Tracing the Genealogy of Modern Criminal Justice

Noah Shuster Famous Trials – Spring 2020

Essay Writing Guidelines

- Your entire essay should be structured around a clear central thesis argument. The entire essay should be focused on this one argument, which will give form and force to the essay as a whole.

- You should begin by introducing this argument in your Intro paragraph, support it with a number of concrete examples/details in the body paragraph(s), and make the argument definitively in your Conclusion paragraph. You should ultimately be working on making the same point in the beginning, middle, and end.

- Always be as specific and concrete as possible – the more details and examples the better. Avoid generalities and vague statements. In example: it is far more convincing to say ‘this trial was unjust because of the standards of evidence, the coerced nature of the confessions, and the ideological pre- convictions of the jury’ than to settle for generalities and vagaries like ‘this trial was corrupt to the core’ or ‘this trial was an unjust sham meant to protect the powerful’. Though these later statements may well be true as well, what matters to you in writing in your short argumentative essay is proving it as thoroughly as possible with concrete evidence. Spelling out detailed examples of where standards of evidence or coerced confessions specifically compromised the integrity of the case is how your argument will be convincing. Backing up those examples with citations from supporting sources is where your writing is at its very strongest. – Sources: it always better to make use of course texts as your main sources, and to draw on information from the lecture and discussion. Googling around for random internet results is likely to end up giving you inaccurate information, and the choice to ignore assigned course texts in favor of poorly researched internet articles always reflects negatively on an essay. There are plenty of good academic sources out there to use – particularly in print books and scholarly articles – but there is a huge difference between finding strong sources via the library and just googling a topic for ten minutes.

- Clarity matters! Make sure that each sentence makes a clear and coherent point, and that it is as grammatically in order as possible. Then, at the next level up, make sure that these sentences add up to unified points in the form of a paragraph. Each paragraph should be united around its place in the essay – the Intro in introducing your argument and its context, each body paragraph around clarifying/exemplifying a certain supporting point, and the Conclusion around making your argument complete. It is important to zoom out and look at paragraphs as complete units, and to arrange your essay as a whole from this perspective. – Proof-reading and editing are essential for achieving clarity in writing. Coming back to a piece of your own writing a day later often lets you see it in new ways, as does reading it aloud, or getting a friend to take a look at it. Most writing needs at least one or two rounds of reading over and editing for it to achieve its optimal clarity. While this isn’t a writing course, it is a course designed to check your writing skills at the college level – and it is expected that you can compose coherent and fairly grammatically correct sentences. Don’t let unclear sentence structure undermine an otherwise interesting essay!

- Especially with regards to short essay assignments, like our 2-page responses, you need to focus solely and exclusively on making your thesis argument. This means you do not have time for summary. There are certain key details in a case that you should include and explore: the details that help you make your argument. But it is at times equally important to remember to ignore and exclude the details that have no relation to your argument. In example: if one were making a case the a confession was coerced, it would be relevant to explore the nature of confinement, the arrest procedures, and the nature of the interrogation itself. It would not be particularly relevant to consider the other standards of evidence in the court, the natures of the judge or the jury, or the ideological conflicts the individual may have been confronting – these are all important details in their own respects, but for your short essay you need to just focus on the ones relevant to your main point. – Most importantly, do not summarize background stories like “The accused was born in…. He is famous for… He was arrested on… His trial took x days and resulted in….” You should just be trying to make a certain argument about your own perspective on this trial – not summarizing the general background details of said trial.

- 2 page assignments are supposed to be two full pages – think of the general figure of 600 words as worth aiming for. Shorter essays are acceptable of course, and at times a shorter and more succinct essay can just as effective – but if you want to get as good of a grade as possible on such an essay, it always best to tend towards using your two full pages. Do not waste any time on formatting your document to make it look longer than it is, just try diving deeper into the details and making your essay into a more thorough study.