SIGNIFICANCE OF EARLY AMERICAN WRITINGS
Before You Begin There are many seminal works that have influenced the thinking and behavior of people in the United States. Several are still influential today, including the Constitution, which is the cornerstone of American law. In this assignment, you′ll choose one of the readings from the collection below and write a research paper that traces the work′s long-term significance. The one I chose was (the Declaration of Independence) I’m going to provide the reading below, unfortunately I do not have any links to the readings so, I will upload pictures of the reading here. When you are researching, you should collect sources that provide multiple perspectives on your topic so that you can be well-informed and prepared to support your thesis. Your sources should also be relevant to your topic, and useful for your purpose. Sources that contain only one to two sentences on your topic are not going to be a good choice. Additionally, it is crucial to evaluate the reliability of a source before you decide to use it in your work. There are a few basic questions you can ask yourself when examining a source to determine if it is a valid, credible work: Is the author reliable? One way to determine this is to research other published works by the author. Additionally, you can research the author′s background and education; reliable authors are most likely educated in their field. When was the source written? If a source is too old, it may not contain accurate information. For example, if you are conducting research on an issue in 20th century America, you would not want to use a source written in the early 19th century as that data would not be useful to your purpose. What kind of website is where this source is published? You can take a quick look at the last three letters of the website to determine the type of domain. This can provide you with information about the overall purpose of the website. For example, .edu websites are for educational purposes. These sites are often a good source. Websites ending in .gov and .mil are put together by the government, and will generally contain valid data as well. It can be helpful to organize your research in a conceptual map, in order to help you separate factual data from inferences and connections you will make to your thesis. A conceptual map generally takes a web-like format, and can help you establish the links between your ideas and your sources. Click here for the printable concept map to use for your research. Complete the map before you begin writing your paper. Then, you can move through the steps of the writing process. Craft a thesis. After you have a clear understanding of your task, you are ready to formulate a thesis. Your thesis will be the central idea of your essay. It should be one sentence that represents your point of view on the subject. Make sure your thesis directly addresses the prompt by answering the question or task you′ve been assigned. Write with your audience in mind. Every writer must consider the reason for their writing and the audience for whom they′ll be writing. As you plan your essay, remember that your purpose is to analyze one of the readings in this unit and explain how it′s still relevant today. Assume that your audience for this essay includes your teacher and other interested readers. Your essay should enlighten your audience by adding to their understanding of the work. You should also plan to address readers who may have a different perspective on the topic; acknowledging and countering any potential disagreement with your thesis strengthens your essay, and establishes your credibility as an author. Begin your paper. Now, write the body of your paper. Your thesis statement should express the main points you′ll discuss in the body of your paper. Take a look at the following example: Detailed desсrіptions of the conditions faced by slaves, including the Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, persuaded many people to oppose slavery in the United States and eventually lead to its abolition. The writer in this example would discuss two main impacts of slavery narratives: (1) the growth of the abolition movement during the late 1700s and early 1800s, and (2) the legal end of slavery in the United States. The body of your paper should serve as a support system for your thesis, connecting to your research and collected sources. Use details, examples, and evidence that you have found in your research to help you explain your main points. When you are writing a research paper, you must know how to use information from a source. If you choose to directly quote a source, it is important to use MLA formatted text citations, which contain the author′s last name and the page number of the quote within a set of parentheses. For example: The 1920s was a time of great change, ″the very air itself seemed to glitter with possibility″ (Hanover 23). If you want to establish yourself as a credible author in your essay, it is important to provide an accurate representation of the views of different authors, especially if their viewpoint differs from yours. Taking an author′s words out of context and distorting the main idea to fit your purpose is not honest or productive. For example, using just a few words from a source that otherwise contradicts your thesis and making it appear as if it supports your thesis is not a good choice. Readers will not be able to trust your research if you fail to accurately portray the work of other authors. Sometimes you may not want to use a direct quote, and it will be important to keep a sense of balance in your writing. Therefore, paraphrasing will be a helpful strategy. Paraphrasing helps you to borrow from a source without plagiarizing; you are able to take the general idea and put it into your own words. However, you must still provide citations while the wording may be your own, the ideas certainly are not. A good rule of thumb when it comes to citing your paraphrasing is to ask these two questions: Is this general knowledge? For example, ″The sun sets in the West.″ Did I read about this and am now putting that new knowledge into my own words? If it is not general knowledge and you are retelling information that you have read somewhere, then you are paraphrasing. The MLA rules remain the same: you must put the author′s last name and the page number(s) of where you learned that information at the end of the paraphrase. However, with a paraphrase, you don′t have to use quotation marks since it is not a word-for-word restatement. Here′s an example of a paraphrase: Oregon salmon populations have dramatically declined in the past decade (Lenz 27). It′s often best to write your introduction and conclusion after you write the main body of your paper, but before you start writing, make sure that you have a well-written thesis to unify your writing. Finishing Your Paper. After you have finished writing your introduction, main points, and conclusion, compile a works cited list of the information sources you used. For this course, you must follow the Modern Language Association, or MLA, format for your citations. Click here to view the MLA Style Guide. Lastly, revise and edit your paper. This checklist may help: Editing Checklist First edit: _____ Do you use an appropriate tone for the audience (in this case, your instructor)? _____ Does the paper makes sense? _____ Does your thesis statement mention the name of the work and your main points? _____ Does your introduction include your thesis statement and summaries of your main points? _____ Do you present your main points according to a logical organizational pattern? (You can organize them chronologically or by topics, for example.) _____ Do you support your main points with details, examples, and evidence from your information sources? _____ Does your conclusion summarize your main points and restate your thesis? _____ Does your bibliography (a list of the information sources you cited) include at least three sources? Second edit: _____ Do you mention the sources of quotations and paraphrased information? _____ Are all words spelled correctly? _____ Are all sentences punctuated correctly? _____ Are all sentences grammatically correct? _____ Do you use MLA format correctly for all your research citations? Directions Write an 800- to 1,200-word research essay that traces the long-term significance of one of the seminal American works you read in this unit. Choose a work that you read during this unit. Think about how much and what kind of long-lasting impact the work has had on readers or on the United States. Draft a thesis statement to guide your research. Search in the library and online for information related to your ideas about the long-term significance of the work. Read and evaluate information sources. Take careful notes as you read. Consult more sources if necessary. Refine your thesis statement so that it names the work and very briefly states the main ideas about its long-term significance that you discuss in your essay. Write the body of your essay. Use details, examples, and evidence that you found in your information sources to support the main points stated in your thesis. Be sure to use quotations and paraphrasing correctly. Write an introduction that adds a desсrіption of the body of your essay to your thesis statement. Write a conclusion that restates your thesis and recaps the main points of the body of your essay. Prepare a list of citations of the sources of information you used for your essay. Edit the essay to make sure it makes sense and uses a tone appropriate to your audience. Correct any errors of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I will also provide a photo of the assignments rubric as well! Please do not hesitate to ask questions concerning the assignment. I appreciate the hard work!