Academic Writing Tip #1

I am by no means a superb academic writer. But I hope that by sharing the mistakes I’ve made with with you here, others will avoid making them also.

My first academic writing tip is: Reference as you Write.

This may seem obvious but, unfortunately, I didn’t do it. In History, we use the footnote system of referencing. As I wrote I inserted footnotes when needed but only a very brief citation, such as the author’s name and page number. Sometimes I didn’t insert any citation!!! And that’s something I deeply regret now, namely because I spent two days inserting full references into a 17,000 word document and I’m still not finished. And it’s tedious work let me tell you. So if you’ve any sense you’ll learn from me and not make the same mistake. Thankfully I only did it in one chapter and as I write my current chapter I make sure to insert full references every time!

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