation marks, and followed by a footnote at the end of the sentence.
 Quotations more than three lines in length must be indented, do not require
quotation marks and are followed by a footnote.
Quoting a Quotation
 If you directly quote a quotation used by another writer (for example, a line
from Napoleon Bonaparte in a textbook on modern France), you should cite
the textbook in your footnote, not the original source provided by the author
of the textbook. Introduce the footnote with „Quoted in...‟.
Indirect Quotations

If you paraphrase, or indirectly quote, an author, you should do so fairly:
mention in the text the author you are paraphrasing and provide a footnote to
cite your source.
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REFERENCING
WARNING! PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is not only unacceptable in the History and Classics Program, it is
also a University offence (see the University Statement on Plagiarism below). All
written work submitted for assessment, therefore, must be fully documented; in
the case of History this is done through the use of footnotes.
University Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is a form of cheating. It is taking and using someone else's thoughts,
writings or inventions and representing them as your own; for example, using an
author's words without putting them in quotation marks and citing the source, using an
author's ideas without proper acknowledgment and citation, copying another student's
work.
If you have any doubts about how to refer to the work of others in your assignments,
please consult your lecturer or tutor for relevant referencing guidelines, and the
academic integrity resources on the web at:
http://www.utas.edu.au/tl/supporting/academicintegrity/index.html.
The intentional copying of someone else‟s work as one‟s own is a serious offence
punishable by penalties that may range from a fine or deduction/cancellation of marks
and, in the most serious of cases, to exclusion from a unit, a course or the University.
Details of penalties that can be imposed are available in the Ordinance of Student
Discipline – Part 3 Academic Misconduct, see:
http://www.utas.edu.au/universitycouncil/legislation/
The University and any persons authorised by the University may submit your
assessable works to a plagiarism checking service, to obtain a report on possible
instances of plagiarism. Assessable works may also be included in a reference
database. It is a condition of this arrangement that the original author‟s permission is
required before a work within the database can be viewed.
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GENERAL INFORMATION ON FOOTNOTES
The primary purpose of a footnote is to provide your reader with clear information
about your sources and to enable quick access to them.
Footnote references must be provided for:

