For this assignment, students will create an introduction to the research paper with three short but purposeful paragraphs. The first paragraph should introduce the topic of the paper (for example, The Korean War), state the topic's significance or importance, and a research question (How did the Korean War impact American relations with Japan and East Asia?) the point of this paragraph is to capture the reader's attention, think about using an anecdote, statistic, compelling fact, or debatable claim to introduce the reader to your topic.
The second paragraph should name, describe, and cite two works of scholarship (books, journal articles, etc) from historians and other scholars that have written about your topic. The key here is to outline what scholars argue about with your topic (Was the Korean War necessary for containment? Did the war have lasting, negative repercussions for Korea's future? etc.) and why readers should be aware of those issues when learning about your topic.
The third paragraph is the "road map" for your paper. Here, you will describe what primary sources you have collected in your research, how you will organize them or use them in the paper, and why you think these sources are valuable to understand your topic.