Students will analyze one primary source document available via eLearning online. Students may choose any of the primary source documents posted for this assignment. Students will write a thesis-
driven essay – not a simple descriptive account or summary of the document’s contents. The essay will make a central claim about how the document illuminates or illustrates some of the key themes
or ideas of its historical context.
Students have two options for completing the document analysis writing assign’ The first option is to write an assignment focused on a single source. Students s choose this option will: 1. work
with a single primary source selected from the sources posted online (including any selection from the American Yawp Primary Source Reader) 2. explain how that single document illustrates a few key
concepts / ideas / sensibilities characteristic of the time, place and culture in which the source waE written. It is up to students to decide which ideas / sensibilities are evident in th selected
source. The second option is to write an assignment focused on a single idea. Students choose this option will: 1. identify a central concept, idea, or sensibility that was salient in American tho
and culture from the period of 1607 — 1865. 2. trace the development or permutation of that single theme / idea over time, dr evidence from multiple primary sources. It is up to students to decide
which soL can best illuminate the historical development of a particular idea / theme. For either option, students must: 1. follow the guidelines listed in the syllabus regarding appropriate
secondary si 2. format the paper according to the guidelines listed in the syllabus, making su stay within the word length boundaries of the assignment 3. use Chicago Manual of Style citation style
for all citations. Use footnotes, not endnotes, and include a bibliography page. For specific details on CMS citation style and formatting of footnotes, you may consult the following online
resource for guidan https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/ There is no minimum number of secondary sources required to complete this assignment. What this assignment does require is
that you make an argument b on evidence — evidence from the primary source(s), further illuminated or contextualized by reference to evidence from relevant secondary source(s).
This paper must advance an arguable claim. That claim could take one of two forms, depending on which option you choose. A claim for Option A might go something like this: [Primary Source X]
reveals the importance of [or “the relationship between,” or “the contested nature of,” etc] the ideas of [A and B, or A B and C, etc] in American histor. during [the time period this document
represents]. A claim for Option B might go something like this: [Primary Sources A, B, and C] reveal that [idea X] has been an important [or “contested,” or “influential,” or “fairly stable” or
“constantly changing,” etc.] idea in American history from [era Y] to [era Z]. That claim is your paper’s “thesis statement.” The body of your paper will advance that central claim, one step at a
time. Each paragraph of your paper is a single step toward advancing your larger claim. S the first sentence of each paragraph will make an assertion about one aspect of your larger argument. And
the rest of the sentences in each paragraph will support that assertion and only that assertion. Thus, each paragraph has one topic, and the first sentence of each paragraph is the “topic sentence”
for that paragraph. I will not be grading on rhetorical flair. Please do not feel compelled to use ornate words when plain words will do.
All papers must be submitted online through the Tumitin.com link provided for this assignment.