KIM WOODS ONLY

Write an analytical essay based upon the prompt below and upload completed work into Blackboard through the link below. Worth up to 100 points.

Requirements:

• Don't forget about what you learned about evidence in Folder 1.  Make sure that you provide specific and detailed evidence and explain how it supports your argument.
• Keep in mind what you learned in Worksheet 3 and be sure to analyze not only what changed but also why it changed.
• Use evidence from a minimum of two primary source documents (you may, of course, use evidence from secondary sources as well)
• 2-3 pages in length, 12 point type, double-spaced, 1 inch margins
• Analytical, rule of three, style
• You should have at least 9 footnotes (parenthetical cites are not allowed) in the modified Turabian style used in this course (see Guide to Citation Style).  Anyone not footnoting will lose from one-half to a full letter grade and may end up plagiarizing (at which point you will earn a 0 for the assignment and your work sent to Student Conduct (we are serious about plagiarism).
• Do not merely paraphrase other work (whether cited or not) as this is poor scholarship and does not reflect your thoughts and your analysis.

Prompt

In this assignment I want you to take on the persona of an artisan who became a Patriot.  

In the late 1760s and early 1770s (between the end of the Seven Years War and the beginning of the Revolution) you were upset with the imperial/colonial government.  It is now a quarter-century down the road from your youth, you are well into your middle-aged years, with idealistic children, and a grandchild or two, of your own.  You and your generation have sacrificed much to bring about the United States and its new government under the Constitution.  President George Washington's Administration is in place, Congress has been elected, and the form of the new government is taking shape.  Are you satisfied with the new government under the recently ratified Constitution? Do you think your 20-something year old self (the protester from the 1760s) would be happy with the way things turned out?  You have decided to write a treatise (a fancy word for an essay) upon this subject as a gift to your grandchildren.  In it you will think about your main social, political, and economic grievances from the 1760s in relation to your current beliefs.   Have things turned out well for you and other artisans?  Have your grievances from the 1760s been redressed (or are no longer relevant)?  Have new political, economic, or social issues replaced them for your socioeconomic group in the 1780s? Has your group met their social responsibilities to the new nation; have they compromised where needed for the greater good or selfishly looked after their own interests?  What, if anything, is left to be done for your group?   Most importantly, would your 1760s self believe that you held onto your ethics even as war raged around you; have you remained true to the ethical stands you took in the 1760s or have you grown more pragmatic with age and experience? 

Grading Guidelines

The assignment is worth up to 100 points.  The following factors are taken into account when we grade:

THESIS - Do you have a well thought out and clear thesis in your introduction?  Does it provide a "roadmap" for your essay? Does each paragraph of the body have its own thesis?

EVIDENCE - You must have solid evidence for each point you raise in the thesis of the paragraph of the body.  Evidence is not simply a statement, there must be an explanation of how that evidence supports the thesis statement. You must provide a MINIMUM of THREE pieces of evidence in support of your argument in each paragraph of the body.

Example:  If you were writing a paragraph on the causes of the Cold War, you might use the Baruch Plan as an example.  Simply writing "the Baruch Plan was a cause of the Cold War" in your paragraph would not adequately support an argument and would not earn a very high grade.  However, the following sentences would be analytical and earn a higher grade:

"One cause of the Cold War was the failure of the United States and the Soviet Union to agree upon a plan for nuclear disarmament after World War II.  The Baruch Plan, presented by the US, would maintain the American atomic weapon advantage for the foreseeable future.  This played into Stalin's suspicions of the Americans' true motivations toward the USSR."

You should have a minimum of three pieces of evidence in support of the thesis for each paragraph of the body. 

HISTORICAL ACCURACY, CLARITY, AND LOGIC 

Is your argument clear and does it make sense?  Is it historically accurate?  Does your evidence prove your point? Do you fully analyze change over time and explain why and how the change occured?

PROPER CITATION 

Have you properly cited? Have you used the format required in this course (modified Turabian).  You must also FOOTNOTE (see information about creating a footnote in Word given at the beginning of the course).  Parenthetical cites are NOT allowed.  No research allowed, so no outside sources.

GRAMMAR AND SPELLING

Is the journal entry up to college standards for grammar and spelling?

Grade Scale: 

A = 90-100.  Exceptional in all aspects noted above

B = 80-89.    Above average in most of the aspects noted above

C = 70-79.    Average work

D = 60-69.    Below average work

F = 0-59       Unacceptable college level work

Rule of Three

You will need to use an analytical writing style in this class.  The basic form of analytical writing utilizes the "Rule of Three."  Simply, there should be at least three key points/pieces of evidence in a piece of writing introduced by a strong clear thesis.

Essays in this course are 2-3 pages in length. Your paper should begin with an Introduction which sets the prompt in the historical context, the LAST sentence of the intro paragraph is the thesis statement which lists the (minimum of) three points (X,Y,Z) that will be more fully developed in the paper.  The first paragraph of the body (paragraph 2) would discuss key point X (this paragraph would have its own thesis as the first sentence, followed by a minimum of three pieces of evidence/analysis in support), then a paragraph on Y, and finally one on Z.  An essay ends with a conclusion paragraph - which sums up the argument you made and ties X, Y, and Z together.  The conclusion is NOT the place to introduce new arguments or evidence.