History 110
Analytical Paper
The purpose of analytical paper is to give you an opportunity to apply and “test” the knowledge you gain from lectures, readings, and discussions on particular historical documents or images.
Write a 5-page paper analyzing the images or texts in Becker’s chapter 5. In the paper, you need to analyze three examples (i.e. advertisements, posters, cartoons, photographs, speeches, or poems) and answer the following questions.
(1) What are the images or texts? Briefly describe them.
(2) What messages do the images or texts try to convey?
(3) How did the images or texts help the United States government mobilize public opinion during World War I?
(4) What were some of the positive and negative consequences of this type of propaganda?
Guideline: First, pick three examples which you think could help you explain the above questions. Read chapter 5 closely and carefully. It will inform you how to analyze the selected primary documents. You are also encouraged to read relevant lectures and chapters in the Enduring Vision because they will help you analyze documents.
Second, make a logical connection between the examples and your answers to the above questions. You need to answer all four questions. Analyze each document and contextualize it in the historical context. Focus on the pattern(s) you have seen from the selected documents. Choose one or more from the categories of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and national origins to help you interpret each document. Form an argument. Make sure that you have evidence to support your argument.
Third: Your answer will be judged on the following criteria: the coherence and tightness of its argument and the skill with which you use the information provided in lectures, discussions, and readings to analyze the documents. The paper should follow the form of academic writing. That is: it needs to have a clear thesis and contains introduction, conclusion, and a body that provides examples and evidence to support the thesis. Topic sentences should reflect the central idea of each paragraph. The paper should also have transitional sentences that will enable you to link one idea to the next. It should be double-spaced and paginated and include citations. Your paper should be well-organized, well-written, and contain thoughtful analysis. Please consult the writing guide and the website listed below for more information about writing a paper. If you need more assistance, please see the professor, or make an appointment with the Writing Center at the Love Library.
Fourth: Whenever you borrow ideas using direct quotes or paraphrasing, you must cite/document the source of the idea(s). Every piece of information that is not common knowledge needs attribution in a citation.
- The easiest way to avoid problems is to provide a citation that will tell the reader where the above information came from at the end of the sentence. For example: (Wheeler et al. 146).
- If the next citation also comes from Wheeler’s book, you don’t need to repeat the author’s name. For example, (153).
- If the next citation is from a different book, you need to include the author’s name. (Boyer et al. 700).
Five: The length is 5 pages. (If you do not write 5 pages, you will receive an F for not fulfilling the requirement.)
Six: Important: Make sure you retain a duplicate copy of the final paper.
Seven: The final paper is due April 5th.
Tips on Writing Papers and Grading Guidelines
- A THESIS: You need to formulate a thesis. A thesis tells the reader what you are going to prove. It is an answer, not an agenda. This should be very clear and explicit. For example if your topic is on working-class women in urban areas during the turn of the century, a good thesis might be: “despite the economic difficulties faced by working-class women in urban areas during the turn of the century, this group of women experienced social freedoms their middle-class sisters could not due to the richness of working-class culture.” The following thesis, while acceptable, is not as good as the above: “my paper will describe the culture of working-class women during the turn of the century urban areas.”
- ORGANIZATION: After you have worked out your thesis, you can begin organizing your paper. If your thesis is well-developed, this should not be difficult. The good thesis above, for example, suggests three major sections, one on the economic conditions of working-class women, one of the social restrictions of middle-class women, one on working-women’s culture and its advantages. A historical essay must contain three essential elements: an introductory paragraph, (which must contain your thesis), a body, and a conclusion. The above three sections would probably be several paragraphs each in the body of the paper.
- REVISIONS: Most students benefit tremendously from revising their work. Most good writers need to do through several drafts before the product is acceptable. I would strongly encourage you to plan to let the first draft of your paper rest for a few days and then revise it. When revising, it often helps to read the paper out loud because serious problems will often be more apparent to your ears than to your eyes. Here are some guidelines to help you edit the paper.
- Compare your conclusion with your opening. If they do not agree, you have a problem.
- Check your paper for consistency. Do your ideas follow each other in a logical progression?
- Proofread the draft. Check for spelling, punctuation, and typographical errors.
- Have someone else proofread the draft.
- Paper format
- Staple the pages together.
- Use 12 point font in Times New Roman.
- Paginate your paper.
- Doubled-space.
- GENERAL TIPS ON WRITING: SOME DOS AND DON’TS.
- Do not write one-sentence paragraphs, ever. Every paragraph must contain a topic sentence, lots of supporting evidence (all cited) and a conclusion and transition to the next point. You simply cannot accomplish all of this in one sentence.
- Write clear, concise, simple sentences, and avoid using complicated words unless you are comfortable with using them. The best writing uses the clearest, most accurate language, in the fewest words possible, to express a thought or convey an idea.
- When you write about something that occurred in the past, use past tenses.
- Make sure your verb tenses agree with the subject of the sentence.
- Make sure pronouns are all modified. In other words, make sure the reader knows who, “they,” “she,” or “it” refers to.
- Do not use contractions in formal essays.
- Do not tell the reader what you are going to do, (Next, I will be focusing on how George Creel used propaganda to mobilize the American public for the war effort.) just do it.
- You must use transitional phrases, words, and sentences between paragraphs to ease the flow of your writing.
- You must write in complete sentences. That means, you need to have a subject and a verb in each sentence.
- Make sure you know the difference between “affect” and “effect”; between “it’s” and “its”; between “there”, “their” and “they’re”.
- Try to use gender-neutral language in your writing. Do not use the universal “he” or his.” Use he/she or he and she. Do not use mankind when humankind or humanity will do just as well.
PAPER GRADING GUIDELINES
An “A” PAPER develops a theme in an organized, controlled manner; it has a clearly defined thesis and argues this thesis effectively without extraneous discussion. An “A” paper should have an original insight into materials presented in class. It should also effectively analyze primary documents. In terms of structure, the essay should 1) recognize appropriate opposition to the theme of the paper, 2) develop each paragraph as an extension or elaboration of the thesis sentence of the essay, and 3) clearly mark the development of logic through appropriate transitions, reiterations of the theme, explicit justification for the use of data, explanations, evidence, logical constructs and through the use of proper conclusions. An “A” paper tackles a problem at a significant level of analysis, i.e., deals with problems on as specific and complex a level as possible, given the nature of materials presented to the class.
A “B” ESSAY develops a theme in an organized manner, has a well-defined thesis, and supports this thesis with examples, evidence and logic. The materials presented are factually correct and consistently support a theme outlined at the beginning of the essay. A “B” essay should have a recognizable line of argument/explanation, a justification for all subtopics discussed, a conclusion that answers all or part of the original essay question.
A “C” ESSAY organizes class materials and primary documents into a coherent and consistent essay which demonstrates an understanding of both materials. Organization of the paper is such that the major theme can be followed and subtopics relate to this theme.
A “D” ESSAY does none of the above effectively.
A “F” ESSAY is really bad!