The Ten Commandments

1
The Ten Commandments (of Writing for Social
Studies-Revised by your teachers, with apologies
to the Author of the original Ten )

• Thou shalt strive for academic language above
  flowery language
• No clichés or clever phrases like one might say
  or larger than life these detract from your
  writing. Also be sure to use the most concise
  language. This is not the time to show off your
  capacious, commodious, and comprehensive
  vocabulary. Get to the point!

• Thou shalt not useth first or second person.
• First person is I, me, we, our, us, etc.
• Second person is you, your, etc.
•  

2
Historical Writing Tips Hints

• Thou shalt write as if thy reader is
  intelligent--but totally uninformed on the
  subject.
• Limit the use of pronouns do not use they or
  it tell me who they or it is too many
  pronouns cloud your meaning and confuse the
  reader.

• Thou shalt avoid discrediting language and
  believeth thine own argument.
• Dont discredit your opinions by using phrases
  like, It seems that or I believe that I
  know its what you think your name is at the top
  of the paper. State your opinions as though they
  are fact. The more confidence you show in your
  ideas, the more likely the reader is to believe
  them. Phrases like Now lets turn to or I
  will demonstrate that make you appear unsure of
  your ideas.

3
Historical Writing Tips Hints

• Thou shalt stick to the facts.
• Do not make up history or try to make bold
  connections that you could not prove. Present
  facts, and then analyze why certain events,
  people are important. I already know history-
  tell me what you think about it.
•  

• Thou shalt not asketh questions. (i.e. - Was
  this really the Age of the Common Man?) That is
  your sole purpose of writing an essay to
  answer, not ask questions!!
•  

4
Historical Writing Tips Hints

• Thou shalt write consistently in the appropriate
  verb tense.
• For the most part, the people that you write
  about in history are long dead. Therefore, they
  can not argue, believe, or do much of anything.
  The only exception would be when you write about
  modern day situations, in which you can switch to
  present tense as called for it.
•  

• Thou shalt organize thine thoughts around thy
  thesis statement.
• Spend time outlining and organizing your ideas
  into three coherent body paragraphs. Then, write
  your thesis statement, in which you will include
  the topics of your three body paragraphs. Your
  paper should revolve around your thesis
  statement. Its like your own mini-outline,
  right there in your introduction.

5
Historical Writing Tips Hints

• Thou shalt not use passive voice.
• Avoid be verbs- was, were, am, etc. For
  example, instead of The best high school in
  Birdville ISD is Richland., you could say,
  Richland excels above other schools in Birdville
  ISD. It makes you appear more confident in your
  writing!
• Thou shalt be specific.
• Information that you use to support your argument
  needs to be specific. Use precise language to
  describe quantity, not generalized adjectives
  such as a lot, lots of. In a similar way, you
  must use precise language to describe elements
  and characteristics (i.e., things, stuff).
  Also, dont over-generalize (all or none
  when this isnt true).

6
The 10 CommandmentsThe Sequel

• A basic essay should have 5 paragraphs intro,
  one paragraph for each of your 3 points and
  your conclusion.
• Each of the body paragraphs should be 4-5
  sentences minimum.
• The thesis statement will serve as your
  introductory paragraph.
• Do not introduce new information in your
  conclusion.
• Finallydo not use contractions in a formal
  essay, write the words out can not sounds more
  academic than cant.
• Remember these are not graded by computers, so
  unreadable handwriting will hurt your grade!