History 361: Paper #1
Your choices for the first
essay are Paine’s Common Sense, Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
(either volume 1 or volume 2) [just added!], Thoreau’s Walden, or
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Whichever one you choose, you need to begin by reading (or re-reading)
the entire text, including those parts that we didn’t read for class. The purpose of the paper is to situate the
text within its intellectual context; i.e., what did this text add to the
intellectual conversation of the period?
You might ask some or all of the following questions: What sort of
debate was the author responding to?
What contributions did he or she make to that debate? How does he or she develop the arguments in
the text? What sorts of techniques are
employed to persuade the reader to adopt the author’s position? Who was the author writing for and how were
others likely to respond to the author’s contentions? What kinds of response did the text receive and why?
In answering these or any
other questions you set for yourself, it is essential that you articulate a clear
position and defend it carefully and thoroughly. The more focused and specific,
the better the essay will be. Do NOT,
repeat, do NOT, simply do a book report on the text. I know you can tell me what it says; what I want you to do is to
tell me what you think it means. For
example, I could imagine someone writing an essay on Tocqueville, vol. 1, where
the task posed was to explore the ways in which Tocqueville’s ideas about
equality drew on republican theory, and the ways in which they challenged or
altered that theory. Having decided
that this is the issue, our hypothetical student would then have to develop
some particular thesis that he/she wanted to argue about that topic, and would
then have to come up with evidence to support his/her position and ways of
dealing with elements in the text that don’t fit the argument. The critical step is to construct an
argument that you want to make and feel is interesting. Articulate that in your introduction, and
then use it to guide the rest of the paper.
1. Develop an argument, don’t just provide a collection of true
observations about the material
2. Make sure to provide evidence, as concrete as possible, for your
argument(s)
3. Be critical of what you read—don’t just take the surface, but
push to understand what it’s implications are and what’s really going on
underneath
4. Make clear in your introduction what you are going to argue and
why it’s worth arguing that point
5. Be sure each paragraph in the body of the paper is related to the
preceding one and to the argument of the paper as a whole
Be sure to ask yourself the
following questions:
“Do
I answer the question?” This might seem obvious, but
it’s worth asking. No matter how
intriguing or dazzling, a thesis that doesn’t answer the question is not a good
thesis! If you are being asked to “take
a stand,” do you? If you are being
asked “what’s the most important event of the 20th century,” do
you just state why your selection is important, or do you state why you think
it’s the most important when compared to other important events? Re-reading the question prompt after
constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the
focus of the question.
“Have
I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose?” If not, then you probably do not have a strong argument. Theses that are too vague often have this
problem. If your thesis contains vague
words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is
something “good”; what makes something “successful”?
“Does
my thesis pass the ‘So What?’ test?” Also known
as the “What’s the Big Deal?” test, the “So What?” test asks whether your
thesis presents a position or an interpretation worth pursuing. If a reader’s first response is, “So what?”
then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger
issue. Once a reader says, “Gee, this
argument has the potential to broaden my understanding of the significance of
this topic,” then you have successfully passed this test.
“Does
my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering?” Just as a thesis that doesn’t answer the question ultimately
fails, so does a thesis that isn’t properly supported with evidence and
reasoning. If your thesis and the body
of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. Generally, this means revising your thesis
to capture more precisely the argument in your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.