Essay Question: What were the significant factors that drove the Motley Crew to oppose British rule, and why were they significant?
This essay must use and refer to all three (3) of these resources. NO other resources may be used:
Blackboard: “A Motley Crew in the American Revolution,”
Textbook, Chapter six, especially pages 112-121.
Class notes.
Copying other work is prohibited. Essay must be in students’ own words.
Remember to footnote: because we are not experts on the topics we are asked to write about, we rely on the scholarship and expertise of the authors of our source materials. Summarizing their evidence, perspectives, and interpretations, and using appropriate citations, is mandatory.
What does a good essay do? A good essay addresses the response question specifically and thoroughly; includes a clear introduction and thesis statement; and concluding paragraph. It includes footnotes for quoted text and summarized evidence, and a bibliography (works cited list); and uses Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced.
Assignment grading/evaluation will consider both content and writing mechanics.
What does a good essay avoid? An essay is NOT a re-telling of what happened, and NOT an opinion about what happened or why. Instead, it is an analysis and interpretation of the evidence found in the readings. In a good essay, particular points of evidence (such as an “increase in population size from x to y”) and political developments (such as “the significance of the women’s rights movement, as indicated by the development of a and b”) are summarized and emphasized to support an analysis and interpretation.
Thesis Statement: A introductory paragraph which identifies the topic; summarizes what you have concluded about the topic based on analysis and interpretation; and summarizes the key areas of evidence that support the interpretation. It is NOT a list of items, but a summary of an argument. Example:
“The Declaration and the Constitution reflects several crucial tensions between American elites, family farmers, wage laborers, and enslaved laborers. These tensions centered on the slave labor system and debates regarding enslaved peoples’ citizenship and status, and family farmers’ mistrust of the power and wealth of elites. Conflicts between these communities are evident in the development of the Declaration, from Rough Draught to final version. Similar evidence of tension is found in the Constitution and the debates that occurred in the course of its ratification.”
Citations/Footnotes: In this class we use the Chicago Manual of Style for footnoting and bibliography. This site has good examples of footnotes and bibliographic entries for all the books and media available for use in this essay: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
How to footnote: MS Word: place cursor at end of sentence, after the period. Go to Menu, go to References, then click Insert Footnote.
Resources: the Truman writing center is an outstanding resource. Use it. Review the quick steps for essay writing on their site, and take a draft of your essay to the Center for review and an assist on paragraph/sentence structure, effective thesis/conclusion, and etc. http://www.ccc.edu/colleges/truman/departments/Pages/Writing-Center.aspx
Avoid: Comparisons with today. “Today, the ethic of private property is widespread. This was not the case in the 1960s.” Such comparisons are self-evident, and need not be stated.
Avoid “I” statements: “In my opinion”, or “It seems to me,” or “I believe that….” Because you are writing the paper, this is self-evident. Instead: “the textbook demonstrates that…” or “The historian Robert W. Strayer suggests…”
Vocabulary: jargon is prohibited. “Really a lot of,” or “basically a result of.” Avoid adverbs: terrible, horrible, great, really good, crazy, ridiculous, totally, completely, actually, etc. “Huge” does not mean “a large number of…” “Like” and “similar” have different meanings. There are many ways to express causation other than the words “due to.” A reading response essay reflects careful and thoughtful reasoning, and is written with precise vocabulary, unlike magazine or newspaper or online articles.
Hint 1: Using MS Word, the thesaurus function on PCs is activated by highlighting the word and pressing Shift/ F7, or in the drop-down review or edit menu.
Hint 2: Purchase and use the small but essential writing guide titled The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. Everything we need to know about sentence/paragraph structure, punctuation, active voice, and etc. (The library has many writing guides especially for history papers.) Hint 3: Confused about something in the assignment? Email eschuster@ccc.edu
Introductory paragraph: Please note Mary Lynn Rampolla’s definition: “The introductory paragraph of your paper is in many ways the most important one and therefore the most difficult to write. In your introduction, you must (1) let your readers know what your paper is about and provide background information on the texts, people, or problems under discussion; (2) put the topic of your paper into context; and (3) state your thesis. You must also attract your readers’ attention and interest. The opening paragraph, then, has to frame the rest of the paper and make readers want to continue reading.”
Thesis Statement: At the beginning of Essay. Identifies the topic; summarizes what writer has concluded about the topic based on analysis and interpretation; and summarizes the key areas of evidence that support the interpretation. It is NOT a list of items, but a summary of an argument.
The thesis answers a question. For example, the assignment question: “Discuss the roles played by the rising merchant class, the new monarchies, Renaissance humanism, and the Reformation in the development of European colonialism.”
Better Example: A reasonable thesis statement might begin:
“A new and growing merchant class motivated Europe’s turn towards colonialism in the sixteenth century, as the intensification of commerce underlay the ways in which colonialism shaped the political transformations of the monarchies, and the social developments of humanism and the Reformation.”
This thesis statement is specific, making a particular argument about the “new and growing merchant class.” A thesis statement is also debatable. It’s an assertion that sets up an argument. In this case the writer will use evidence to argue that the merchant class is at the core of colonial expansion and the changes it engendered, and political and social transformations are consequences of the wealth generated by merchants.
Worse Example: It does not make a broad generalization, and substitutes a list of things for an interpretation:
“European colonialism reflects many influences, including monarchism, Renaissance humanism, the Reformation, and the new merchant class.”
Structure: The thesis statement also sets up the structure of the paper. Each paragraph that follows starts with a paragraph topic sentence, and this sentence would be followed by 3-6 sentences explaining the main idea of the paragraph, and providing supporting evidence from sources.
Each paragraph discusses a separate idea. Using the Better Example from above: The topic sentence for paragraph 2 might be: “Merchants financed trade and commercial expansion, first within Europe and around the Mediterranean region, and eventually trade and conquest of the New World.” The topic sentence for paragraph 3 might read “Merchants sought expansion of trade and commerce with support from European monarchs, who wished to unify their kingdoms.” Paragraph 4 might begin with “Commerce and trade required a new focus on knowledge of the physical world that Renaissance humanism provided.” Paragraph 5 would discuss the Reformation, “The Protestant Reformation undercut the ideas and power of Catholicism, and provided an alternative Christian theory that suited the new merchant class and their allies.”
Conclusion: A final paragraph would summarize and conclude. A topic sentence might read: “The expansion of commerce and trade, led by a new merchant class, [motivated, caused, underlay, stimulated, provided the basis for, lay at the heart of] significant changes in European society.”
Please note: the course syllabus states: The penalty for plagiarism – when a student intentionally or unintentionally claims and copies another person’s work as her or his own – is a failing grade for the assignment. The penalty for academic dishonesty – cheating – is a failing grade for the assignment. These and all standards of conduct are in the Academic and Student Policy Manual, http://www.ccc.edu/menu/Documents/Academic_Student_Policy/2017_Mar_Academic_Student_Policy_APPROVED.pdf
Plus, the plagiarism detection service TurnItIn examines written assignments for copied phrases, sentences, and other text. Please use quotes and footnotes when copying text from any source whatsoever [example of a properly footnoted quote: … The author Jefferson Cowie believes that with the growing dominance of the New Right narrative, “the range of working-class possibilities in popular culture was similarly diminished.”
