Since history is, in essence, a story and not a series of random, disconnected facts,
students should be able to transform the information covered in this class into a
narrative form that articulates something about our nation’s past. Students will submit a
5-7 page essay related to the material covered in the class. The essay will be
comprehensive in nature, and students are expected to incorporate information
gathered through a variety of different sources. The paper will count 100 points toward
the final grade. The paper will be typed and double-spaced and in the proper MLA or
Chicago/Turabian format and include a works cited page with a minimum of five
sources. Any paper turned in a week late will receive a 10 point deduction. No paper will
be accepted after a week. The narrative will be turned in trough the plagiarism link
located in the content section of Brightspace just below the assignment heading and
instructions.
For this paper, each student should choose one of the following topics:
Discuss religion in early American history. What role did religion play in shaping
American society and history? At what points in early American history do we see
religion motivating the actions of individuals and impacting the direction of the
nation? Identify some people, events, and movements. How important do you think
religion has been in our history?
Discuss the history of slavery in early American history. How and why did it get
started? Give examples of specific controversies and debates and discuss the
continual effort to negotiate, compromise, or settle the issue. Finally, in your opinion,
once the nation was established with slavery, was there any point, short of war, at
which the issue could have been settled?
Discuss the competing visions of the American nation in early American history,
especially regarding such issues as liberty versus order and the role of a
central/federal government versus the sovereignty of the states. Identify individuals
and groups who promoted competing ideas about American development and
discuss various debates over this issue. In your opinion, has the issue been settled?
Writing Requirements:
Your essay should be a minimum of 5-7 pages. This page count does not include
any cover sheet.
Your essay must be formatted using 1” margins for all margins (top, bottom, left
and right).
Your essay should be typed using 12pt. Times New Roman font.
Your essay needs to be double-spaced.
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Please do include any headers with page numbers.
Your research essay should be accompanied by a cover sheet that states your
paper title, your name, your course, and date.
All of your sources should be cited using the Chicago/Turabian or MLA style.
You must cite your sources using either footnotes or endnotes formatted in
the Chicago/Turabian citation method. Please select either footnotes or
endnotes based upon personal preference, just remember to be consistent
throughout your essay with your citation method. Parenthetical reference is not
permitted.
If possible, you will want to try to incorporate your image into your essay
by embedding it into the text. Otherwise, placing the image at the end of your
document is acceptable (after the conclusion and before your Works
Cited/Bibliography page).
Your image should include a caption that describes the image and its relevance
to your topic, this caption to your image should be at least 150 words. This word
count does not count toward the overall word count of your essay.
You must include a Works Cited/Bibliography page at the end of the document.
Be sure you are documenting all sources used for your research paper, including
your image source in this section. There should be agreement between the
sources you document in this section and the sources you cite in your
footnotes/endnotes.
Grading Rubric:
Formatting 0-20 points: Paper is formatted correctly, does not include headers
in written text, nor utilizes excessively large margins, paper is double-spaced and
demonstrates clear organization in the form of paragraph breaks.
Image 0-5 points: Paper includes at least one appropriate image relevant to the
research topic, and the image is properly captioned explaining its relevance to
the essay.
Academic Honesty & Integrity 0-25 points: Paper is properly cited using either
footnotes or endnotes. Includes a properly formatted Works Cited/Bibliography.
Demonstrates agreement between documented sources and citations in the
essay text.
Essay Content 0-50 points: Paper content is well-written, organized, has a
strong introduction with a clear thesis statement, and is concluded with a
summarization of research findings. Paper shows editing, lacking excessive
spelling and grammatical errors.
Sources (Types and Recommendations):
Two Books, Two Articles, and One Primary Source are mandatory.
Primary Sources: Written materials, images, and artifacts that produced and are
contemporary to the time-period of your subject matter. (examples: a cave
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drawing produced by an indigenous person, a speech given by an individual, a
painting of a street scene).
Secondary Sources: Generally, written materials, images, and artifacts that are
produced by individuals after the time-period of your research. Most secondary
sources are based upon primary sources.
Internet Sources: Any use of internet sources should be pre-approved by your
instructor before using them in your research. Select internet sources that come
from government entities, library archives, universities, and other online primary
source repositories.
Internet Sources to avoid:
o History.com
o Wikipedia.com
o Khanacademy.com
o Britannia.com
o UShistory.net
o Infobase
o Huffington post
• In no way are these lists all inclusive. These are meant to represent examples of
what is and is not acceptable. When in doubt, please contact me prior to posting
any information.
• The use of unacceptable sources or the avoidance of using a source will result
in the loss of points for an assignme
