Method
For this Assignment we will focus on:
1) Making sure your thesis is highly interpretive and arguable (a statement that needs to be proven)
2) Using topic sentences to introduce each set of evidence, in italics. A topic sentence is a mini-thesis that your evidence supports, and each must support the entire thesis.
3) Using six primary sources from the Primary Sources Boards, in pairs. Do not display the actually images, but rather use and cite each.
4) Broadening your focus to include multiple eras (consider each week as one “era”)
Eras to be used!!
Unit 1: Reconstruction
Unit 2: The West, Incorporation and Immigration (1865-1900)
Unit 3: American Empire & the Progressive Era (1879-1920)
Unit 4: The Great War & the 1920s (1914-1929)
Unit 5: Great Depression and World War II
Unit 6: Early Cold War & 1950s
5) Learning about problems with theses so we can avoid them.
Here are some common problems and recommendations for a historical thesis with sources:
The big, factual thesis problem.
This happens when I write a thesis that is so broad it has no point of view.
The “today” problem.
Using the present to justify the past doesn’t work.
The three-part thesis problem.
The thesis needs to be the guiding idea of the essay, and should not have three parts, each one as the topic of one paragraph.
The illustrative source problem.
Sources should prove a point, not be used to illustrate or show something.
The trying to prove what didn’t happen problem.
The thesis should not say something like, “This cool thing would never have happened if it hadn’t been for this other thing.”
Writing Assignment Instructions
Please post a highly interpretive thesis about what we’ve been studying recently (in bold), followed by three short paragraphs, each containing a topic sentence that supports the entire thesis, and two primary sources, each with an explanation of how it supports the topic of that paragraph. All sources must be from a Primary Sources Board (you may add any fully cited sources to any Board at any time). Do not post the actual images, just discuss each one and cite them fully.
So the structure looks like this (but in essay paragraph format – no numbers and letters):
I. Interpretive thesis
II. Topic sentence that supports the thesis
A. Primary source #1 with explanation
B. Primary source #2 with explanation
III. Topic sentence that supports the thesis
A. Primary source #3 with explanation
B. Primary source #4 with explanation
IV. Topic sentence that supports the thesis
A. Primary source #5 with explanation
B. Primary source #6 with explanation
V. Brief conclusion
Grading is based on the quality of the theme, the use and citation of primary sources, adherence to formatting rules, and the use of college-level writing.
