Do you think the Salem Witch Trials were justified or not

HIST 2111

Watson

Taking Sides Essay 1

Option B

For or Against the Salem Witch Trials

Due Date: See D2L and/or course syllabus or schedule.

Purpose:

Skills: To demonstrate the critical thinking and writing skills necessary to write an effective scholarly paper and succeed in a professional career. This will be accomplished by:

· identifying and summarizing relevant historical background information;

· summarizing and analyzing primary sources;

· and arguing for or against a political position.

Knowledge: To identify, describe, and explain the actions, rationales, events, and consequences of the Salem Witch Trials.

Essay Prompt: It is January 1693, and you are a Puritan minister called upon to investigate the legitimacy of the witch trials in Salem and report your findings to colonial officials in Boston. While you are a devout Puritan who believes the devil can take human form, you are highly skeptical of the events occurring in Salem. Take a side. Do you think the Salem Witch Trials were justified or not? Right a report of no less than 900 words. Support your position only with citations from the online textbook, assigned primary documents and video presentations. The essay should include:

· an introduction,

· an underlined thesis statement that identifies your position on the topic,

· and paragraphs with clear topic sentences, relevant historical information, and source citations that explain and contextualize the Salem Witch Trials specifically and the role of women in the British North American colonies generally.

· Citations: Paragraphs must include enough citations to fully support your essay. Citations should be provided for all direct quotes and paraphrases. Citations should be placed directly after relevant sentences. Essays with excessively long quotations will be penalized. (In other words, use citations to support your argument, not be your argument.)

· The essay must include:

· at least four (4) citations from the main body of The American Yawp,

· Citation style: ( Yawp, section number)

· For example, if you cited something from the section on Shays’ Rebellion, it would look like this: ( Yawp, Shays’ Rebellion)

· at least two (2) citations from lecture presentations,

· Citation style: (Watson, lecture title)

· and citations from at least three (3) from the primary sources from the online textbook.

· Citation style: (Author of the primary source last name)

· For example, if you were citing George Washington’s Farewell Address, it would like this: (Washington)

· No works cited page required.

· Length: Most students can usually write an effective paper in 1,000 to 1,200 words. Write what you feel is necessary to get your point across.

· Prohibited: The use of non-course materials is prohibited because I am assessing your effectiveness in using assigned course materials to craft a well-contextualized argument. Papers that cite or plagiarize from outside sources will receive zeroes. The TurnItIn plagiarism checker will be used.

· Mechanical Requirements: Upload your paper to the proper Assignments folder in D2L (you will receive explicit instructions on how to do so) as a Word .doc or pdf by clicking add file. Assignments should be double-spaced in 11- or 12-point Arial or Calibri font with standard margins. Do not submit your paper as a comment, as Apple .pages, or as any form of image (jpeg, tiff, etc.).

Criteria:

This assessment is worth 150 points and counts as 15 percent of the final grade. (Please see full rubric attached to assessment on D2L.)

· Content (40 points)

Does the essay adequately summarize events, ideas, and/or actions relevant to the topic?

Is historical information provided to support the argument as it develops?

Is the cited historical information relevant to the argument?

· Critical Thinking (40 points)

Is the essay’s overall argument logically developed paragraph-by-paragraph and well supported

by historical information?

· Clarity (40 points)

Is the thesis statement underlined and does it state a clear position?

Does each paragraph have a topic sentence that identifies what the paragraph is about?

Is the essay spell-checked?

Are proper nouns capitalized and spelled correctly?

Is each sentence a complete with a clear subject and verb?

· Citations (30 points)

Does this essay cite text from the main body of The American Yawp at least four (4) times?

Does this essay cite lecture presentations at least two (2) times?

Does this essay cite at least three (3) primary sources from the online textbook?

Do the citations advance the essay with new information?

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