1.     Did not read the required content, such as specific sections from the Constitution.

2.     Did not write on one of the listed Comparison Topics.

3.     Repeated the same method used previously even though it had been marked as an error.
Did not ask.

4.     Did not look up general words but assumed. See the lists below for general words and for verbs involved in Shays’s Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion.

5.     Did not follow the model in the textbook for spelling, punctuation, or meaning of words about history.

6.     Did not check your work for accurate evidence (or proof) before submitting for a grade (or doing work to keep your job).

proof or evidence

proof

something which shows that something else is true or correct

 

evidence

 something which shows that something else exists or is true

 

A brain trick for checking your proof for what you say

Place your textbook (or Constitution) on the left and your paper on the right.

If you have a citation for 185, you turn to 185 and touch the fact in the source with your left hand and you touch your page with your right.

 

Do they match:

·         In truth?
Any reader using a dictionary and reading before and after the fact would agree you read accurately? No embellishments, no assumptions, no misreads, no cherry-picking.
If not, fix the error.

·         In the page number?
All of the things you say before that endnote are on that single and specific page?
If not, either remove unsupported words from your paper or add citation for a page that does prove what you say.

 

7.     Did not proofread your work before submitting for a grade (or doing work to keep your job).

 

Proofread  (or proof) your work

to read and correct mistakes in (a written or printed piece of writing)

·         He proofread the essay carefully.

 

 

A brain trick for proofreading what you say for accuracy, good language, and for clarity

 

For accuracy of each quotation

Place your textbook (or Constitution) on the left and your paper on the right.

1.     Between the opening quotation mark (“) and the closing quotation mark (”), check each letter and each punctuation mark.

2.     If you do not match the source, fix your paper.

3.     If you notice that nearby words are also in the same words and order as the source, fix your paper.
To prevent this problem, close your book before you write one word. If you need to open the book, close it again before you start to type or use a pencil

 

For accuracy of words from the source

1.     Have you made sure that you have placed the author’s words in quotation marks as you should?

Go to Turnitin and check the Originality report for your paper.

2.     If some of your words are identified as a match of other submissions and those words are not in quotation marks (“”) correctly, then go compare those words in your source and in your paper letter by letter.

3.     If you should have used quotation marks (“”), fix your paper.

 

For accuracy of language used by the discipline of history

1.     Have you spelled the word the way the source does?
Example: Shays’s Rebellion

2.     Have you punctuated the word the way the source does?
Example: 1660s (not 1660’s)

3.     Have you used the word the way the source does?

Example: words such as freeman, servant, and slave have specific meanings in the discipline of history

 

For correct use of language in general

1.     Run spell check and grammar check using your word processor. Do not accept every correction the software success. Click on the explanation to be sure.

2.     Go to Turnitin and check the Grademark report for your paper

4.     If some of your words are identified as incorrect sentences or unclear, then rewrite your sentences. Simple sentences are fine.

 

For clarity

1.     Read aloud each syllable in your paper, ideally in a silly accent.

2.     Your ear will notice omitted words, bad grammar, and errors in meaning that your eye will not.

3.     Write the corrections on your printed paper that you must make.

4.     Make them in your file.

5.     Compare your printed page with your file to be sure you didn’t make a new error. 

 

 

General words

house of cards

structure, situation, or institution that is insubstantial, shaky, or in constant danger of collapse

habeas corpus

In common law, any of several writs issued to bring a party before a court. The most important such writ (habeas corpus ad subjiciendum) is used to correct violations of personal liberty by directing judicial inquiry into the legality of a detention. Common grounds for relief include a conviction based on illegally obtained evidence, a denial of effective assistance of counsel, or a conviction by a jury that was improperly selected or impaneled. The writ may be used in civil matters to challenge a person's custody of a child or the institutionalization of a person declared incompetent. [bold added]

 

Verbs in order from legal (and moderate) to illegal (and violent)

to petition

to ask (a person, group, or organization) for something in a formal way

[+ object]

  • The organization petitioned the government to investigate the issue.
  • All people had the right to petition the king for help.

 

to protest

to show or express strong disagreement with or disapproval of something

  • The victim’s family protested at/against the judge’s sentence.
  • There is no use protesting. I will not change my mind.

 

To show or express strong disapproval of something at a public event with other people

  • Students protested at the civil rights rally.
  • They were protesting against the death penalty.

 

to riot

of a group of people, to behave in a violent and uncontrolled way

 

As a noun,  a violent public disorder; specifically :  a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with a common intent  [bold added]

  • Rioters looted the store.

 

The phrase read the riot act [as in an order by a sheriff]

open, armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an established government [bold added]

 

[general use] to speak in an angry and critical way to (someone who has done something wrong) : to tell (someone) that bad behavior will be severely punished if it continues

  • His boss read him the riot act for making careless mistakes.

 

to rebel

to oppose or fight against a government [bold added]

  • When the government imposed more taxes, the people rebelled.

 

to revolt

to fight in a violent way against the rule of a leader or government

  • The group threatened to revolt.

 

— often + against

  • The peasants revolted against the king.
  • They revolted against the government.

 

Insurgent [a noun usually associated with revolt]

 

a person who fights against an established government or authority

  • Insurgents are trying to gain control of the country's transportation system.

 

— often used before another noun

  • an insurgent group
  • insurgent attacks