Thesis: Reading Harriet Jacob’s account of her own life under slavery differs from reading the textbook because you gain a subjective view, it’s from a primary source, and as a reader, you gain a better connection of the experience of Harriet Jacob through her narrative. In a 4-5 page double spaced essay with 12 pt margins, write an essay answering the following prompt: Harriet Jacobs (aka Linda Brent) was highly unusual for an enslaved person in that she was able to narrate her own life. In her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she details her experiences with the institution of slavery. Jacobs was not just writing to tell her story, but her book published in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War makes a powerful case for the abolition of slavery. Prompt: How does reading Harriet Jacobs’ account of her own life under slavery differ from reading the textbook? What does one gain as a reader by reading a slave narrative? 1)Present a clearly stated argument (thesis) on the first page that fully addresses the essay question. 2)Defend your argument against possible objections. You can do this in the body of your essay. 3)Develop your argument through the use of evidence presented in the body of your paper that fully addresses the essay question. Each paragraph should have evidence. Use specific examples from the readings to argue your point. 4) Write clear and effective topic sentences for each paragraph, and transitional sentences leading to the next paragraph. Remember one topic sentence per paragraph with supporting evidence as a general rule. Each paragraph needs evidence, analysis, relate to thesis and then a transition sentence. 5)Present a conclusion that clearly and concisely offers a summation of your argument. 6)Proofread your paper for spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, transitional sentences. 7)Do not switch tenses in your paper. History is written in the past tense. 8)Use Chicago style citation (footnotes not parenthetical citations). See website I have posted for further information. 9)Contextualize your quotations/introduce your quotations. Explain to the reader who is speaking and the context and significance of the the quotation. 10) Write for the ignorant, but intelligent reader. Do not assume the reader knows your topic. Explain your references and your terminology. 11)Paginate your paper. 12)Use the passive voice as little as possible. The passive voice removes human agency from sentences making it seem like events just happen without historical actors. For example: Native Americans were moved off their land in the 1890s. This is an example of passive voice and is not an effective sentence. Who moved the Native Americans and why? Better sentence: Land hungry white settlers and federal land policy pressured Native Americans to move onto smaller reservations. 13)Proofread, edit and revise.
