Presentation of Evidence

Here's an analogy offered by John Trimble to help you get a vision of what your position is as a writer: you are like a lawyer going to trial.  Before the case begins, you have to size up the jury members in order to explain the evidence in a way they will understand.  The jury wants the prosecuting attorney (you) to prove Sam Smith's guilt.  The lawyer announces the essence of the case (the thesis): "The State will prove that the defendant, Sam Smith, with malice aforethought, attempted last March 26th to level City Hall with his tank."1  The prosecutor then calls witnesses (the evidence) to prove his case, "saving his star exhibit (the still-smoking tank) for last so that the impact will be greatest."2 Throughout the trial, the attorney is doing a number of things that you will do in your paper:     *    anticipates the contentions of the defendant's lawyer     *    demonstrates his mastery of the facts in the case     *    clarifies what is at issue and what is not     *    defines legal terms for the jury to understand     *    quotes authorities to help support and strengthen his case     *    provides a logical sequence of events and evidence     *    keeps a running summary of how the evidence supports his case (which transfers to a constant referral to your thesis)     *    offers up the evidence in a comprehendible order 3

Hopefully this analogy gives you a picture of what you are doing as a writer.  More detail follows on how to transfer your research into a beautiful paper full of evidence to support your thesis that will convince your reader that your thesis is sound.

PURPOSE OF WRITING

The primary purpose of an essay or term paper is to explain.  Through evidence, you are explaining what happened.  But there is also a secondary purpose of the paper, and it is intertwined with the primary purpose: to persuade.  Your explanations provide the foundation for your attempt to get your reader to agree with your thesis.  You want your reader to walk away from your paper saying: "Yes, I agree with that thesis."  Keep this in mind as you write your paper, especially your main body, since this is the portion of the paper that is proving your thesis.

BEFORE YOU WRITE

    1.    Record all the evidence.  This is your research of the primary and secondary sources.  How do you find this evidence?  This will be different for every paper, but there are some basic primary sources to consider:  

The best way to determine what kind of primary sources to use is to investigate what types of sources other historians of your topic have used.  Look at the footnotes, endnotes, or bibliographies of these authors to determine what is within your reach.

Where can I find these sources?

Look for editions of written works by various people who may appear in your paper.  For example, Princeton has published an edition of Woodrow Wilson's complete papers edited by Arthur Link and others.  For sources like these, use the indexes to guide your search.

Editions of correspondence are also common, such as: The Rosenberg letters: A Complete Edition of the Prison Correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, edited by Michael Meeropol (New York : Garland, 1994).

You may be able to obtain diaries as well.  Some diaries are published, such as The Private Mary Chestnut or The Diary of Anne Frank.  Unpublished diaries are often in the manuscript collection of a university library.  Autobiographies could be considered a primary source, but be careful--oftentimes the author is aware that he or she is writing for posterity, and may portray self in a good light.  If you decide to use an autobiography, proceed with caution.

Compilations of primary sources also exist, and can be very useful.  An example of this kind of resource is: Paul Finkelman, Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford Books, 1997). 4

Sometimes these kinds of sources are not on the bookshelves with the rest of the books.  If you need official documents from the U.S. government, you could search the government documents section at a major university library.  If you explain your topic to a government documents librarian, and ask nicely, he or she can help you find some primary sources that may be helpful to you.

Newspapers and older journals will be on either microfilm or microfiche.

Some primary sources may be reprinted in a secondary source.  Go ahead and use it if it helps you.

Quite a few primary sources are available online.  The Possible Topics page linked in the menu below offers not only a few suggestions for printed primary sources, but also includes web sites with primary sources available on a given topic.  If you are unsure of how to obtain primary sources on your topic, ask the research librarian (that's Hildy Benham here at Westminster College).  For your further researching pleasure, here are some web sites that contain primary sources for many different topics:

National Archives--click on digital classroom
University of Delaware--the Avalon Project and Carrie are great sites
Librarian's Index
United States Historical Browser--census records online!

    2.    Analyze the primary sources.  If all sources matched up, or told the complete story, the historian's job would be much easier.  However, sources oftentimes differ from each other.  They sometimes lie on purpose, by omission, or they may mislead unintentionally because the author may not be aware of all the facts, misinterpret the facts, or be misinformed.  Many are biased consciously or unconsciously and may contain unstated assumptions.  Therefore, you will need to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of the sources.  5  Here are some questions to ask yourself while looking at your primary sources:

            *  Is the source authentic, and is it what it purports to be?

            *  Where did the source come from, and where was it originally found?

            *  When was the source produced?  What is its date?  How close is its date to the date of the events to which it relates, or to dates relevant to the topic being investigated?

            *  What type of source is it?

            *  What person, or group of people, created the source?  What basic attitudes, prejudices, and interests did the author have when creating the source?

            *  Is the author of the source in a good position to provide first-hand information about the topic?

            *  How was the document understood by contemporaries?

            * What does it say? 6

By asking these questions, you can assess the validity of your primary source and determine its usefulness to your thesis.

    3.    Organize the facts.  Take thorough notes as you research.  There are a variety of ways you can do this.  Some people like put their notes on 3 x 5 cards because they can be moved around and stacked according to theme or chronological order--whichever order you decide to present your evidence.  Some people like to put all their notes on the computer.  Others prefer flipping through the books while they're writing.  Pick whatever process works best for you and go for it.  You are the writer, you are in control.

    4.    Weigh the arguments.  Take your notes, and think about how each of the facts support (or don't support) your thesis.  Don't throw out whatever doesn't support your thesis.  It's good to include counter-arguments to your thesis because it shows that you are being open-minded and knowledgeable of all the information out there.  The reader trusts you because they know you are not stacking the cards against him or her.  Include the counter-argument, then show how your argument is better through your evidence.

