Essay Topic and Instructions
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Essay Topic:
Americans believed expanding American boundaries was expanding American freedom. In your essay, explain the philosophy of Manifest Destiny and identify and critically analyze how it politically OR socially served as justification for the US Mexican War. (Locks, et al. Chapter 14)
Learning Objective: Trace the expansion processes that completed the continental United States and explain the underlying causes of the expansion of the United States
Research Specifications:
For this research essay you will need to go to the library, access an online library catalog/journal database, and / or use the Internet. If needed, LATTC developed a History Research Guide (Links to an external site.) that will help with how to use LATTC Library resources.
You must use both of the following sources in your essay:
Source 1: The required video source
I encourage you to take notes on the video and/or refer back to the US Mexican War Activity for guidance.
The assignment will require one quote, no more than five words in length, from the video.
Title: The US Mexican War, 1846 – 1848 Part 1
Video Information:
Video: The US Mexican War, 1846 – 1848
Writer(s): Rob Tranchin
Director: Ginny Martin
Executive Producer: Paul Espinoza
Production Company: KERA-TV
Date: 1998
Source 2:
One (1) secondary source of your choice, but it must be an academic source. The assignment will require one quote, no more than five words in length, from your secondary source.
Academic sources: History journal articlesThe effects of aging infrastructure of nyc drinking water, a book published by a University Press, a website created by a historical foundation or university
DO NOT use a reference source: encyclopedia
DO NOT use your textbook as your required secondary source
Essay Construction Specifications:
Your 3-page (1,100 words) essay must include one short (1-5 words) quote from the required source and one short (1-5 words) quote from the academic secondary source
Quotes may NOT be longer than 5 words!
A total of 2 quotes (one from each source)
Hint: quotes should provide the opinion of your author and be worked into your sentence to provide evidence to support your position. Do not quote information that is commonly known or a statistic
The College Writing Guide provides information about writing essays at a college level.
Your essay needs to be in APA format. Go to the APA format resources page for more information on APA format and for my APA Cheat Sheet and Sample Essay.
Page 1: Title page
Page 2-4: 3-page essay (1,100 words)
Page 5: Reference page (List all sources used for research)
Do not include an Abstract
DO NOT use Wikipedia!
DO NOT plagiarize! An essay with plagiarism will receive zero points. Check your Originality Report before walking away from this assignment
Insufficient work is 50% (550 words) or less of the 3-page writing requirement and will result in zero points
Questions?
Contact me by Canvas Inbox
Need tutoring?
Contact LATTC Online Tutoring (Links to an external site.) for assistance
Feedback / Grading Policy:
The essay assignment will be graded within two weeks of the due date according to the rubric on Tab 2. I will send an Announcement when grading is completed and feedback is available for review.
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