RESEARCH ESSAY DIRECTIONS
OVERVIEW
Respond to a prompt on page 4 with a clear argument supported by historical evidence. Draw logical conclusions based on research and analysis. This assignment calls for an argument about – not a narrative of – an historical event. This assignment should take around 24 to 32 hours.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
- Double-spaced Times New Roman 12-pt font.
- 5 full pages with 1″ margins plus a Works Cited page
- Basic mastery of grammar, syntax, and style
- Developed paragraphs with topic sentence
- An introduction must contain context (who, what, where, and when) and a thesis statement. § At least 4 scholarly sources, in addition to your textbook, which occur in Works Cited Page and in-text citations.
- All claims (not just direct quotations) require MLA in-text citations.
- All in-text citations require both authorship and page number.
- A concluding paragraph attempting to answer the question – ‘so what?’
SOURCES
SCHOLARLY SOURCES
To determine if a work is acceptable:
- Does it have both an author and page numbers?
- Is it published by an academic or university press?
- Is it an article by an academic journal?
- Does it have a form of citation or a reference?
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
TTC provides access to eBooks and journals accessible when logged into your account. Links are located at the bottom of our class’ D2L page under “User Links.”
UNACCEPTABLE SOURCES
The following sources are unacceptable:
- Sources that do not provide both author and page numbers
- Websites (e.g. academic blogs, authorless database articles, university web pages, Wikipedia, etc…).
- Encyclopedias of any kind
To understand why you cannot use these types of sources, see tutorial “Scholarly Sources Explained” in “User Links.”
QUOTATIONS & CITATIONS
You must support your assertions with MLA in-text citations and provide a Works Cited page. DIRECT QUOTATIONS (“QUOTING”)
Using word-for-word excerpts requires quotation marks followed by an MLA in-text citation.
- Direct quotations cannot stand alone. Introduce each quotation into your sentences.
- After a direct quotation, you must provide analysis. Explain the significance of the quotation. § Do not use quotations that are longer than two lines.
A sentence containing a direct quotation found on page 127 of a book by John Hunter:
John Hunter argues that until Napoleon’s failure in Russia, “the Jacobin commander’s tactics resulted in victory and high morale among his troops” (Hunter 127).
INDIRECT QUOTATIONS (“PARAPHRASING”)
Use MLA in-text citations when summarizing or paraphrasing information from a source. In-text citations are required even when you are not using direct quotations.
A sentence based on information (not a direct quotation) found on page 17 by John Hunter would look like:
Despite his modest background, Napoleon excelled at leadership, exuding revolutionary fervor (Hunter 17).
GRAMMAR & STYLE
ACTIVE VOICE: Strong formal writing uses active voice, in which the subject of the sentence performs the action:
- Passive: It was believed that the dead were judged by Osiris.
- Active: Egyptians believed that Osiris judged the dead.
FIRST PERSON: Formal writing avoids using first person pronouns (“I” or “me”).
VERB TENSE: To avoid confusion, write in the past tense when referring to past events, people, and societies. For example:
Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg (Robinson 234).
The exception to this rule is when referring to an author’s assertions in the context of their writings. For example:
In his magnum opus, The Theory of Moral Sentiment, eighteenth-century economist Adam Smith argues that capitalism “promotes social stability” (Smith 76-8).
PLAIGIARISM
To avoid failing this assignment, do not copy any portion of your essay from a book, eBook, journal article, website, or other source without enclosing that copied section in quotation marks followed by an in-text citation. Using a previously written essay is plagiarism. Changing a few words of a passage does not make it your own.
See tutorial “How to Prevent Plagiarism” in “User Links.” Students cannot earn a grade for this work unless they upload their essay to D2L “Assignments,” at which time Turnitin ® software checks the work for plagiarism.
RESEARCH PROCESS
STEP 1: SELECT A QUESTION
(a) The question you select will direct your research.
(b) You will answer this question in your introduction.
(c) You will provide “proof” in the body of your essay.
