I. STRUCTURE & CONTENT:
1. Follow ALL instructions on the syllabus, including page count (note that 4-6 pages
means at least four full pages).
2. Double-space and use 12-point font, so your poor TA doesn’t go blind!
3. Your essay needs to have a thesis—an argument of your own creation that makes some
kind of statement about the film and the historical period in question.
4. Your essay needs to be organized in a standard essay format, which means it should
have the following components:
a. An introduction, which introduces the subject matter of your paper and states
your thesis. It’s usually best to also include a sort of “road map” of the rest of
your essay—just a couple of sentences stating what points your essay will make
that help prove your thesis.
b. A middle section that proves your thesis. You should have multiple points which,
taken together, prove your thesis; try to devote one paragraph (or sometimes
two) to each point. Each of these paragraphs should contribute to your overall
argument by presenting evidence and explaining how that evidence proves your
point.
c. A conclusion, which restates your thesis and the main points you’ve made. If
you’d like, you can also make a concluding remark or raise a question for further
investigation.
5. Devote your whole essay to proving your thesis. The point of these essays is not to
show that you know a lot about the subject, or about the film. The point is to prove your
point!
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6. To prove your points, use plenty of evidence from both the readings and the film.
Keep this in mind when choosing a topic; some topics lend themselves well to citing the
readings or the film, but not both. Evidence might include facts or ideas from the
readings, scenes from the film, etc.
7. VERY IMPORTANT FOR AVOIDING PLAGIARISM: Use citations to show where
your information is coming from. This applies NOT ONLY to direct quotes, but also
to any facts you learned in lecture or the readings, and ideas/arguments you borrowed
from the readings. You may use any citation style you like, so long as it tells me exactly
where you got your info (aka, “Ann Twinam, lecture, 09/30/15,” or “Holloway, “Whose
Conquest is This, Anyway?” p. 32).
8. Please do not use/cite sources not included in the course materials. You have all the
information you need! Choose an essay topic that only requires the course readings, the
film, and the lecture material.
9. Explain your thinking fully. You need to not only provide information, but also analyze
what that information means. What does your evidence illustrate, and how does it support
the point you want to make? If you’ve ended a paragraph with a quote or citation, then
you probably need to add a little explanation.
10. Assume that I (your TA!) don’t know anything about the film or the historical
period. Provide whatever explanations and details an uninformed reader would need to
understand what you’re talking about. In many cases, you’ll need to provide historical
context, describe scenes from the film, or provide introductions for key characters in
order to make your point. Imagine you’re writing for your grandmother, for instance;
what would you need to tell her for her to understand your essay?
Tip: Try getting a friend who knows nothing about the subject to read over your paper. Is
there anything they don’t understand? Are there any cases where they need more
information to get your point?
II. WRITING:
1. Avoid the first person (“I,” “my,” etc.). No “I think”s necessary!
2. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, which states the point you intend to make
with your paragraph. Then, spend the rest of your paragraph explaining your point and
providing evidence to back it up. Here’s a sample paragraph with the topic sentence
underlined:
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Topic sentences are critical components of a good essay. These sentences state the main idea the author
hopes to communicate with each paragraph. As Mark Connelly states, a topic sentence plays multiple key
roles: it tells readers what the paragraph is about, makes a statement supported by the rest of the paragraph,
and can also introduce new ideas (Connelly, Get Writing, 32). By briefly summing up the point of each
paragraph, topic sentences essentially act as sign posts, guiding the reader through the author’s thoughts in
a clear, organized way. As a result, well-written topic sentences can make an essay significantly easier to
read and understand.
Tip: If a reader can get the gist of your argument just by reading the first sentence or two
of each paragraph, then you probably have good topic sentences!
3. If your paragraph goes on for a whole page, it’s too long. If your paragraph is that
long, then it probably includes a sub-point or even an entirely separate point that needs its
own paragraph anyway. Try looking for potential topic sentences throughout the
paragraph. If you can find more than one, split up your paragraph, devoting one
paragraph to each topic sentence.
4. If your paragraph has less than three sentences, it’s too short. If your paragraphs are
two sentences long, then you probably need more evidence to back up your point, and/or
you need to explain your thinking further.
5. Use specific, efficient language that immediately gets to the heart of what you want to
say. Try to avoid using many words when just a few will do; it’s usually more effective to
use a few specific words than a lot of vague ones. As an example, here are two different
ways to explain the Federalist manner of interpreting the US constitution:
a. “Federalists believed in a broad interpretation of the constitution, by which they meant that if a
certain thing was not stated in the constitution, the federal government could still do it, because it
was implied.”
b. “Federalists interpreted the constitution broadly: they believed that it granted the federal
government implied powers, which went beyond those specifically listed in the constitution.”
The second example is shorter than the first one, but it explains the idea more thoroughly
by using specific terms and verbs (“implied powers,” “granted,” “believed,” etc) rather
than lengthy, yet vague word-jumbles like “by which they meant that” and “a certain
thing.”
6. Avoid comma splices. This is one of the most common grammatical errors, and it’s easy
to fix once you know how. A comma splice is a comma used to join what should really
be two separate sentences. Find out more here:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/comma-splice
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