ESS

In this essay, students will be using evidence (both primary and secondary sources) to make a historical argument. Essays will be examined for three key components:

· Does the essay have a clear argument?

· Is the essay organized in a clear manner, with paragraphs that are structured by theme?

· Is the argument supported by specific evidence from the source materials?

This essay assignment is designed to help students learn how to use primary sources to write a historical essay. For this essay, you will choose 2 (no more, no less) primary sources that we have read in class. Using these documents, you will answer the following question:

Historians have argued that the “central paradox” of American history is the fact that in British North America, freedom and liberty developed amid such “unfreedom.”

Is this an accurate description of British North America before the American Revolution? Explain why or why not.

When answering the question, you need to consider the following things:

--Geography (what part of British North America are you writing about?)

--Time/chronology (what time period are you considering?)

--Population (are you writing about slaves? Indentured servants? Women?

Native Americans? Puritans, etc?)

Again, the purpose of this essay is to introduce students to the art of using primary source documents to make an argument about the past. As such, the primary documents should be the major source of information that you use. You may use your textbook and lecture notes, but they should be used only sparingly, if at all. You need to convince me that you read and understand the primary source material. No other sources may be used, and the use of any other sources besides those assigned in class (this includes Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, any and all internet sites or other sources) will automatically drop your overall grade by 2 full grades.

Essays should be approximately 3 pages in length; 4 pages is probably too long.

Your writing should be clear, concise, well-organized, and free from all spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors. You need to have a clear thesis/argument to your essay. Please see the “Writing Guide” for stylistic and formatting rules.

Paper Writing Guidelines

I. Basic Information

1. 12-point font size

2. Times New Roman font ONLY

3. Double Space

4. Indent the first line of a new paragraph

5. Do NOT skip lines in between paragraphs

6. one inch margins all around

7. No cover page should be added

8. All papers must be printed in black ink on white paper

9. Heading should be in the upper left-hand corner of the first page, single-spaced, and look like this:

Name

Course title

Date

Instructor

(skip 1 line)

Title (centered on page)

(skip 1 line)

Begin writing the paper

II. Quotations

1. All quotes MUST be properly cited

2. All quotes must be integrated into your own prose. For example, you should never simply copy a quote. Three possible techniques you can use:

A. Introduce the quote with your own words: (Gordon Wood states, “blah blah blah.”)

B. End the quote with your own words: (“Blah Blah Blah,” according to Gordon Wood.)

C. Break up the quote: (“Blah Blah Blah Blah.” Wood continues: “blah blah blah.”)

3. Do not use block quotes.

4. If you are quoting more than 5 lines of typed text, you need to break it up. You should never have more than 5 continuous typed lines of unbroken text.

5. Punctuation marks (periods, commas, colons, exclamation points, question marks, etc) go inside the final quotation mark (if you are using foot-/endnotes). However, if you are using internal parenthetical citations, the period goes AFTER the citation.

Gordon Wood claimed that “blah blah blah blah.”[endnoteRef:1] [1: ]

Or

Gordon Wood claimed that “blah blah blah blah” (Wood, 135).

6. For every line of quotation, you should have at least one line of your own words explaining the quote. If you find yourself repeating the same thing as the quote, then perhaps you don’t need to quote after all!

III. Citations

1. All direct quotes must go in quotation marks (unless a block quote)

2. All quotes and paraphrases—in other words, ANYTHING you take from a source other than your brain—must have proper citations

3. Direct quotes must be cited immediately after the end of the quotation.

4. If you are paraphrasing (from one or multiple sources), you can insert the citation immediately after you finish whatever it is you are paraphrasing. In cases where you are citing more than once in the same paragraph, you can put all of the citations at the end of all the paraphrases.

5. If you use internal parenthetical citations, the format should be the following:

(author’s last name, page number).

6. If you are citing more than one work, it should look like this:

(author’s last name, page number; author’s last name, page number)

7. You may wish to use footnotes or endnotes or internal citations—whichever you choose is fine. Just BE CONSISTENT throughout the entire paper.

IV. General

1. Subject/verb agreement—if your noun is singular, your verb should be singular. If your noun is plural, your verb should be plural. Checking for this is one of the easiest ways to make your paper look better!

2. Avoid overusing pronouns (he, she, they, etc.) Be specific whenever you can. “John gave the book to Jane” sounds better than “He gave the book to her.”

3. When using pronouns, make sure that they match the subject (John = he; Jane = she; Americans = them/they, etc.)

4. Avoid passive voice: “The settlers at Jamestown would plant tobacco” is incorrect. A better way to write it: “The settlers at Jamestown planted tobacco.”

5. If you are writing about the past, use the PAST tense.

6. DO NOT use conjunctions (don’t, isn’t, didn’t).

7. Spell out all numbers smaller than one hundred.

V. Other ways to improve your essays:

1. Their/there/they’re—know the difference. Improper usage of these words makes your paper seem poorly written, no matter how good your points may be.

A. Their = possession (The boys played with their toys.)

B. There = place (The boys placed their toys there.)

C. They’re = conjunction of “they are” (but you should use conjunctions anyway!)

2. –s/’s/s’

A. the boys (plural—noting that there is more than one boy)

B. the boy’s book (possessive—noting that the book belongs to the boy)

C. the boys’ book (plural possessive—noting that the book belongs to the boys)

3. Do not simply copy the question into your introduction; create your own introduction.

4. Papers must have an introduction and conclusion. They must be more than one or two sentences, and they can’t simply be rewordings of the same thing.

5. Book titles are either underlined or italicized; article or chapter titles are placed in quotation marks.

6. Unless you are beginning a sentence with a quote, the first word of the quotation does NOT get capitalized.

7. “then” = time, procession/ “than” = comparative

8. Remember, you are writing a professional piece—you are NOT composing an email, or an instant message, or a text message. Therefore, “internet slang” or abbreviations that you would use in an everyday electronic conversation have no place in your paper.

9. Unless you are a close, personal friend of the author whom you are citing or the subject about whom you are writing, refer to them by their last name, not their first.

10. All papers are to be stapled or clipped together before coming to class. This does not mean folding over the corners of the paper. This means stapling or paper clipping them together.

11. Authors do not “talk about” or “say” things. They “write,” about things, or “argue” points, or “illustrate” or “point out,” etc.

12. Remember to use PAST TENSE VERBS. Everyone about whom you are writing is dead; they aren’t doing anything. They did lots of things.

13. Two/to/too—know the difference. Two=2; to=destination; too=also.