FOR A-PLUS WRITER ONLY

Having said this, here is more about what you are NOT to do. DO NOT select any of the visual sources, found in the sections called “Interpreting Visual Evidence.” I noticed the visual sources are much more difficult to work with. HIST. 110B students only: DO NOT select content in chapters 10 and 11

Q: How many sources do we need to write about?

A: Any three in the chapter of your choice, as long as students DO NOT select from chapters 10 or 11.

Q: Are we to include a cover page?

A: A cover page is not required. But whether or not you have a cover page, you must include at least your name, the class designation (Hist. 110A or Hist. 110B), your section number, and the exact date that you turn in your paper. Writing “Spring 2016” for the date is not sufficient.

Q: What do you mean by a “header”?

A: My term refers primarily to identifying information on the first page only. A header should appear in the upper-left or upper-right hand corner, and will include your full name, the name and title of the professor, the class designation and section number and the exact date you turn in the term paper. This should appear in single spacing.

Q: What should I do about a paper title?

A: First, please remember that EVERY assignment must include a title identifying the type of assignment that you are turning in. The title must include the term “journal.” Having a strictly creative title that doesn’t clearly identify the type of assignment (example, “A Journey Through Time”) is not acceptable.

Q: Are section titles necessary? If so, how should they be formatted?

A: Yes, section titles are needed. The two parts of your paper must be clearly identified. After writing an introduction, the first section should be titled, “Summations” or something similar. The second section should be called, “Analysis” or something similar. Each of the sectional titles should be centered or lined up with the left margin.

Q: How are we to do notations for the Journal assignment?

A: The method is the same as for the first (In Search of Ancient Ireland or Kaffir Boy) term paper. You will be doing endnotes, information for which can be found in the Course Guides folder. For the purposes of the Journal assignment, you will treat the Pollard text as a one author, one book source. Read and carefully follow the instructions in the first full paragraph on p. 3 of the Journal prompt. At the beginning of the summation section, you must identify (by author and title) each primary document you have selected. In order to simplify the process, however, the notations will appear as Pollard (author) and Worlds Together/Worlds Apart (source).

Q: What should I write as analysis?

A: There are two types of analysis you should do for this assignment: scholarly (generally, compare and contrast) and personal assessment. In order to write a paper that’s as cohesive as possible, you will select written sources all appearing in the same chapter. The reason for this is that Pollard and her co-authors grouped documents thematically in each chapter.

Let’s begin with the scholarly form of analysis. In this type, your assessment will be based on criteria (typically found in historical studies) that appear in the sources you read. Let’s say documents you read are about two armies in combat. You could show ways one army’s weapons, uniforms, battle tactics, relations with civilians (and so forth) might be similar to, or differ from, those of the other military unit. You can apply a compare and contrast analysis to sources centered in economic, social, or cultural history, too.

A personal form of analysis should also be part of your Journal assignment submission. You are encouraged to add your own initial impressions. For example, did you find something that you read amusing, unusual, disturbing, heartfelt, encouraging, inspirational, unjust, etc.? Why? If your personal assessment goes much beyond this, be sure to locate a source or sources that support your viewpoint. Just make sure the use of such sources is kept to a minimum.

Experiment with the balance, but the analysis of your paper could be as low as 35% scholarly and 65% personal, or more scholarly than personal. Make sure you find a good balance, too, between the amount of summation and the amount of analysis that form your paper.

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