American History Essay Project
Spring 2019
Option #1 Historical Essay: Research a historical topic of interest to you and in our course’s time frame, and then develop an argument from your evidence, using both primary and secondary sources. Historical arguments often include why and how something happened, new interpretations of past events, and analyses and evaluations of different interpretations.
Option #2 Changemaker Essay: According to MDC’s “Let’s Be Changemakers” page changemakers “turn ideas into positive change, whether big or small… for the benefit of any group, including your family, your school, or your community.”[1] Using history as a resource, you will write an essay to draw out an idea, lesson, or example that addresses or provides either a solution to an important issue today or that in some way instructs people in how to respond.
Requirements
Format: 3.5-4 pages, double-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides & 12pt Times New Roman font.
Style: The essay must be written in a formal style, which means it must conform to conventional rules of grammar. It must contain an introduction and conclusion, paragraphs must be indented, sentence structure should be complete and varied, and it should be free from typos and other errors. Using the wrong style will lower your grade.
Resources: You must use academic research available on our library’s database (http://www.mdc.edu/learning-resources/libraries/) such as journals, books, and articles. You may also use of the primary and secondary sources we have consulted in class. You may use Google Books (http://books.google.com/), research websites, and newspaper articles. You may not use Wikipedia as a source, but you may consult it to see if it contains any works cited that would be useful to your essay. Using the wrong kind of sources will lower your grade.
Citations: You must use the Turabian style of footnotes. You will footnote all quotes, footnote all sources used in each paragraph, and include a works cited page (not included in the page count). You can find out more information here: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian/turabian-notes-and-bibliography-citation-quick-guide.html. Citations are not optional!
Plagiarism: Plagiarism, or the copying of another’s work without citation or credit, is not allowed. Plagiarized papers will result in an F on the assignment. The course Blackboard will automatically check for plagiarism.
Submission: You will upload your essay on the course Blackboard in the essay assignment folder. The due date is indicated on the course syllabus and in the Blackboard.
[1] “Let’s be Changemakers,” Miami Dade College, accessed February 26, 2019, http://www.mdc.edu/changemaking/.