Civil war
description
INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESEARCH PAPER
You must use a minimum of three (3) scholarly sources, i.e. books and/or library journal articles. Sources cannot predate 1975. Your textbook cannot count as one of your sources. NO INTERNET SOURCES ALLOWED (of course this does not include library databases).
You should begin with an introduction paragraph that also states your thesis, or argument.
You should finish with a conclusion paragraph that has a concession statement, as most written research is based on personal analysis of sources used.
*You should make an outline before you begin writing that organizes each paragraph or section of your essay. Do not turn in your outline.
The same basic rules of grammar and punctuation that you used in writing your book review apply here, i.e. no contractions, limit quotes, etc.
Your work must be properly cited using Chicago Manual of Style. You must include a bibliography page.
Your paper should explore the causes or consequences of the American Civil War. Your paper should explore one or the other, not both. You may, however, include a paragraph at the end of your paper that ties one to the other. Your choices may include but are not limited to:
States Rights, The Institution of American Slavery, The Missouri Compromise (1820), The Constitutional Convention (Great Compromise), 19th Century Westward Expansionism, The Mexican American War, The California Gold Rush, Class Inequality, Political Divisions, Economic Inequality, The Kansas-Nebraska Act, The Compromise of 1850, John Browns Raid, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Election of Abraham Lincoln, The End of Slavery, The Lost Cause Ethos of Former Confederates, The Growth of Jim Crow and Racial Segregation, The Failure of Reconstruction, Black Sharecroppers, The Failure of Black Land Reform, Debt Peonage, Black Codes, Lynching and the Ku Klux Klan, The Growth of the Prison System, etc.
Your paper should demonstrate that you have a general understanding of the US history that we have discussed in class and a specific understanding of the subject matter you are presenting.
You may turn in a completed copy of your paper prior to the due date and I will look over it for obvious mistakes and provide you with feedback/suggestions.
The due date is the last day of regular class.
