A Seven-part Model
[Length suggestions in brackets are for those writing a summary or précis;
after the pipe ("|") a length is suggested for those writing a 5000 to 8000 word paper]

Alan Kimball

(1) Title and author (you), with date indicated. [Two or three lines]

(2) Explain what your topic is. [One paragraph | one page]

(3) Describe the main historical literature (the secondary sources) on your topic. What do other historians say about your topic? [Two or three paragraphs | three pages]

(4) In view of (3) above, what will you say to amplify, augment, reinforce, reinterpret, correct and/or displace what we already know from the hitherto existing secondary sources? State your hypothesis, your particular reason for taking up this topic. [Two or three paragraphs | two pages]

(5) Describe the main documentary material (the primary sources) on your topic. Ideally, you should have at the center of your attention a defined body of primary documentation. How will you use these materials to achieve the objective stated in (4) above? [One or two paragraphs | NB! in a full research paper, this section should run from ten to twenty pages because, at this point, you will actually use these primary sources to achieve the objective stated in (4) above, and this will be the main bulk of your final paper]

(6) Notes, either footnotes, endnotes or inter-textual notes. If you are not given specific instructions, you are generally safe to follow the guidance of Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

NB! click here if your research paper is to be submitted by email, but also for more general definitions of the research paper. Then hop back here.

(7) Bibliography, following Turabian. [a sample in the précis | a more complete list in the final research paper. A full bibliography may include sources consulted, even if not cited in the narrative.]

Some Procedural Suggestions

I recommend you consider the following order of work: First, write a preliminary draft of (2); it is sometimes useful to return with some frequency to rewrite (2) as your work progresses. But after first draft of (2), move quickly to reading and thinking about (3). Keep separately organized notes on (5) and, all the while, keep good records for (7). As report time approaches, turn seriously to (4). Once you have satisfied yourself on (4), rewrite (2) and make final adjustments on (1) [that is to say, date & your title, not your name ordinarily]. Put (6) and (7) in order and produce your text

Some final thoughts = Strive for maximum clarity. Consider the following two propositions = In serious writing there is no real difference between form and content. In such cases it is always better to be wrong than to be confused. (The latter statement, need I say, in no way presumes the impossibility of being right and being clear at the same time)

Whether a short exercise, like a précis, or the longer final research paper, writing is difficult. To produce a précis in 5-8 pages of narrative (including 2-4 pages of notes and bibliography), done with maximum clarity, precision, and accuracy, is a real challenge. A final research paper is actually only a slightly greater challenge. In both cases, you have to be comprehensive without being verbose, so you will have to make choices about what to include (the most important information, always interlinked with your main arguments) and what to exclude (the less important, repetitive or irrelevant information). You will have to hone your narrative style to waste no words.