HIST 10613-080
Kerstetter

Historical thinking

Workshop assignment #6: Write an historical essay (500-750 words) based on the documents that can be accessed via hyperlinks in the syllabus for the week of February 25.

This assignment reprises workshop assignments #1 and #3 and allows you the opportunity to refine your skills by responding to feedback from those assignments. Here's a review of the instructions:

1. Read the documents. Take time to think about what each depicts. What did the creator have in mind? When was the document made? In addition to these questions, please consult the document analysis worksheets provided by the National Archives and Records Administration (see the hyperlink in the syllabus and read the worksheet prepared for written documents).

2. When you're ready, formulate a question of historical interpretation the documents can answer.

3. Now, go back to the documents. At this point, you're looking for answers to your question. The conclusion you settle on will provide the thesis (another word for your argument or interpretation) for your essay. In your paper you want to pose and defend an arguable thesis that at least partially answers the question.

4. Once you settle on your thesis, start writing your essay. Be sure to cite examples from the documents to support your thesis. Within reason, the more evidence you cite, the more convincing you'll make your argument. Also, make sure your thesis matches the information available in the documents and that the evidence you cite supports your interpretation.

Style guidelines
Please type or word-process your essay. Set margins at one inch and use double spacing. Write in the third person and do not use contractions. Staple pages together. Cite your sources in footnotes in this style (Solomon Butcher, "Chrisman Sisters, central Nebraska," 1886.)

Grading rubric
I will be looking for the following in your essays:
* comprehension: accuracy of author's understanding of the documents;
* question/thesis: sophistication of inquiry and elegance of argument;
* analysis-connecting: essay links information from various sources (compare and contrast, corroboration);
* analysis-sourcing: essay identifies and analyzes sources for bias, reliability, point of view;
* analysis-proof: essay supports thesis with evidence; and,
* prose style: clarity and elegance of writing.

This assignment adapted from material developed by Lendol Calder and presented in "Uncoverage: Toward a Signature Pedagogy for the History Survey," Journal of American History 92(March 2006): 1358-1870 and on a related Web site http://www.indiana.edu/~jah/textbooks/2006/calder/index.html.