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What is the product of archaeological
research? In a word, knowledge.
How do we share the knowledge that we have gained through research with
other people? The possibilities include lectures and other forms of public
presentations, television documentaries, illustrations, and now interactive CD
ROMs. The greatest legacy that an
archaeologist can leave to the future, however, is what he or she writes:
reports, museum exhibit text, web sites, journal articles, monographs, and
books. The idea behind term papers is to improve your researching and writing
skills. I take these papers very seriously, and expect that you will turn in a
final product that is professional in every respect.
These guidelines contain certain specific
directions for preparing your papers for this class. Other comments are merely
suggestions for improving your writing skills.
Read these guidelines carefully before you begin your research, before
you begin your writing, and especially before you hand in your completed
paper.
Term papers in graduate school should contain
original research. This means seeking out primary data — archaeological
materials or reports and original
documents — to reach conclusions that are uniquely your own. You are enrolled
in this program to develop your skills as archaeologists, and I expect that you
will be particularly diligent about incorporating archaeological data into your
papers.
Some advice for your research:
! Get an early start
in selecting and researching a term paper topic. If you leave enough time, you
can always change the focus of your paper. I am not impressed by folks who
change their paper topics a week before the due date because they could not
find sufficient information on the original subject.
! I recognize that your paper
will have to be researched in a relatively short period of time, and that your
sources will mostly be limited to the Texas A&M library, regional
libraries, and the Interlibrary Loan Service. I expect, nevertheless, that you
will make every effort to locate and examine primary source materials, and that
your paper will reflect this research. Impress me with your persistence in
finding unusual or obscure sources for your paper.
! Secondary sources can
provide important background information and the viewpoints of other scholars
on your topic, and their bibliographies can serve as a road map for your own
research, but be discriminating about your choice of secondary sources.
The sources you choose should cite the primary documents they consulted (in
other words - do they have footnotes and a bibliography?). Whenever possible,
avoid citing secondary sources that have no citations in the text; if you
cannot tell where they got their information, how can you be sure that the
information is accurate?
! Your paper should have an
adequate number of sources. Good research means collecting as much information as possible about a topic,
comparing sources with one another, and weeding out unsubstantiated or suspect
information. Papers based on only two or three, or even five secondary sources
are not acceptable. I want to see evidence that you did some digging.
!Do not pad your
bibliography! Occasionally I receive a paper with an impressive-looking
bibliography, but when I read the text I find that only a few of the sources
are actually cited. The rest is just filler to make it look like real research
has taken place.
! Have you checked all
of the potential sources? I rarely see American
Neptune or Mariner’s Mirror cited in term papers, yet to the best of
my knowledge the Texas A&M Library has a full set of these publications,
and both are filled with scholarly maritime-related articles. Have you looked through contemporary
diaries, journals, logbooks, or memoirs to see if they have any information on
your topic? I found some of my best horseboat material by going through
published early 19th century travel accounts by European tourists
(unlike most North Americans, Europeans thought horseboats were weird and
worthy of mention). Have you looked at contemporary maps? They often yield a
mariner’s-eye view of geography and navigation. And by all means, do not
neglect to examine contemporary paintings, sketches, ship plans, photographs,
and other forms of illustrations - you may find a wealth of information for
your research.
! At the bottom of the
first page of text, cite the journal that you have used as a model for style
and format. p LDO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS!!! 7 p If I do not know what format you are using, I
cannot judge whether you are citing sources correctly! Your grade will suffer
if the paper does not contain this essential piece of information. You will be
required to cite the journal that you used as a model on the first page of your
thesis or dissertation, so this is a good chance to practice for the big event.
The journal that you select should be one that is commonly consulted by
archaeologists.
! The choice of citation
style you wish to use is up to you:
± In-text citation, with
the author, date, and page number in parentheses (the style used by the International
Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Historical Archaeology). This
style is OK, but I find it awkward when citing primary documents; in-text cites
also make it difficult to discuss a source or add additional comments.
