Hist 250--Storms Before the Storm, Writing
Instructions for the Papers
You will be writing three papers in Hist250. Two of
the papers
should be a minimum of 1,700 words in length. The documentary
project listed
below will have a different required length. I will explain in
class.
As I mentioned in class, the topic
for the first
paper will be a biographical research essay on an individual
involved in one of
our revolutions. This will require choosing and individual on
your own. It has
to be someone who influenced or observed the origins of the
revolution you
choose. This is not to be a summary biography, but rather a
short biography
with most of the emphasis on the role of the person, that
person’s
observations, attitudes, etc. Topics for the second two papers
will be
announced later.
In research for the paper, you
should consult at
least five sources, one of which must be a primary source. At
least two of the secondary
sources must come from JSTOR. Each source you use must have a
named author (a
person) and a publication date. This means, no Wikipedia, no
internet sources
without name or publication date, etc. At least five sources
must be listed in
your bibliography for the paper and cited in footnotes.
This paper must be
written by you. By this I
mean no AI. Since you will be turning this in via Turnitin.com,
you should be aware
that Turnitin.com identifies
both regular plagiarism and AI-related issues.
The length
of the paper must be a minimum of 1,700 words.
In writing the paper, you must
use proper
English and complete sentences. The paper should
have an intro,
body, and conclusion, as well as clear thesis statement.
In your paper you must include footnote and a
bibliography. DO
NOT USE INTERNAL CITATION SUCH AS MLA
STYLE. All citations of references, if you should be in
the
footnote/endnote style. Please see the following site for
a complete
description of footnote style:
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
Other Important
Issues:
ALWAYS
number
your pages. Don't
turn in
anything to anybody that looks half-baked.
In quoting,
YOU MUST TAG or
attribute your quotations in the text: don't just rely
on the footnote to
give that information to the reader.
You can make
your writing
strongly immediately by revising out all the verbs in the
passive voice and
most of the uses of the verb to be.
Double-space the
paper. This means: no single-space
or space-and-a-half.
The
paper must have an identifiable thesis. And it must also have
an identifiable
introduction, main body of the paper, and a clear conclusion.