    5.    Show the reader how you reached your position, step by step.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do with your evidence is to present it logically to your reader.  If you put it in the sequence that makes sense to you--how you reached your thesis based on the evidence--then it is likely to make sense to the reader as well.

    6.    Analyze how the evidence adds up.  Demonstrate how they are interrelated.

    7.    Determine the nature of your audience.  Of course, you are writing your term paper for your professor.  But do not write only what you think the professor may want to hear.  If you do this, you are selling out as a student and as a writer.  Most professors want to see the thought process you are developing; they do not want a mere regurgitation of their opinions.  As long as you provide good solid evidence to back up your thesis, you are protected.  Though you are writing with your professor in mind, also keep in mind that other students could be included in your audience.  This way, you are not writing with the assumption that your audience knows everything about your topic.  If you explain well and provide good evidence, your audience will be persuaded to agree with your thesis.
 

THE AGONIZING FIRST DRAFT (Which [hopefully] leads to better drafts)

If you're anything like me, the first draft is the toughest.  Get your courage up, sit down in front of the computer, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and plow into it.  Here are some tips to help you with your first draft and subsequent drafts.

    1.    Prepare an outline.  Some people don't like it, but for most it is an excellent way to organize one's thoughts.  For those who don't use outlines, they may find that they waste more time in the revising stages because their paper may not follow a clear line of logic.  Make your outline only a page long, no longer.  This way you can see your plan of attack with one glance, without having to flip through pages.

    2.    Type your notes in sentence form.  Follow your outline, and type your notes to correspond with the organization of your outline.  Don't worry about grammar at this point.  Don't worry about transitions between paragraphs.  Just get all of your evidence onto the computer screen to be manipulated in later drafts.

    3.    Talk it out.  Imagine yourself trying to explain your argument to a friend that doesn't know anything about your topic.  Use language you use in daily conversation.  If the right sentence phrasing doesn't come to you while writing the first draft, use slang if you have to (of course, take it out in later drafts).  The key here is that the first draft is exactly what it says it is: the first.  It's not supposed to be pretty.  Just get your ideas out there on the page at the beginning, then go back and put your personal touch on your paper.

    4.    Use quotations responsibly.  For a direct quotation, you need to supply some sort of a lead-in, indicating who is saying what you're quoting, like this: Michael Markowski argues that "blah blah blah."  A quote that exceeds four lines needs to be separated from the rest of your paper by single-spacing and indenting it four spaces from the margin.  After your quotation block, continue the paragraph by summing up the quotation and how it relates to your thesis.  If you don't provide some kind of comment on the quote, your reader forgets why you put the quote in your paper.  Without commentary, you're dropping the quotation like a bomb.

            Too many quotations are tiring for your reader.  You can try two other methods to vary supporting your argument by quotations.  The first method is to paraphrase.  You don't need a lead-in for a paraphrase, but you do need to cite your source in an endnote.

            The second alternative method to quoting directly is a "salt-and-pepper" approach.  To do this, take bits of the quotation directly, but you supply the rest to fill in the gaps in the sentence.  Because you're directly quoting, you do need a lead-in for this method.  Here's an example: Perry believes that data without "an awareness of frame of reference" fails to demonstrate the purposes of liberal education--teaching students "how to think." 7  Of course, cite it.

    5.    Revise, revise, revise.  It cannot be emphasized enough.  Do not hand in your first draft, because it is yucky.  This means that you can't start writing your paper the night before it is due.  Give yourself at least two weeks.  Two weeks before it is due, write your first draft.  Then let it sit for a day or two.  Spend about an hour, uninterrupted, revising a second draft.  Let it sit again.  Keep revising.  Remember what the wise man said, "Writing is Rewriting!"

    6.    Read your paper aloud to yourself.  You may feel stupid, you  may irritate your roommate, but you will be amazed at the grammatical errors you will discover just by listening to your paper.

    7.    Have a friend read your paper out loud.  Though you run the risk of having your friend give you the "That's-A-Good-Paper" critique when you have him or her read it, there are ways to get an informed opinion about your paper from a friend.  Have the person read it aloud to you.  By hearing someone else read your paper, you will get a different tone and hear new grammar errors that you missed when you heard your voice read it for the millionth time.  After your friend finishes your paper, ask two important questions: "What is my paper about?" and "What is my argument?" If he or she answers these questions correctly, then you have a fine paper that emphasizes your thesis.

If there is one thing you should do when writing your paper, it is to REVISE.  This is the key to a better paper.  Always refer to your thesis.  While revising, put your tight, concise thesis in a header on each page to remind you that everything you put in your paper needs to support your thesis in some way, and it is your job to tell the reader how it supports your thesis.  Before you turn in your paper, remove the header.  Remember the analogy of the prosecuting attorney.  In order for him or her to have a convincing case, he has to incorporate the five qualities of a good paper:

    1.    A well-defined thesis
    2.    A clear plan of attack
    3.    Solid evidence
    4.    Strong continuity of evidence
    5.    A persuasive closing appeal

Make a checklist that includes these things if necessary.  Go through your paper piece by piece and evalute how well it conforms with this list.  It sounds like a lot of work, but if you are serious about writing a good paper, it will pay you enormously.
 
 

Michael Markowski's Homepage

1.  John R. Trimble, Writing With Style (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1975), 38.
2.  Ibid., 38-9.
3.  Ibid., 39.
4.  Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing about History, 2d ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 84-6.
5.  Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 2d ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998), 5.
6.  Arthur Marwick, The Nature of History, 3d ed. (London: Macmillan Press, 1989), 221-4.
7.  William G. Perry, Jr., "Examsmanship and the Liberal Arts," in Thinking About Thinking, ed. M. Kip Hartvigsen (Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1997), 157-9.