± Footnotes at the
base of each page of text (the style used by the American Journal of
Archaeology). This style allows your reader to quickly examine your
sources, and thus is very handy. People who use this style are frequently
plagued with formatting problems when trying to print out their papers,
however.
± Endnotes, with all
notes listed at the end of the paper (the style used by historical journals
such as Mariner’s Mirror and American Neptune). This is the style
I prefer.
W Do Not use the Annual
Review of Anthropology style, which simply cites a numbered bibliography -
there is no provision for citing page numbers. This has to be the most idiotic
style of citation I have ever encountered, since it forces other scholars to
read the entire book or journal article to find one bit of information.
! If your paper has footnotes
or endnotes, avoid the tendency to use the notes as a dumpster for left-over
facts you could not fit into your text. Additional comments, comparisons or
data are fine, but keep them very lean.
! Once you choose a citation
style, be consistent! If you are not sure how to cite a source, get a
copy of your journal’s style sheet, or look at sample articles. I have no
patience with writers who cannot be bothered to stick to the style they have
selected.
! Include a separate
bibliography at the end of your paper, even if the journal style you are
following does not require a separate bibliography. This makes it much easier
for me to review your sources.
A common problem that I encounter in term
papers is a lack of organization: the narrative skids from topic to topic
without any apparent destination. The
secret to avoiding this kind of confusion is to outline your paper you
start to write. Think through exactly what you intend to say, define the scope
of your paper, and then stick to the outline. When I sat down to write my
thesis for the Nautical Program back in 1983, I first outlined the whole thing
on one sheet of paper (I write small) and then taped the outline on the wall
over my typewriter where I could refer to it. I also wrote out more detailed
outlines for each chapter. This proved to be
a very useful tool for keeping the thesis on track.
! At a minimum, your paper
should include these elements, in more or less this order:
1) An introduction,
where you provide a clear statement of your research objectives (Why is this
subject important? What do I intend to accomplish here?), and perhaps an
historical background or discussion of previous research; presentation of
data, where you discuss the information that you have gathered; analysis
of data, where you provide your own original thoughts on what the data
means; and finally, a conclusion, that summarizes the results of your
work. What did you achieve here? What are the important points for the reader
to keep in mind?
! Keep the text
reader-friendly in its structure. Grab your reader’s attention with the
introduction, and guide them through the rest of the text in a straightforward
manner. Provide clear transitions
between sections. Stick to the point.
There are few born writers, and most of us
have to struggle through the process of getting words down on paper and
polishing them up for publication. Good writing comes with practice, and by taking
care of the details. The following
“helpful hints” are based on problems that I have encountered while grading
papers written for this seminar.
! Get your idea across with a
minimum number of words. After you have written your paper, go through the text
and edit, edit, edit.
! Be consistent in your use
of tenses (is/was).
! Quotes. Use them sparingly.
The words of an authority on your topic might be worthy of quotation, or you
may wish to use a particularly telling passage from a contemporary document
that will strengthen your narrative. Do not use quotes to convey basic
information that could as easily be said in your own words.
! Be sure to provide adequate
citation for the information you provide in your text. There is a fine balance
between over-citing a paper (a reference for every sentence) and under-citing
your text (one reference every two or three pages); use common sense, and make
sure that readers can easily locate the sources that you have employed.
! Contractions (isn’t,
wasn’t) do not belong in scholarly writing. Also avoid using abbreviations of
words or titles (for example “Capt.” for “Captain”), tic marks for feet and
inches, and “%” for “percent.”
! Avoid imprecise wording
such as “some,” “a bit,” “a few,” and especially “etc.” Be specific, etc.
! If you have the least doubt
about the meaning or spelling of a word, look it up in your dictionary. Using a
word inappropriately is confusing to the reader and will cast doubts on your
qualifications as a scholar. Frequent misspellings suggest that the writer is
lazy, ignorant, or both, and is not really serious about his or her work. Keep
a dictionary beside your computer and refer to it on a regular basis.
! On the other hand, you
should not force your reader to constantly refer to a dictionary. There is
nothing more irritating than a writer who tries to appear sophisticated by
salting the text with obscure words. To me it all spells “pretentious nitwit.” Again, use common sense here: if you
must use an out-of-the-ordinary word, introduce it to the reader first.
