Your paper should be 4-6 pages, typed, using 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, with one inch margins. When I say 4-6 pages, I mean a minimum of four full pages, not three pages with a couple words bleeding over on to the fourth page. You do not need a cover page, just your name and the date in the upper right hand corner. Also, number your pages at the bottom right hand corner.
For your bibliography we will use Chicago Style (see other side). For the in text citations, I want you to put the author’s name and the page number(s) at the end of the sentence that you are citing in parenthesis. So if your author was Ferguson and the page you are citing is 47 it would be cited at the end of the sentence like this (Ferguson, 47).
Your bibliography should consist of a minimum of four secondary sources, and you should cite each of these sources at least once somewhere in the body of the paper. There are only two types of sources I will allow: books and scholarly journal articles. NO WEBSITES! Books can be print or ebooks.
When you are paraphrasing or quoting a source, be sure and use a citation! Citations do not only apply to direct quotations. If you take a big chunk of information from a source, even if you rephrase it in your own words, you still need to show where you took that information from! So when in doubt, cite it! If you do not properly cite your information, you are plagiarizing, and that is a BIG no-no! And remember, I need to see at least one citation from each of your sources somewhere in the body of your paper.
Do not use first person when writing, meaning do not use “I” or “myself.” This does not mean you should not express your opinion in the paper: you have to, your thesis is your argument. But for a college paper you need to find other ways to give your opinion without using first person!
Remember, a strong paper follows the following format:
1. An introductory paragraph that clearly states your thesis. Your thesis is your argument: you are not merely telling me about someone or something, you are making an argument and showing me in the body that you are right. For example, you are not writing me a paper saying, “General Patton did this, then he did that, then he died. The End.” You are making a point about General Patton, “General Patton was the best general ever because he was very bold.” That is a clear thesis, because I know that the point of your paper is to show me how Patton was the best because he was bold. After you clearly state your thesis in the inductor paragraph, then you will also very briefly state the historical examples that support your thesis.
2. The main body of the paper will then have several paragraphs that further explain your historical examples in greater detail. With our Patton example, you might list specific battles that he won and how his boldness helped him win. The main body of your paper is where I should be seeing your research, and seeing your citations showing me where you got your information from.
3. A concluding paragraph will restate (and rephrase) your thesis and your historical examples, and then thoughtfully wrap up your paper.
