History 406

Each academic discipline has its own peculiarities when it comes to writing. If you are not familiar with the conventions of historical writing, let me offer five issues that I think are important:

1. Remain in the past tense when describing things that happened in the past.

Other writers, such as journalists, will often put past events in the present tense to keep a sense of vividness, but historians prefer to keep past events in the past tense.

Journalistic writing: "Frederick Barbarossa decides to go on Crusade and ends his life by falling into a river and drowning."

Historical writing: "Frederick Barbarossa decided to go on Crusade and ended his life by having fallen into a river and drowned."

If you are describing imaginary events, such as those that happen within historical fables such as the courtly romances or epic poems, you can use the present tense.

Acceptable: "Lancelot suffers from his love for Guinevere, but is unwilling to lose the respect that Arthur has for him by committing adultery with her."

The actions of historical writers should also be put into the past tense, even though modern writers' actions are usually put in the present tense. (The mid-twentieth century makes a reasonable dividing line between modern and historical writers, since earlier authors are more often studied as subjects of history than any more recent authors).

For modern writers: "Dyan Elliott describes the history of sexless marriages in the Middle Ages in her book, Spiritual Marriage."

For historical writers: "Marie de France described an imaginary world full of men who could change their shapes into wolves and birds."

Be careful not to confuse a past tense with a conditional tense, even though the latter is often used in speaking to refer to repeated actions. (The key to an unacceptable use of the conditional instead of the past tense is the word "would").

Bad Example: Peasants would spend their lives in hard labor.

Good Example: Peasants spent their lives in hard labor.

2. Years are written as numbers but decades and centuries should always be spelled in full.

When including years in your writing, always write them as numbers.

Example: "The year 1215 was a turning-point in history."

When referring to decades, though, spell them in full.

Example: "The seventies were a time of sexual liberation."

If the century is not clear by simply referring to the decade, then write it differently.

Example: "The 1870s witnessed an economic downturn not unlike the Great Depression."

Note that there is no apostrophe between the numbers and the letter S.

When referring to centuries, also spell them in full.

Example: "The fourteenth century was not the overall calamity that is sometimes claimed."

3. When using centuries as adjectives, join them with a hyphen (but keep them as separate words when using centuries as nouns).

Example: "Margery Kempe was one of the most colorful figures of the fifteenth century." (no hyphen)

Example: "Margery Kempe was one of the most colorful fifteenth-century figures." (hyphen)

4. Use the proper nouns or adjectives when referring to epochs in history.

So, for example, "ancient" is the adjectival form of the noun "antiquity," "medieval" is the adjectival form of the noun "middle ages," and "modern" is the adjectival form of the noun "modernity."

Acceptable: "Medieval marriages almost always included marriage payments, usually called dowries."

Also acceptable: "Marriages in the middle ages almost always included marriage payments, usually called dowries."

Not acceptable: "Marriages in medieval times almost always included marriage payments, usually called dowries."

The same holds true for antiquity (noun) and ancient (adjective), or for modernity (noun) and modern (adjective), or for variations thereof: late antiquity and late ancient, early modernity and early modern, etc..

5. Use B.C.E. and C.E. rather than B.C. and A.D.

B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domino, Latin for "in the Year of the Lord") were coined by medieval Christian writers to relate all dates to the birth of Jesus. Out of respect for our pluralistic society, however, in which not all citizens are Christians, most American historians are turning to the B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) dating system. The dates remain the same, but it is a more neutral method of dating events, and one that is not tied to any particular religion (most religions have their own system of dating, and it would be too confusing to try to coordinate the use of several at a time).

6. Italicize or underline all foreign words, even when no English equivalent exists, except for proper names.

For example:

Among twelfth-century writers, Marie de France stands out for her depiction of the joy of what she called amour.

The Reconquista of Spain can be said to have begun with the death of the last caliph of Cordoba in 1031.

7. All titles of books, historical writings, journals, magazines, and film -- that is, anything that usually stands on its own -- should be underlined or italicized, and all titles of journal articles, magazine articles, poems, and chapters of books -- that is, anything that is usually part of a larger whole -- should be put in quotation marks.

For example:

In her book, Spiritual Marriage, Dyan Elliott discusses the prevalence of sexless marriages in the Middle Ages.

In an article in Newsweek entitled "The Middle Ages Revisited," Fergus McLaren addresses the importance of this era of history to the modern age.

Note: Be consistent in either underlining or italicizing. Do not switch back and forth and do not do both.