! Ship gender. Should you
call a ship a “she” or an “it”? Historical Archaeology demands that you
refer to a ship as an “it,” and many publishers are now moving to a more
gender-neutral style. Check the style in the journal you are using, and be
consistent!
! Avoid overly-long
paragraphs. The idea behind a paragraph break is to divide the text into
manageable “bites”; a two-page-long paragraph represents too big a bite for
your reader to swallow. Make it a practice to keep your paragraphs under half a
page in length.
! Avoid over-use of a
particular word. Commonly over-used words include “however” and “vessel.” I
once had a paper that used the word “vessel” six times in six sentences;
another employed the word “then” seven times in one paragraph. If you are
having trouble coming up with a substitute word, consult a thesaurus.
! When introducing an
individual into your narrative for the first time, use his or her full name and
title (“Captain John Smith”); thereafter, you can refer to that person by the
last name (“Smith proceeded to jump off the cliff”). Do not assume that your
reader will automatically know the
individual you are discussing. A word
of warning here: I encounter this problem in many papers, and find it
irritating.
! Stay consistent in your
units of measurement. Go with metric unless your paper concerns a ship or
subject closely tied to the imperial system. If you do use the imperial system
(feet and inches), provide the metric equivalent in parentheses.
! Ship names should be
italicized (or if you are using a typewriter, underlined). If a ship’s name
appears within an italicized title, then it should not be italicized.
! When referring to a naval
vessel, omit “the” from in front of the name (“Constitution” instead of
“the Constitution”).
! If you have a load of raw
data that you wish to include, such as an artifact catalogue, consider an
appendix in the back of the paper.
! In general, keep in mind
the intended audience for your paper. Avoid slang or an over-familiar style in
scholarly writing; an informal style in a professional paper is annoying and
gives the impression of sloppy scholarship.
Keep these points in mind when you assemble
your paper for me, or when you prepare a paper to hand in to a professional
journal.
! Give your pages a
sufficient margin on the top, sides, and bottom. There should be at least one
inch all around.
! Number all the pages!
Do not hand in a paper to me that does not have page numbers. Check that
the page number sequence is correct. If you can’t get the page number function
on your computer to work correctly, type the page numbers on each page rather
than hand-numbering them.
! Make sure that all of
the citations are in order. This means checking to ensure that the citation
in the text or footnotes matches the information in the bibliography, that the
citation numbers in the text correspond with footnote or endnote numbers, and
that citations have the correct page numbers. Are the sources cited in the text
also included in the bibliography? I do check these details to see that
everything is in order.
! You must cite the source
for all of your illustrations. If you copy something directly, it should say
“from”; if you modify an illustration to highlight a particular detail or
remove extraneous information, your cite should say “after.” The source for an
illustration is generally included in the caption.
! Illustrations must have
figure or plate numbers. When you discuss a particular illustration in the
text, refer to it by this number. Do not include illustrations in the paper
unless they are referred to in the text. Generally illustrations are placed in
a paper after the place where they are first cited in the text.
! I expect that any text in
an illustration will be legible, that you will do a neat job of pasting
illustrations into the text, and that they fit within the margins established
for the text.
! If your paper discusses a
historical event that took place somewhere on our planet (and most papers do),
be sure to include one or more maps. Make sure the maps include all the
locations or geographical features discussed in the text. Maps should also have
a legible scale and a north arrow.
! Finally, a quote from Dr.
Fred Hocker: “Proofreading is not a luxury, it is an obligation.” When you turn
in a paper or manuscript that is filled with misspellings, errors in
punctuation or grammar, and sloppily-prepared citations, you are essentially
telling colleagues, professors or journal
editors that your time is more valuable than their time. It is insulting.
Proofread your work so others do not have to do it for you.
L When you are all finished,
securely clip your paper together or place it in a manila envelope when you
hand it in. This allows me to disassemble it for reading. Do not staple or
spiral bind your paper.