Hey History majors! Having trouble with a research essay? Check out Northwestern University’s (NU) writing guide for tips on how write effectively. NU has a step-by-step approach to writing (the following steps and articles below are taken directly from NU’s website, accessible through the hyperlink). Under each step there are articles by various authors targeting a specific issue under that step. Below are some articles that might be useful for those writing history papers 🙂

1. Planning and organizing your writing
   • Writing Place Tips for Writers
   • Tackling Writer’s Block: In Defense of Freewriting
   • When Your Writing Prompt is Broad or (Worse) Non-existent
   • Developing a Thesis
2. Negotiating and composing common types and genres of writing
   • Tips for Concluding Your Paper
   • Sample Book Review (With Commentary) 
   • Creating Presentation Slides
3. Writing in specific disciplines and fields
   • How to Write an Art History Paper 
   • 10 Essentials of Good History Writing 
4. Responding to feedback and revising your writing
   • Performing a Writing Self-Assessment 
   • Getting the Most out of a Writing Conference with your Instructor
   • Getting the Most out of Peer Responses to Your Writing
5. Polishing your language, style, tone grammar & punctuation
   • Trimming Prose for Clarity and Concision 
   • Identifying and Revising Passive Sentences
6. Citation
   • Avoiding Accidental Plagiarism

Hope this helps with the planning, writing, and editing of your essays!