This assignment requires you to build on the research you conducted for Assignment 2 and craft a seven-to-eight-page expository essay (maximum 2000 words, before notes and bibliography) on the topic you chose for that Assignment.
(If you wish to change your topic, please discuss it with me.) Your essay MUST contain these basic elements:
- A cover page with a title, your name, your student number, the course number, my name, and your tutorial number. (This page does not count toward the page requirement.)
- An introduction with a clear thesis statement. Your thesis statement should summarize your ‘answer’ to your research question from Assignment 2 – or a modified version of that question, depending on your subsequent research and our feedback.
A thesis statement is usually located in the first or second paragraph of an essay. It synthesizes your argument for the reader.
You do not have to directly include Assignment 2’s research question in your essay, as a question. It should be apparent within the text leading up to the thesis, and the thesis itself.
As discussed with respect to Assignment 2, because the topic options are broad, I strongly encourage you to (a) make a specific argument about your topic; (b) use a specific case study or case studies; and (c) focus on a specific time-period and/or region, where relevant.
You are welcome to use first-person wording throughout the essay, even if this assignment is less of a straightforward ‘opinion’ piece than Assignment 1.
- A road map for the paper, following the thesis statement. This road map is a short outline of the paper; it can be a separate paragraph of your introduction. It should signal the subsequent division of your essay into sections, marked by headings. Even two or three sections usefully break up an essay.
Road maps are not the most exciting parts of an essay, and requests for them sometimes lead to eye-rolling! Put simply, they point to where you will go, and prevent readers from becoming lost or confused. This is the case in a 2,000-word essay and a 20,000-word book chapter. For better or for worse, such sections are also frequent requirements in academic journal articles.
- A conclusion restating your thesis (not word for word, hopefully) and summarizing your argument. A conclusion also often gestures to unanswered questions or different sources that relate to but would expand on the material in your essay.
- A MINIMUM of two primary sources and four secondary scholarly sources.
You’ve already found these for Assignment 2, although you may wish to use more or different sources. Course readings do not count toward these totals, but you are welcome to use them in addition. The same is true of recent newspaper stories and magazine articles. Please avoid encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), as there are always better sources to be found.
It should be clear how your sources contribute to your argument. This is particularly important with primary sources, which should be allotted some space for discussion in your essay.
- References to your sources in a consistent, accepted scholarly style (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) and a complete bibliography (which does not count toward the page requirement).
- If you choose to include images, which are not mandatory but may be useful in certain circumstances (or they may be your primary sources), place them in an Appendix at the end of the essay, before the bibliography. Be sure to refer to them in the text (as Figure 1, etc.) and provide a caption fully identifying the source. Images do not count toward the page limit.
- 2-point font, double-spaced text, normal margins.
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