Greetings and Salutations!
During the meeting this week, our team discussed edits and potential formatting ideas from the previous lengthy project as well as citation and source issues Abigail and I discovered while combing through the current paper. Some of our concerns require review from the committee at the Journal of the Florida Conference of Historians, but once decided, the results should assist authors with future submissions. Such concerns pertain to the use of tertiary sources, a move frowned upon by Dr. Farless, in addition to the use of “ibid” and images. Since Chicago Manual of Style changed some preferences regarding shortened notations versus the Latin “ibid,” the Journal will need to decide which style serves them best. Lastly, we are waiting for an updated version of a submission from last year. Our job will be to check citations and make sure the author has made the suggested corrections. Overall, our team had a productive meeting. We meet next week to go over further format suggestions, headings and subheadings as well as the current paper.
Since we are more than halfway through the semester, many undergrads are doing research and preparing for the big paper. Who knows, perhaps the University of Central Florida will produce many presenters for the next annual meeting of the Florida Conference of Historians in February at Saint Leo University. The task to come up with an idea and formulate a thesis can be daunting. Thankfully, there are plenty of tools to help with the intimidating process of constructing an introduction and thesis. While the first part of the paper rightfully gets the most attention and emphasis, I would like to add a tip regarding the final section, the conclusion – a section that I sometimes struggle to bring together. According to Mary Lynn Rampolla, author of A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, the conclusion “performs two vital functions,” which remind “the reader of the thesis” while backing it up with the “most important points,” and answers “why this is important.”[1] Common mistakes include a simple summary of the content without specifics or significant ideas as well as a late introduction to a new topic.[2] Although the task to correct topic introductions might be easy to adjust, we writers of history must remember to develop both strong theses and solid conclusions. History is certainly easier to explore with mind than it is to explain with the pen.
Here’s to happy editing and writing!