Unless you are using a direct quotation that employs slang, do not use it. Slang will ruin the tone of your paper. Omit needless words. State your ideas as directly as possible. Excessive use of adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases can clutter a sentence, obscuring rather than amplifying your points.
Many students load their papers with filler words in order to meet a minimum length requirement.
This is obvious to the reader, and does more harm than good. It s better to use additional evidence rather than additional words. Know your audience. Identifying your audience helps you determine what information and how much of it you will include in your essay. Your audience for a history paper is usually the professor or the teaching assistant who will grade it.