Structure A basic structure (not a straitjacket): 1.Introduction (what is essay about, method/approach, sources used) 2.Background (main events, context, setting,...) 3.Analysis 4.Conclusion (main arguments, wider context) 5.Reference list Use subheadings to show structure. Make it clear from the start what the essay is about! On first page.

Academic style Beware of personal emotion or value judgments. Aim for objectivity. Avoid “random personal opinion”. Stay on topic. Short asides are ok, but keep them short! Use quotes to make a point. Don’t write long or ornate. Concise is better. Message is key. Stick to the word limit. Longer is not better.

A few rules 1 You are not expected to know Chinese so don’t worry about Chinese characters. If you insist, be consistent: Chinese characters for ALL proper names or none. Stick with pinyin or Wade-Giles. Again: consistency! Names: first use full name, later (optionally) only family name: Mao Zedong… Mao… When you quote anything, provide the source!

A few rules 2 Put Titles of books and Journals in italics. “Titles of articles”, “Short stories”, and “Names of poems” go in citation marks. No italics! Short quotes can be used “inline like this”. Longer quotes should be formatted as block quotes. Indent margins and don’t use citation marks. You can use single spacing for longer quotes.

Footnotes Referencing is a major part of your essay and a core academic skill. Spend some time getting this right. Provide footnotes to information that is not common knowledge or very easy to look up. ALL QUOTES! When in doubt, make a footnote. Footnote numbers follow any punctuation. 1 Formatting: 1 Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China, 2nd ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999), p Ibid. pp Barry Naughton, “Deng Xiaoping: The Economist,” The China Quarterly 135 (1993), p. 123.

Reference List / Bibliography ALL texts referred to must be in the reference list ! Small matters of punctuation are important! Books are different from articles. Select a style guide, e.g. Chicago or MLA, and stick with it. Example of an article in an edited book, an article in a journal, and a monograph, : Chi, Pang-yuan. “Taiwan Literature, ” In Pang-yuan Chi and David Der-wei Wang, eds. Chinese Literature in the Second Half of A Modern Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, Naughton, Barry. “Deng Xiaoping: The Economist.” The China Quarterly 135 (1993): 491–531. Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Various rules for multiple authors, translators, editions, online sources, etc.