Paper Guidelines
You will write a
historiographical term paper on whether the atomic bombs were necessary to be
dropped on Japan in order to end the Pacific War. You will choose a School of
Thought (Orthodox, Revisionist, or Post-revisionist) to defend. The paper will
be a minimum of 1000 words, not including the bibliography. The paper will be
in APA format.
•
Your introductory paragraph will contain a hook and/or topic sentence,
background information and thesis statement.
•
Your thesis statement will make
a claim. For example, if you were writing about the Great Depression and
took the position that the New Deal did not end the Depression but made it
worse, you would first state a claim as to what you intended to prove:
“This paper will
prove that the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, but exacerbated and extended it by adopting tax and spend policies.”
•
Then, you would follow the claim with your 2-3 points explaining what your paper will prove. For example:
“The Agricultural
Adjustment Administration(AAA) and the National Recovery Administration (NRA)
programs did not alleviate poverty, they contributed to it by increasing
hunger, poverty and unemployment.”
Now, I know what your points are and what you intend on proving.
•
The body of your paper will follow the order of
your points and provide evidence to support your claim. The body is where you
will use APA format for your quotes
or paraphrases.
Counter-points: You should also include
counter-points from historians who represent an opposing school of thought, in
order to strengthen your own arguments.
•
The conclusion will do more than restate
your thesis statement. You should remind the reader of your most salient
points.
•
Source page/bibliography:
This
should be in APA format.
Examine the schools of thought, so that you can best decide which
subject and perspective to defend.
Atomic Bomb
Historiography: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/debate-over-bomb-annotated-bibliography/
For APA format info.: https://palmbeachstate.libguides.com/apa
Once you have
decided which subject you will argue, you need to start researching. You will
be arguing the following question:
Was the dropping of atomic bombs over Japan necessary to end the
Pacific War?
Once you make
the decision, you need to start researching and writing! There is a list of
historians and articles to choose from in Canvas ANNOUNCEMENTS.
