At any scale, you are likely to need an introduction, a conclusion, and some evidence in between. American high school students are introduced to this concept by being taught to write five-paragraph essays: an introduction, three body paragraphs in support, and a conclusion. Some writing instructors argue that this format is too constraining, but

Compared to factual reporting, a blistering editorial can be refreshing to read and tempting to quote, but it may also represent just one editor’s opinion, or a cynical effort to attract subscribers by being outrageous.

Some historians start straight into a working draft. “The more I write, the more I know what I am looking for,” explains E. H. Carr, “the better I understand the significance and relevance of what I find.”6 I myself also start writing as soon as I can, so that my working draft reflects my understanding of the topic at any given time.

Make your topic manageable by selecting a time, a place, and, most importantly, a set of characters.

The second optional part is the historiography, which highlights the novelty of the work’s findings. Table 13.1. Paragraph Budgets for Short, Medium, and Long Papers Five-Paragraph Essay Ten-Page Paper Thirty-Page Paper Introduction 1 2 8 Body 1 1 6 16 Body 2 1 6 16 Body 3 1 6 16 Conclusion 1 2 2 Total Paragraphs 5 22 58 LEDES

Most commonly, especially in journal articles, a historian leads with an exciting story plucked from the middle of the chronology.

For other forms of gathering, progress can be illusory. It is easy to spend a lot of time checking books out of a library or downloading articles from a database, but if you do not get around to reading them, you are not advancing your project.13

anticipate the kinds of criticism you may ultimately receive. Read not only articles and books but also responses to those articles and reviews of those books, and consider what kind of challenges they pose.

A better or more complete explanation Finally,