Term paper

THIS IS YOUR OWN RESEARCH TOPIC This is your own research topic that relates to a person, event or matter in US History before 1877. Treat it as if it is a third Homework Assignment with these differences: Its a topic youre interested in that you choose. I have a list of suggested topics at the end but you can propose one of your own, providing you clear it with me first. This is important so you dont give me a topic on World War Two, the Aztecs or some other topic outside US History before 1877. The History Department wants you to follow MLA rules in this paper for endnotes/footnotes and bibliography. A guide to MLA format is at links to an external site.links to an external site. The Learning Center is more than happy to help anyone with this. The Department wants you to go beyond your textbook and do more specialized research. Ideally this would involve using specialized books, but the instructor realizes your time is very limited. There are some online sources you can go to: EBSCO Host has many online sources that can be accessed through the AVC Library. The American Heritage Magazine has a huge archive you can access at Links to an external site.Links to an external site.Links to an external site.Links to an external site.Links to an external site.Links to an external site. The web has Presidential speeches and other primary historical documents [first-hand eyewitness sources online. (Using Wikipedia and AI for brainstorming to find additional online sources is fine, but do not use them in writing your paper.) HOW DO I WRITE THE PAPER? Give me : A TITLE and an INTRO with a PURPOSE STATEMENT of what you intend to argue [a thesis]. Dont just give me a narrative of what happened, but an argument of your own that you are going to prove. IN YOUR MAIN BODY give me three or four points in support of your theisis statement and develop each one of them: For example, in the case of Grant and Lee: Point #1: Grants management skills were excellent. Point#2: Grant showed tactical brilliance in taking Vicksburg and pinning Lee down at Petersburg. Point #3: Lee squandered his men in pursuit of a knockout victory that never came. Point #4: Lee blundered disastrously at Gettysburg. iN YOUR CONCLUSION tell me what have your three or four points proven: For example: Grant has been heavily criticized as a butcher for his heavy casualties. In reality he was a brilliant strategist who know how to coordinate armies and outsmart his opponents. Lee, on the other hand, proved to be more of a butcher than Grant, wasting the few men he had. His mistakes at Gettysburg likely cost him the war. YOUR FOOTNOTES/ENDNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY should be in the MLA format and the learning center can help you with this. A guide to MLA format at links to an Links to an external site.Links to an external site. external site.links to an external site. The Learning Center is more than happy to help anyone with this. REMEMBER THE PERILS OF PLAGIARISM AND AI: Please cite your sources if 1. You are quoting someone directly. 2. If you are citing some stats from someone else. 3. If you are citing an idea from somebody else that is not common knowledge. For example, a statement that Robert E. Lee lost the battle of Gettysburg is common knowledge and does not need a citation. On the other hand , Noah Trudeaus analysis of Lees decision is not common knowledge and you need to tell me where it came from, even if you dont directly quote it: Lee listened to Longstreets explanation , slowly comprehending that his attack scheme was resting on false premises. Yet he never considered suspending his offensive plans needs to documented in a footnote or endnote like this: Noah Andre Trudeau, Robert E. Lee (New York, Palgrave, 2009), 148. The book or article you cited is then placed in the bibliography at the end of the essay like this: Trudeau, Noah Andre, Robert E. Lee (New York, Palgrave, 2009). A GUIDE TO MLA FORMAT appears on the Web at Links to an external site. The Learning Center is more than happy to help anyone with this. GIVE ME AT LEAST TWO PAGES 12 PT SINGLE SPACED. Longer papers wont be penalized. Quotes should be no longer than about two lines, should be footnoted/endnoted. Do not give me a paper merely or mostly made up of quotes strung together. You should only use quotes when you want to prove something very important. Remember, as in the homeworks, any fact or idea that you have borrowed from another author needs to be footnoted/endnoted as well. In other words, any quote or fact not commonly known that you borrow from another source needs to be cited.