The essay must be at least 2000 words. You must cite from the readings and lecture. The only sources you may use are the Schaller textbook and the lecture notes. The easiest way to cite sources is to use MLA parenthetical citations that includes the author’s last name and page number (Mayer:199). Your essay must have MLA citations from Schaller in every paragraph except the intro and conclusion In each essay your first paragraph must contain a series of causal arguments that you intend to historically prove in the text of your essay. You need to tell the reader what caused what to happen, when and why. Never pose rhetorical questions in your essay. Rhetorical questions are cheap literary devices that make your writing style non-assertive and give the reader the impression that you are not in control of your essay or the material. Immediately give the reader your overall causal argument, and then, in succeeding sentences of your first paragraph list supporting arguments in chronological order. The supporting arguments should be chronological in order and build on each other.
The topic sentences of your paragraphs must do more than simply describe what the paragraph is about, they must also state why the paragraph is important to the overall argument of your essay. In other words, the topic sentence summarizes the paragraph, but also links it back to one of the supporting arguments that you listed in your introductory paragraph. You must have dates or at least periodize in almost every paragraph. Paragraphs should be one-third to one-half page in length. Finally, your essay must have a conclusion that restates your original argument in light of the data and facts that were discussed in the text of your essay.
