General Paper Outline: Students will write a 1200+ word paper that analyzes a specific historical event from prehistory to 1865 using five or more contemporary sources (people writing about the event at the time it occurred). | Quick Homework Help
Im trying to learn for my History class and Im stuck. Can you help?
the requirement is that the paper needs to be a 1200+ word paper that analyzes a specific historical event from prehistory to 1865 using five or more contemporary sources (people writing about the event at the time it occurred). and my topic is written below.
well my paper is about benedict arnold and when we became a traitor and switched sides to join the british, and specifically I want to focus on the “raid on richmond” which was known as his most notorious action he ever did.
paper has to be
a.Paper must be single spaced, 12-point Calibri font.
b.Paper must be over 1200 words in length. Anything less than this will see a significant reduction in grade. Quotes do not count toward paper length requirements.
c.There is a single, one-line space between paragraphs, and paragraphs are not indented.
d.Students name should be typed into the upper right header of the paper.
more details
a.Paper should not use I, me, my, you, your, we, us, our or any other first or second person pronouns in my paper unless material is being quoted.
b.Write only in the past tense.
c.Paper does not include contractions.
d.Use the literal meaning of words and avoid slang, colloquial language, similes and metaphors.
e.Use topic sentences at the beginning of body paragraphs.
f.Avoid writing in the passive voice when possible.
g.Avoid big words when simple ones would suffice.
h.Write simple sentences. (Try to minimize sentences with a lot of commas).
i.Eliminate sentences that are repetitive and do not advance the narrative.
details of the contemporary sources
Finding contemporary sources: Students need to analyze at least FIVE contemporary sources for the paper. Contemporary sources are documents written at the time of an event or from people who were present at the event. Any contemporary sources may be used for this paper, including newspaper articles, letters, memoirs, military records, court minutes, etc . Students should make sure their sources meet the following requirements.
1.Make sure it is written at the time of the event or by someone who witnessed the event. Owing to travel time, the revelation of new information, etc , people will discuss events for weeks or even months after an event occurred, but usually anything beyond this should not be considered a contemporary source.
2.Make sure youre not using a secondary source written by someone long after the event who was not present at the event. This is the same point as above, but it needs to be stated again. You should make sure that youre not using a historical look at the event. You are using a source from around the time the event occurred. Generally this should mean that the source will be dated close to the day of the event. There are exceptions to this. For example, if someone who was present at the event writes an autobiography at a later date that includes their recollections of the event, this is okay. Just make sure the person had some sort of connection to the event. Sources that are collected and reprinted at later date are also okay to use as long as the document was first written at the time of the event.
3.For the third time: make sure the sources were written at the time of the event. DO NOT BE THE PERSON WHO USES COMMENTARY FROM A BOOK WRITTEN 200 YEARS AFTER THE EVENT AS ONE OF YOUR SOURCES. Many people will do this in spite of these three warnings. Do not be one of them.
4.MAKE SURE ALL OF YOUR SOURCES DIRECTLY RELATE TO YOUR EVENT. Just because you have a document from around the same time and date as your event doesnt mean it has anything to do with your event. Make sure that each source goes into detail about your specific event, not something that is somewhat related to it.
5.DONT USE GOOGLE to find your contemporary sources. Google seeks out popular sites, meaning you will end up with contemporary sources on events that have been discussed extensively. Use the digital archives below. Because they use internal search engines and text recognition software, Googles engine doesnt search many of them, meaning you will be able to find sources that have not been looked at by anyone since the time the event occurred. Also consider visiting physical archives to find sources.
6.Pick detailed contemporary sources. The more detailed the primary source, the easier it is to write the paper. Picking an event described at length in multiple newspapers articles, for example, means the student will have no problem summarizing the event. A short newspaper article requires the student to use conjecture. This takes time and can result in a poorly-written paper.
7.Make sure that you are not using the same source reprinted in different newspapers and try to find the source of the original report. Just like today, where Google, Yahoo, etc , reprint Associated Press stories as their own, newspapers in the past would reprint stories from other papers. It is okay to use these stories and analyze them, just make sure that you are not using the same story twice. Hopefully this will be obvious.
places to the find the sources
Digital Newspaper Websites: This is the safest bet to find a primary source is to look for a newspaper article or series of newspaper articles on one of the websites below.
- Elephind.comA searchable collection of historical newspapers from the United States.
- Newspapers.comPay site but much better search engine than elephind. Also includes older newspapers than other websites.
- Genealogybank.comPay site with very good search engine.
- https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices English newspapers from 1500s to present.
- http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/index.vm Spanish Newspapers
- https://texashistory.unt.edu/ Texas Newspapers
also you can use things from the book and the book title is “Of the people” A history of the united states. volume 1 to 1877
