So I've started my paper

**Meneldil** · 09-30-2009, 17:31

Honestly, that sounds like a huge topic. How long is your paper supposed to be?

I never divided any of my essays into independent chapters with subtitles, etc. In all honesty, I see this merely as an excuse to replace an essay's proper organization.

That's a typical continental Europe thing. I know it's a basic requirement in France and from what I've been told, Germany and Italy too. I'm pretty sure it's the same in Hax' country.

Edit : And as Fragony pointed out, I think you need to find a topic, what we frenchmen call a problematic. I'm not sure what are the expectations in high school, but later on, you will have to ask a question, and work your way to an answer. Papers usually have to answer something, to validate or invalidate an hypothesis. Hence why the whole first part seems a bit off the track.

**Fragony** · 09-30-2009, 19:27

No if we don't know what it says in german/french/latin we better get a dictionary, there seems to be a sadistic touch not translating anything.

**Megas Methuselah** · 10-03-2009, 02:33

Originally Posted by Meneldil

That's a typical continental Europe thing. I know it's a basic requirement in France and from what I've been told, Germany and Italy too. I'm pretty sure it's the same in Hax' country.

Bah!

Originally Posted by Medeldil

Edit : And as Fragony pointed out, I think you need to find a topic, what we frenchmen call a problematic. I'm not sure what are the expectations in high school, but later on, you will have to ask a question, and work your way to an answer. Papers usually have to answer something, to validate or invalidate an hypothesis. Hence why the whole first part seems a bit off the track.

Yeah, the Thesis Statement. The heart of every essay, the thesis statement is usually in the essay's introductory paragraph. The essay itself should revolve entirely around the thesis. In fact, I heard that the term "essay" has French roots (stand proud, Meneldil

), in that an essay tries (essayer; I think I butchered that French word, as I can't seem to remember my French too much at the moment) to answer a question.

**Fragony** · 10-05-2009, 09:24

also, keep in mind who you are writing for, you are writing a paper not a book, you can assume the reader already has some knowledge about the silk road, knowledge on which he wants to expand.

**seireikhaan** · 10-06-2009, 06:45

Dang, that's a HUGE paper. I would very much advise chopping it down, if you are expected to go into detail. To echo Frag, this is a paper, not a book. When I look at what you're trying to do, this looks like the sort of thing a person trying to achieve a PHD would do for a dissertation. Which are books, and usually take many years and lots of research. Depending on what the exact length of the paper is supposed to be, I would advise you take a more intensive look at one or two of the chapters that you've outlined, and do that. Otherwise, if you're like me anyways, you'll never fit enough info into the paper to make it satisfactorily in depth before you've turned it into a monster. Don't make this project too ambitious, or else you might end you burying yourself. Granted, I'm a bit biased in this regard, but I did 8 pages just on Mongol influences on the Silk Road, and I was severely irritated at the end quality, even though I got a top grade for the paper. Granted, I was covering more than just culture, but you see my point, no? A relatively small period of time can be very information intensive.