After choosing a movement to focus on, answer the following question: What were the primary goals (2 or 3) of the movement, and what strategies did this movement use in attempting to implement these goals?
Sample Outline
Funnel Introduction Paragraph:
[2-3 sentences] Introduce the broad what, where, when, why context about your chosen reform movement.
[1-2 sentences] Introduce, in more detail, the 2-3 goals of your chosen movement. This would be a good place to introduce major players and concepts, and their impact on said goals.
[1-2 sentences] Your thesis statement. This is the place where you bring together the 2-3 main goals of your reform movement. Make sure you choose your 2-3 main points carefully.
Organizing the Body of Your Essay
There should be 2-4 body paragraphs for your paper.
There are multiple ways to organize your paragraphs in this essay. Here are two.
(a) You may include both the details of a single goal, and the main strategy used to achieve that goal, in a single paragraph. If, for instance, you are discussing the Anti-Vietnam War movement, your one goal/strategy for a paragraph could be the movement’s efforts to stimulate national antiwar feeling by “educating” the general public using pamphlets and “teach-ins.”
(b) You could further focus the paragraphs, including one or two body paragraphs on goals (each one discussing the details of one main goal, such as expanding workplace opportunities for women), and one or two body paragraphs on the strategies used to achieve those goals (each one focusing on a specific strategy and why that strategy was used in order to achieve the movement’s goals, such as the strategy of non-violent protest used by some Civil Rights activists)
Body Paragraph 1: Main point 1, and only main point 1 Focus on ONE goal and/or strategy per body paragraph
-[1st sentence, Topic Sentence Explaining the Connection Between this Paragraph and the Thesis]: This is the place to be explicit about how the information in the paragraph demonstrates the details of one goal and/or strategy
of your reform movement. Topic sentences are critical for a clearly organized paper. Make sure they show what the paragraph is going to be about, and how this point helps make your larger point. (The hint is to use the type of language of the question, and to clue your reader in to exactly how this paragraph is going to respond to the prompt)
-[4+ sentences, Presenting and Analyzing the Evidence]: Proving that your topic sentence is true. In your paragraphs, you need to make sure that you intermingle analysis that is in your words with evidence that is not. The parts in your words prove you are the one making the argument to your reader. The parts not in your words are the support for this argument. You need to keep these in balance. Too much you, without evidence attached, is poor historical writing. Too much evidence is the same level of poor writing, as you lose your argument behind a laundry list of quotes and sources. Instead, it works to go back and forth, presenting your argument and then evidence to confirm it. You do this throughout, always explaining why main point 1 is relevant here and how this piece of evidence confirms this.
Important tip: stay only on main point 1 here, such as explaining the specifics of one goal
-[1 sentence] This is your recap/transition sentence. Here you want to almost restate your topic sentence.
Body Paragraph 2: Main point 2
Do what you did for Body Paragraph 1 again with a new/different goal and/or strategy.
Body Paragraph 3: Main point 3 (if you have one)
Repeat structure for body paragraph 1 and 2.
Body Paragraph 3: Main point 3 (if you have one)
Repeat structure for body paragraph 1 and 2.
Conclusion: Restate the main points of your paper.
[4+ sentences] Some reformulated version of your thesis statement might be a nice way to start. Remind your reader of what your paper argued, and what evidence it used to make its case.
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paper_3_sample_outline.docx
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