History Thesis Assignment

For this Assignment we will focus on:

1) Making sure your thesis is highly interpretive and arguable (a statement that needs to be proven)

2) Using topic sentences to introduce each set of evidence, in italics. A topic sentence is a mini-thesis that your evidence supports, and each must support the entire thesis.

3) Using four primary sources from the Primary Sources Boards (PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED DOCUMENTS!), in pairs.

4) Broadening your focus to include multiple eras (consider each week as one “era”).

5) Learning about problems with theses so we can avoid them.

Here are some common problems and recommendations for a historical thesis with sources:

• •The big, factual thesis problem.
  
  This happens when I write a thesis that is so broad it has no point of view.


• •The "today" problem.
  
  Using the present to justify the past doesn't work. 


• •The three-part thesis problem.
  
  The thesis needs to be the guiding idea of the essay, and should not have three parts, each one as the topic of one paragraph.


• •The illustrative source problem.
  
  Sources should prove a point, not be used to illustrate or show something.


• •The trying to prove what didn't happen problem.
  
  The thesis should not say something like, "This cool thing would never have happened if it hadn't been for this other thing." 

Writing Assignment Instructions (100 points):

Please post a highly interpretive thesis about what we've been studying recently, followed by an outline to set up two short paragraphs, each containing a topic sentence that supports the entire thesis, and two primary sources, each with an explanation of how it supports the topic of that paragraph. All sources must be from a Primary Sources Boards (you may add any fully cited sources to any Board at any time).

So the structure looks like this (but in essay paragraph format – no numbers and letters):

I. Interpretive thesis (in Bold)

II. Topic sentence that supports the thesis (in italics)

     A. Primary source #1 with explanation 

     B. Primary source #2 with explanation

III. Topic sentence that supports the thesis (in italics) 

     A. Primary source #3 with explanation 

     B. Primary source #4 with explanation

V. Brief conclusion

Here is an example of what a good writing assignment looks like:

___________________________________________________________

An increase in frustration from taxes imposed by the British created a tense atmosphere in which the Revolutionary War was born.

Several taxes were imposed on the Americans by the British to fund wars across the pacific, which many Americans opposed. The Stamp Tax of 1765 was implemented on the Americans as a way to tax all paper materials, including but not limited to; newspapers, books, and pamphlets. In Bradford Williams ad in the Pennsylvania Journal, which depicts a skull and cross bones with the words “This is the place to affix the stamp,” (https://www.loc.gov/item/2004672606/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) you can see the discontent the people had with the imposed new tax. Again, fed up with the high taxes the British imposed on tea, the “Boston Tea Party” engraved by W.D. Cooper depicts the fed-up patriots dumping crates of tea into the harbor in protest (http://www.historyofmassachusetts.org/the-boston-tea-party/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.)

The American Patriots, tired of living under British Rule, demanded their Independence. Perhaps one of the most influential pamphlets of its time, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_(pamphlet) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) reinforced the idea that the American Colonies should be self-governed, free from British rule. Soon after “Common Sense” was release to the public, the “Declaration of Independence” (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1419123 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) was drafted and sent to King George III, and among the many grievances provided was “For opposing taxes on us without our consent.”

The events leading up to the Declaration of Independence and the revolutionary war are directly related to the taxes imposed by the British. Had the British not so heavily taxed the American colonies, the revolution that lead to the independence movement may have never happened. 

NOTE: PLEASE SEE THE ATTCHED DOCUMENTS BECAUSE THEY ARE PART OF THE INSTRUCTIONS. THANK YOU!