STEP 2: LOCATE RESOURCES
(a) Use online sources found under “User Links” (e.g. Google Books, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, JSTOR, etc…).
(b) With ID, TTC students can check out library books at TTC, CofC, The Citadel, MUSC, and Charleston Southern.
(c) Make certain every source you plan to use provides both authorship and page numbers (see page 2).
STEP 3: CONDUCT RESEARCH
(a) Find Related Sources. Look for sources related to your question, sources about a particular event, person, country, region, political development, or historical era.
(b) Search for Key Terms. Once you’ve found a source, use the table of contents or index to look for key terms associated with your question. If the source is in an electronic, use the search function to look for key terms.
(c) Put in the Time. You will need to search through many sources and may have to look in a source for some time before finding useful information.
(d) Collect Information. When you find useful passages in a source, write down the quotation along with the author’s name, work’s title, and page number. When you find a useful passage in an electronic work, use a “Snipping Tool” or “Screenshot” to capture images. You can save these as files or print them out. Again, write down the identifying information as above.
(e) Group Information. If you find a useful passage in one source, look for similar passages in other sources. Look for patterns. Group similarly themed quotations. Construct an outline using similarly themed quotations.
RESEARCH ESSAY RUBRIC
“A” Essay:
- Well-developed thesis and complex conclusion
- Full length and correct formatting
- Consistent analysis, context, and examples
- Correct number of scholarly sources
- Correct citations, quotations, and Works Cited
- No spelling or grammatical errors
“B” Essay:
- Clear thesis and conclusion
- No more than ½ page short of length
- May contain uneven analysis, context, or examples
- Correct number of scholarly sources
- Correct citations, quotations, and Works Cited
- Contains very few spelling and grammatical errors
“C” Essay:
- Discernable thesis and may contain weak conclusion
- No more than 1 page short of requirement
- May contain uneven analysis, context, or examples
- May use one or more unapproved sources
- May contain citation, quotation, or Works Cited errors
- May contains spelling and grammatical errors
“D or F” Essay:
- May lack thesis and/or conclusion
- May fail to satisfy page length requirements
- May fail to provide context and concrete examples
- May fail to use any approved sources
- May contain citation, quotation, or Works Cited errors
- May contain spelling and grammatical errors
- May contain plagiarism
4 RESEARCH ESSAY PROMPTS
- How would you characterize the relationship between kings and priests in Sumer?
- What does the Epic of Gilgamesh tell us about Mesopotamian culture?
- What were the effects of the Indo-Europeans on the Near East?
- What role did military technology play in the rise and fall of ancient Near East empires?
- Why do some scholars consider the Old Kingdom a highpoint of Egyptian civilization?
- What was the relationship between the pharaoh and Egyptian religion?
- What was the relationship between Rabbinical Judaism and the exile in Babylon?
- Why do scholars suggest Zoroastrianism and influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?
- Why did Akhenaton’s attempted reforms of Egyptian religion failure?
- What were the causes of the Persian Wars?
- How realistic was Homer’s depiction of Mycenaean history?
- How was the Hellenistic world multi-cultural?
- What was the Roman Empire’s relationship to the peoples within its borders?
- Explain the Roman opposition to Jesus and his early followers.
- What was the relationship between paganism and the Roman state?
- What set of circumstance led to the division of the Roman Empire into two parts?
- How can we account for the scope and speed of Arab conquests?
- What were the consequences of the Islamic translation of Greek and Persian literature?
- What role did monasteries play in medieval society?
- Why did medieval Christians view clerical reform as so vital to their society?
- What were the forces that brought the Abbasid Dynasty into power?
- How did northern Europe differ from southern Europe in the Late Middle Ages?
- How did medieval Christians interpret the Black Death?
- What was Humanism’s relationship to the Renaissance?
- Why did Luther’s break with Rome succeed when so many similar movements had failed? 26. What was the relationship between Christianity and the Age of Exploration?
- What was the relationship between the Protestant Reformation and witch-hunting?
