Historical Essay: Exploring the Significance of a Historical Figure

Assignment Guidelines

Research one of the historical figures provided on page 2 of this document, demonstrating your ability to present a clear argument and support it with historical evidence. In the form of an essay, answer the question, "why is this why this figure is historically significant?" There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to this questions; rather, this assignment allows each student to construct an argument based on his or her own analysis of the evidence. However, you must answer the prompt directly. Do not take this exercise as an opportunity to write about your favorite key developments or offer a general narrative of the period. This exercise, taking into account time for research and writing, should take approximately 24 hours of work to complete.  

This assignment will demonstrate your ability to evaluate and draw logical conclusions based on information provided in class lecture, outside research, and the textbook. 

• Double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font
• Standard 1" margins and a minimum of 6 full pages plus a Works Citedpage
• Basic mastery of grammar, syntax, and style (proof read at least once)
• Each paper must have a clearly defined introductory paragraph, one or more body paragraph/s, and a concluding paragraph.
• Each paragraph must have at least five sentences.
• Each paragraph must have a topic sentence expressing one main idea.
• An introduction must contain context (who, what, where, and when).
• An introduction must contain a thesis statement, which must take the form of an unambiguous claim based on the above question.
• Every paper must have at least 4 approved scholarly sources, not including your textbook (see the addendum for instruction regarding approved sources and MLA in-text citations).
  • These scholarly sourcesmust occur in the Works Cited Page and as an MLA in-text citations in a body paragraph.
• All claims (not just direct quotations) from your textbook and your additional scholarly sources require MLA in-text citations. Such in-text citations occur at the end of sentences. A few citations for each paragraph are common. Review the instructions for essays and citations/quotations provided in your syllabus. 

A concluding paragraph provides a recap of the paper and must attempt to answer the question – 'so what?' This, above all, is the paragraph that can be most creative and can contain an element of subjectivity and persuasion.

(a) The figure you select from the provided list on page 2 will direct your research.

(b) You will answer a question about this figure in your essay’s introduction.

(c) You will provide “proof” of this answer in the body paragraphs of your essay. 

(a) You can use physical books from any library.

(b) Use approved online sources with the following directions. Typing the word “books” into the Google search engine will take you to Google Books. Through this search engine you will have preview access to books.

(c) TTC’s library contains many eBooks in EBSCOhost and ProQuest Ebook Central. However, you must use your TTC identification number to access this resource off campus. Direction to find this number can be found in our addendum.

First, go to our library’s webpage. Then, select “Databases by Subject.”  Next, choose either “eBook Collection or “ProQuest Ebook Central” found under the Online Books heading. Through these search engines you will have full access to eBooks.

 (d) TTC’s online library offers access to JSTOR, a database of academic journal articles. However, you must use your TTC identification number to access this resource off campus. Direction to find this number can be found in our addendum.

First, go to our library’s webpage. Then, select “Databases by Subject.”  Next choose “JSTOR Art and Sciences Collection” found under the History heading. Through this search engine you will have access to articles in academic journals.

(e) Keep in mind that websites of any kind (Wikipedia, blogs, university web pages, and general information sites like Gale in Context), sources lacking either an author or page numbers, or encyclopedias of any kind are not approved sources!

(a) Find Related Sources. Look for sources related to your question. This means you may be searching for sources about a particular event, person, country, region, political development, or historical era.

(b) Search for Key Terms. Once you’ve found a promising source, (if it’s a physical book) use the table of contents and the index to look for key terms associated with your historical question. If the source is in an electronic format, use the search function to look for key terms in a similar fashion.

(c) Put in the Time. You will need to search through several sources and may have to look in a source for some time before finding useful information.

(d) Collect Information. When you find potentially useful passages in a written source, write down the quotation along with the name of the author, work’s title, and page number – so you have this information for citations later.

When you find potentially useful passage in an electronic work, use a “Snipping Tool” or “Screenshot” function to capture images of text. You can save these as files or print them out. Again, write down the quotation along with the name of the author, work’s title, and page number – so you have this information for citations later.

(e) Group Information. If you find a potential useful passage in one source, look for similar passages in other sources. Look for patterns. Group similarly themed quotations together. Construct an outline using these similarly themed quotations. This outline will guide the writing that must follow.