Skyrim III: Get rich selling protective knee gear!

[AgentPaper]

I'd suggest against going for one-handed without dual wield or a shield. One-handed and a spell isn't as useful as it might sound, when you can just press a button to prepare a spell. In return, you get the worst damage of all the melee options, and even worse you can't block unless you manually go and unequip your off-hand item, which you can't do with hotkeys. (Maybe it's easier on the console?) You'd be much better off either going for dual-wield for maximum damage, sword+shield for maximum defense, or a two-handed sword for the middle ground. (good damage and defense)

Edit: Funny how much confusion leaving out one little word can make.