Research Essay (History)

CHST 118: The City in History

Guidelines for Essay Length: 1,750-2,000 words (7-8 pages) in length Due Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021 @1pm, on D2L Late Penalty: This essay is worth 25% of your final grade. Late assignments must be emailed to me and I will respond with a confirmation email. They will be penalized 3% per day, including weekends. I will no longer accept papers after the date of the final exam. This essay is meant to provide you with an opportunity to explore a topic of interest to you, in relation to the city in history. It must be an extension of the topic you chose for your research proposal If you would like more guidance in writing a history paper properly, you may want to consult a guide. A great resource is any edition of A Pocket Guide to Writing in History by Mary Lynn Rampolla. I also encourage you to use Student Life and Learning Support. It has online workshops, virtual drop-in hours, and handouts, all of which can be accessed at https://www.ryerson.ca/student-life-and-learning/learning-support/. TRSM also has an Academic Success Centre which provides similar resources, at https://www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/success/learning/. Grading Criteria for Essays All written work will be marked for the quality of your research and sources, content and analysis, as well as grammar, clarity of writing, and organization.

1. Analysis The following will be considered:

• Thesis statement: does the paper have a clear thesis statement? • Sources: how are they used/interpreted? Do you use all of your sources adequately? • Evidence: does the evidence support the argument? • Level of analysis: how sophisticated is the analysis? Ultimately, is your argument convincing?

2. Paper Structure Your paper should have a clearly stated thesis that is supported by thorough evidence. Be sure to include an introduction and conclusion. Each paragraph within the paper should make one point that supports the thesis. All of this should be done in at least 7-8 pages, double-spaced, in 12-point font. The following will be considered: • Introduction: does the introduction adequately introduce the subject, state the thesis, and indicate the

points the essay will make? • Conclusion: does the conclusion thoughtfully and clearly sum up the essay? • Paragraphs: does each paragraph address one point? Is that point clearly stated at or near the beginning

of the paragraph? Are the points/paragraphs clearly linked with transition sentences? • Organization: is the paper organized logically? For example, chronologically, thematically or

geographically?

3. Writing Style: • Good writing is important. It takes time and a willingness to revise.

• Strive to write clearly and concisely. Avoid generalizations. Where necessary, define your terms. Eliminate irrelevant and repetitive information.

• Correct grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Make sure that your sentences make sense. Avoid run-on sentences by splitting them into two or more sentences. Use conjunctions (while, however, although) to connect ideas and improve flow.

• Use proper tenses. This is a history paper; use the past tense to describe events that happened in the past (i.e. the Stock Market Crash of 1929 signalled the beginning of a decade long Depression in the United States). You can, however, use the present tense when discussing the work of another writer or historian (i.e. in The Grapes of Wrath, writer John Steinbeck depicts the living conditions of rural Americans who lost their land during the Great Depression).

4. Referencing In academic writing, all borrowed material must be cited. Improper referencing of material is considered plagiarism. Thus, references should be presented in properly formatted footnotes or endnotes (not APA or MLA reference style). Footnotes and endnotes are exactly the same, but footnotes come at the end of each page, while endnotes come at the end of the paper, but before the bibliography. You can choose either format. For detailed information on formatting, and bibliographies, please refer to the online version of the Chicago Manual of Style at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. The numbered examples are footnotes/endnotes, while the examples directly below them are bibliographic entries. Purdue University also has an excellent website on Chicago Style citations at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/ The following will be considered:

• Footnotes/Endnotes: has all borrowed material been properly cited? When using direct quotes (please do so sparingly, quotes should illustrate your point, not make it for you!), someone else’s ideas, specific facts or paraphrasing, always cite your source. Notes should always come at the end of the sentence, even if the quote is in the middle of the sentence.

• Bibliography: is all the necessary bibliographic information included and listed in the correct order? Divide your bibliography into primary and secondary sources if necessary. Have all the sources used in the paper been included in the bibliography, and vice versa?

**Please see the “Essay Checklist” posted on D2L to ensure that you have

properly completed all structural and stylistic elements of the assignment**

Chicago Manual of Style Below are some examples of how to cite sources and list them in your bibliography. Note the differences between the two. The major difference is that there are periods instead of commas! Also, the first time you reference a source you must provide the full citation AND the page number you are referencing. All of your subsequent references are abbreviated. Book Citation 1.Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin, 2006), 99– 100. 2. Pollan, Bibliography Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006

Chapter or article in a book Citation 1. John D. Kelly, “Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War,” in Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, ed. John D. Kelly et al. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 77. 2. Kelly, 81–82. Bibliography Kelly, John D. “Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War.” In Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, edited by John D. Kelly, Beatrice Jauregui, Sean T. Mitchell, and Jeremy Walton, 67–83. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Article in a journal Citation 1. Joshua I. Weinstein, “The Market in Plato’s Republic,” Classical Philology 104 (2009): 440. 2. Weinstein, 452–53. Bibliography Weinstein, Joshua I. “The Market in Plato’s Republic.” Classical Philology 104 (2009): 439–58.

Article in a newspaper or popular magazine Citation 1. Daniel Mendelsohn, “But Enough about Me,” New Yorker, January 25, 2010, 68. 3. Mendelsohn, 69. Bibliography Mendelsohn, Daniel. “But Enough about Me.” New Yorker, January 25, 2010.

Website Citation 1. “McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts,” McDonald’s Corporation, accessed July 19, 2008, http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html 2. “McDonald’s Happy Meal Safety Facts.” Bibliography McDonald’s Corporation. “McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts.” McDonald’s Corporation. Accessed July 19, 2008. http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html