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Writing Assignment Instructions
Select a topic (political, economic, social, military, or cultural) from the period of U. S. history covered by this course (approximately
1600-1865) and then write a 10 page paper describing who or what your topic was and why he/she/it was significant in American
history. The paper should follow the research and writing guidelines found on the course’s Blackboard page.
The basic requirements of the assignment include the following:
a. The paper should be typed and double-spaced.
b. The paper will be worth 100 points.
c. Use a 12 font size.
d. An annotated bibliography (“Works Cited”) page should be included at the end of the paper. An annotated bibliography
contains a very brief analysis of each source; each entry should answer the following questions:
i. Who is the author of the source?
ii. What is the author’s background?
iii. What is the author’s basic argument, i.e. thesis?
iv. What evidence does the author present to support that thesis?
v. How strong was that evidence?
vi. Why did you decide to use the author’s work as a source?
e. Source Requirements:
i. The paper should have a minimum of 5 sources.
ii. Two of the sources must be books.
iii. Articles should come from reputable sources such as those found the library’s journal database, online magazines, online
museum resources, online government documents, etc.
iv. At least one of the sources should be a primary source.
f. As information is introduced into the paper, it must be documented through footnotes or endnotes.
g. Plagiarism will not be tolerated; students who plagiarize will be given a “0” for the paper.
i. To avoid plagiarism, all materials presented in the paper must be documented through footnotes or endnotes.
ii. This applies to both material which is quoted and material which is written in the student’s own words.
iii. Quoted materials should have proper punctuation, i.e. quotation marks for short quotations and block quotation (indented and
single-spaced) for longer quotations (5+ lines)
h. Students are encouraged to see the English tutor in the Success Center for help with basic grammar, spelling, and
punctuation problems.
i. The grade for a late paper will be reduced by 50 points.
j. The final paper should include the following:
-Title page
-Outline with a thesis statement (i.e. a statement of the main idea/opinion presented in the paper based upon the analysis of the
sources)
-Body of paper (10 pages)
-Footnotes in the body of the paper OR endnotes following the body of the paper
-Annotated Bibliography
k. Note cards must also be submitted with the final paper.
l. All materials related to the paper must be submitted in both hard copy form and electronic form via Blackboard. Papers
will not be accepted unless they are submitted through Blackboard.
m. To successfully submit the parts of this assignment through Blackboard, they must be saved in docx, doc, or pdf formats.
n. To submit the documents associated with this assignment:
-Go to the course home page and click on the “Writing Assignment Instructions and Guidelines” link on the course menu.
-Then, click on the “Submissions” link.
-Click on the link that corresponds to the document you wish to submit.
-Next, click on “Browse My Computer” to find and attach your document
-Finally, click “Submit”
The deadlines for this assignment are: M-W Class T-Th Class
Submit one or two sentence description of topic. ———— January 25
Submit tentative annotated bibliography. ———— March 1
Submit tentative outline with thesis statement. ———— March 29
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Submit final paper and note cards. ———— April 26