all direct and indirect quotations

evidence which is or might be in dispute

other writers’ interpretations

statistics
It is not necessary to provide a footnote for something that is common knowledge or
generally known. For example, the date of the dropping of the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima – 6 August 1945 – does not require a footnote; differing accounts of the
damage caused, however, or differing views about whether the dropping of the bomb
was necessary, do need to be referenced with a footnote.
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CONSTRUCTING FOOTNOTES
All written work submitted in the History discipline must be referenced using
footnotes, which are placed at the foot of the page, in the following format.
Remember if you refer to just one page, then use „p.‟; if you refer to two or more
pages, then use „pp.‟.
BOOKS
Name or Initials and Surname of author, Title of Book (Place and date of
publication), page or pages number. NOTE THAT PUBLISHER IS NOT
REQUIRED.
Example
Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan, 1857-1964 (London,
1967), pp. 31-40.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Name or Initials and Surname of author, „Title of Article‟, Journal Title,
volume number (year of publication), page or pages number.
Example
Francis Robinson, „Religious Change and the Self in Muslim South Asia
since 1800‟, South Asia, 20 (1997), p. 10.
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS (edited collections)
Name or Initials and Surname of author, „Title of Chapter‟, in name or initials
and surname of editor (or editors), ed., Title of Book (Place and date of
publication), page or pages number.
Example
Francis Robinson, „Islam and the Impact of Print in South Asia‟, in Nigel
Crook, ed., The Transmission of Knowledge in South Asia: Essays on
Education, Religion, History, and Politics (Delhi, 1996), p. 64.
13
ITEMS FROM YOUR UNIT READER
Cite the author and the title of the reading, then the full citation of the reader
(cite the reader as you would a book).
Example
M.J. Bennett, „Van Diemen, Tasman and the Dutch Reconnaissance‟, in M.J.
Bennett, ed., The Impact of Europe. Selected Readings, 10th ed. (Hobart,
2001), p. 19.
WEB MATERIAL
URL of actual Web page that you consulted, date accessed.
Example
http://www.harappa.com/bremner/b1.html, accessed 14 December 2007.
Note on the use of Web material: Consult your lecturer or tutor about the use of
Web material, including if printouts of Web material you have used should be
attached to your essay when you hand it in. Some lecturers will only allow the use of
the Web as a means of accessing primary sources; in some circumstances wider use of
the Web is acceptable. Make sure you know what is acceptable use in your
particular unit before you submit your essay.
Subsequent Citations:
Where a reference is exactly the same as the preceding one, put „Ibid.‟ or, where it
is exactly the same as the preceding one except for the page, add the page number
(e.g. Ibid., p. 157.).
Where you refer, after some intervening references, to a work cited earlier, give
the author‟s surname and an abbreviated title (e.g., for a book, Ahmad, Islamic
Modernism, p. 100. For an article or chapter, Robinson, „Religious Change‟, p. 11.).
Example of footnotes citing books, chapters and journals:
1. S. Petrow, Going to the Mechanics: A History of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute 18421914 (Launceston, 1998), p. 6; M.J. Bennett, The Battle of Bosworth (Gloucester, 1985), p. 10.
2. M. Lindley, „Competing Trinities: The Great Mother and the Formation of the Christian Trinity‟, in
J.S. Barton and C.J. Mews, eds, Hildegard of Bingen and Gendered Theology in the JudaeoChristian Tradition (Melbourne, 1995), pp. 29-39.
3. Ibid., p. 34.
5. Petrow, Going to the Mechanics, p. 13.
6. A. Roy, „The Politics of Education: The British Raj and Bengal Muslim Education‟, History of
Education Review, 17 (1988), p. 59.
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CONSTRUCTING A BIBLIOGRAPHY
At the end of your essay, on a separate page, you should give a list of all works that
you have used and footnoted in the essay.
In a bibliography primary sources precede secondary sources, with each list
arranged alphabetically.
The order is:
Author, Initials (this is the opposite order from footnotes), Title (italicised or
underlined), place and date of publication (in brackets).
The full information must be repeated in the bibliography even if it has already been
given in a footnote.
Sample bibliography
The following sample bibliography shows how to set out different kinds of sources.
Divide your bibliography into primary and secondary sources. If you wish, you can
also divide secondary sources into books and journal articles, but this is not necessary.
NOTE: Full pages numbers must be provided for journal articles, chapters in
books and material from unit readers. Do not reproduce the page numbers from
your footnotes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCES
Gregory the Great, „Letter to the Emperor Maurice, c.591-92‟, as cited in Hollister, C. Warren, ed.,
Medieval Europe: A Short Sourcebook (New York, 1982), pp. 25-26.
Historical Records of Australia. Series III. Despatches and Papers relating to the Settlement of the
States. Vol. 1. Port Phillip, Victoria 1803-1804. Tasmania, 1803-June 1812 (Sydney, 1921).
The Diary and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes, Volume 1, 1820-1832, ed. G.P.R. Chapman
(Melbourne, 1985).
15
SECONDARY MATERIALS
Bennett, M.J., Richard II and the Revolution of 1399 (Stroud, 1999).
Bennett, M.J. „“The Ballad of Bosworth Field”: An Introduction to the Text‟ from Bennett, M.,
The Battle of Bosworth, rev. ed., New York, 1993, pp. 170-75 at
http://www.r3.org/bosworth/ballad.html, date accessed.
Bennett, M.J., „Van Diemen, Tasman and the Dutch Reconnaissance‟, in M.J. Bennett, ed., The
Impact of Europe. Selected Readings, 10th ed. (Hobart, 2001), pp. 18-25.
Dictionary of National Biography, 22 vols (London, 1921-22).
Dunning, T.P., „The Canadian Rebellions of 1837-8: An Episode in Northern Borderland History‟,
The Australian Journal of American Studies, 14 (1995), pp. 31-48.
Freeman, E., „Aelred of Rievaulx‟s De Bello Standardii and Medieval and Modern Textual
Controls‟ in Cassidy, M., H. Hickey and M. Street, eds, Deviance and Textual Control
(Melbourne, 1997), pp. 78-102.
Freeman, E., Narratives of a New Order: Cistercian historical writing in England, 1150-1220
(Turnhout, 2002).
Frost, L. and H. Maxwell-Stewart, Chain Letters: Narrating Convict Lives (Melbourne, 2001).
Jetson, T., History of the Midlands-Central Plateau Region: Printed Sources (Hobart, 1991).
Overton, D., „Egyptian Formula for “Step by Step Peace in Israel” (an interview with Dr Boutros
Ghali in Cairo)‟, The Jerusalem Post/Australian Jewish Times (Composite edition), 16 May,
1985.
Page, A., „“Liberty has an Asylum”: John Jebb, British Radicalism and the American Revolution‟,
History, 87 (2002), pp. 204-26.
Petrow, S., Policing Morals: the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office, 1870-1914 (Oxford,
1994).
Roy, A., The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal (Princeton, 1983).
Smith, M., „Wasted Away in Drunkenness and Neglect? Clarence Plains and Cambridge Land
Grants 1810-1820‟, unpublished Honours thesis, History and Classics, University of Tasmania,
2001.
Spinks, J., „Louis XIV‟s “Youthful Spirit”: A Study of the Redecoration of the Versailles
Ménagerie for Marie-Adélaïde, Duchesse de Bourgogne‟, unpublished MA thesis, History and
Classics, University of Tasmania, 2000.
Whiteman, J., „Trade and the Regeneration of France, 1789-91: Liberalism, Protectionism and the
Commercial Policy of the National Constituent Assembly‟, European History Quarterly, 31
(2001), pp. 171-204.
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