First Paper Assignment—Option A:
Directions: Answer the questions below
1. Which three adjectives best describe Christopher Columbus? For example, was he “observant,” “respectful,” and “fair,” or “condescending,” “rude, and “greedy,” or some other descriptions of your own choosing? While you are welcome to use any three adjectives, be sure to back up your choices with evidence and devote at least one paragraph explaining and justifying each of your selections.
Paper Formats: Papers should be about three to four (3-4) double-spaced pages (i.e., no less than three pages and no more than four pages), use Times New Roman font in black ink (size 12), have 1” margins on all sides, and have page numbers on the bottom right corners of pages. You may only use materials from the course, including assigned texts, lectures, and class discussions. You may not use information from other websites and/or unassigned readings.
Grading: “A” papers will have exceptional content, organization, style, grammar, and professionalism. It will use a diversity of course materials, including primary sources, the textbook, and lectures/discussions. Papers with little or no citations will receive no higher mark than a “C+.”
Submitting Papers: This paper is due by the start of class on Friday, September 17. Papers must be uploaded through the digital dropbox on the course website on Moodle.
Citations: You are required to use in-text parenthetical MLA citations. Citations should appear at the end of your sentence, after quotation marks but before the period.
• To cite from the textbook The American Promise, write: (Roark, 72). To find the appropriate page numbers for the textbook online, refer to the corner box on each digital page of the textbook, as shown below in this screenshot:
A Note on Creative Essays: Like scholarly essays, creative papers should have a central thesis, proper citations, and use just as much evidence as a strong analytical essay. In general, it might be easier to paraphrase more often for creative essays than for scholarly ones, but you are welcome to think inventively about how to put quotations from the documents into your essay. As a little bit of creative license may be necessary for imaginative essays, you may change the author of primary-source documents now and then for easier integration of primary source materials, provided that you use the correct citation. For instance, perhaps as a Mexican you heard a Spanish soldier say something verbatim from the conquistador document in Chapter 2 of the primary source reader, or perhaps an elder in Tenochtitlan said something verbatim from the Mexican document in that chapter, or perhaps the material from either of these documents makes more sense as a rumor. If this feels awkward, though, it is fine to stick with paraphrasing (with citations). The idea is to let your creativity run and build off of the primary source documents as well as the textbook and your class notes.
Good luck!
