Once you've decided on a topic that intrigues you, or you know what topic you're being assigned on More information your exam, it's time to get down the meat of the essay, which is the actual advantages and disadvantages you'll need to write about. Find a motivated friend to study with. It's much easier to stay awake when you have to keep yourself accountable to each other. It also helps to reduce the monotony of studying in the night. The 7500-word paper (about 30 pages of double-spaced typescript) is a basic building block of historical scholarship. It is long enough to tell a significant story from beginning to end, yet short enough to be written in one semester and read in one sitting. It may appear as an undergraduate or graduate seminar paper, an article in a scholarly journal, or8211;likely with some expansion8211;as a chapter in a dissertation or book.