{"id":6287,"date":"2025-04-06T20:28:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T01:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/?page_id=6287"},"modified":"2025-04-14T10:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:34:15","slug":"writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/course-syllabus\/writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>If you cannot spark an interest in the first few sentences of a proposal, you may lose your chance. &#8211;Zachary Schrag, <em>Princeton Guide to Historical Research, <\/em>Chapter 13<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Working to Scale<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;If you can state your most important findings in 180 seconds, you will also be able to state them in an 800-word op-ed, a 20-minute presentation, a 45-minute public lecture, a 10,000 -word article, and a 100,000-word book, the only difference being the level of detail, nuance, and evidence you can present.&#8221; (Chap. 13)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Know Your Ledes<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;An introduction to an analytical work must state a thesis.\u00a0 It may also include two additional parts.\u00a0 First, a lede &#8211;the journalist&#8217;s term for a short but provocative flash of narrative text &#8230; The second optional part is historiography, which highlights the novelty of the work&#8217;s findings.&#8221; (Chap. 13)<\/li>\n<li>Schrag&#8217;s thesis formula:\u00a0 &#8220;[Why] did [people] do\/say\/write [something surprising]?\u00a0 [Plausible alternative explanation], but in fact [better or more complete explanation.&#8221; (Chap. 13)<\/li>\n<li>SUMMARY:\u00a0 \u00a0WHY people changed and HOW other historians missed it<\/li>\n<li>See also Methods Center handout on <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2011\/08\/HANDOUT-How-to-Write-a-Thesis-Statement1.pdf\">How to Write a Thesis Statement<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mastering Paragraphs<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>From the Five-Paragraph Essay to the 22-paragraph term paper<\/li>\n<li>Why topic sentences matter<\/li>\n<li>Using section headings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Strong protagonists make the best stories.&#8221; (Chap. 14)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;devote the most time to trying to understand &#8230; villains&#8221; (Chap. 14)<\/li>\n<li>Witnesses!<\/li>\n<li>Always remember the dialectic:\u00a0 thesis, antithesis, synthesis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;A historian is an alchemist who turns paper and ink into flesh and blood.&#8221; (Chap. 14)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Timelines<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;When in doubt, tell a story in chronological order.&#8221; (Chap. 14)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you cannot spark an interest in the first few sentences of a proposal, you may lose your chance. &#8211;Zachary Schrag, Princeton Guide to Historical Research, Chapter 13 &nbsp; Working to Scale &#8220;If you can state your most important findings in 180 seconds, you will also be able to state them in an 800-word op-ed, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6287","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6287\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}