Trident Technical College Historical Contribution of Otto von Bismarck Research All details regarding assignment is attached. Please Note: Please ONLY Do A

Trident Technical College Historical Contribution of Otto von Bismarck Research All details regarding assignment is attached. Please Note: Please ONLY Do A Minimum of 7 Pgs. HIS 102
Research Paper Assignment
Assignment
Your research paper for this class will be based on a historical figure of your choice. You
may pick any person who falls within the scope of the course-that means it must be a
figure from the Western world (Europe or America) who lived from 1789 until the
present time. This gives you a wide variety of people to pick from, so pick someone who
interests you.
The purpose of this assignment is not only for you to learn about a historical figure and
time period in a more in-depth fashion than we will be able to do in class, but also for you
to improve your writing skills, research skills, and ability to analyze information and
create an argument.
While this paper is based on a person, it should NOT be solely the story of their life from
birth to death, but should make an argument that focuses on the historical events that
affected their lives, and the events that they affected.
The purpose of a research paper is to do research on a topic in order to gather evidence
which you will use to support the argument that you are making. Think about this like
you would a science experiment. Your argument, or thesis, is yours, but you need
evidence to convince the reader that your argument is true.
For example, if you chose former US president Ronald Reagan as your topic, you should
spend very little time talking about his early life and career as a Hollywood actor, and
more discussing his entry into politics, the changes in his political opinions, how he got
elected president, and how his presidency affected, not only the US, but the world. You
should choose something about Reagan’s career that you feel you can make an argument
about, find evidence that supports that argument, then present it in a concise, wellorganized essay. In order to do this, finding good sources is very important-see the
Paper Topic Assignment for more info!
Remember when beginning to write your paper that this course covers the history of
dozens of nations. We will be discussing how events in one nation affect other nations,
so you should also use an international perspective when considering the significance of
your chosen figure. This is especially a warning for those of you who choose US figures.
Grading
Your final paper will be graded on four major criteria:
Thesis: This is the argument of your paper. Does the paper have a strong thesis
statement at the beginning? Is the argument addressed throughout the paper? Does the
conclusion appropriately address the thesis?
Content: Does the paper contain good information? Does it contain all the major
events of its’ subject’s life, and does it place these events in the appropriate historical
context? Does it demonstrate a clear understanding of the subject’s historical importance?
Are the sources used good sources, and are they used well?
Style: Is the paper well written? Is it appropriately cited? Is it well organized?
Mechanics: Does the paper have correct spelling and good grammar?
Citations and Plagiarism
Please remember that this is a research paper, and all assertions, ideas, and facts that are
not general knowledge must be supported by your sources. The fact that World War I
happened from 1914-1918 is general knowledge. The fact that the war caused a shift in
European society due to the death of most of a generation of young men is not, and must
be supported by a citation. Any information that you learned from a book or article
MUST BE followed by a citation EVEN IF you are paraphrasing and not actively quoting
from that work. This means at MINIMUM one citation per paragraph since you should
be conveying these authors’ ideas in your paper, and NOT your own. Please remember
that any ideas which are in your paper and are not your own must be cited, or they qualify
as plagiarism. This includes ideas from sources in your Works Cited, things your friends
told you, or wrote for you, stories that you heard on TV, ideas from Wikipedia, etc, etc.
Any evidence of plagiarism in your papers will result in a failing grade and probably in
other nasty disciplinary action. Lots of pain and suffering for both of us, so write your
own work, please. You have two choices of format for your citations. MLA format
requires internal citations in parentheses, consisting of the author’s last name followed by
the page number or numbers from which you took the information. Like this (Smith, 63).
You may also use footnotes if you prefer, like this.1
If you are in doubt about the formatting of any part of your paper, including citations,
stick to the MLA format, which can be acquired in print at any bookstore or online.
Some websites have portions of it online for free. Here are a couple of good ones.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/format.shtml
http://www.mla.org/style
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic/mla_style.html
1
Smith 63
Requirements
Your paper should be seven to ten pages in length. That means a minimum of seven
full pages, and a maximum of ten full pages. It should have an introduction that includes
your thesis statement, which is the statement of your argument, and then gives an
overview of the argument you will make in your paper. The body of your paper should
discuss the evidence that you feel proves your argument. The conclusion should then
recap your argument. The paper should be typed, double-spaced, in a normal font such as
Times New Roman, Arial, etc, in 12-pt font with one inch margins. The header at the top
of the page should include your name, the class and section, and the date. Your paper
should have a title that in some way includes the name of your chosen historical figure.
The paper should include page numbers at the top right hand corner of the page. As
discussed above, all facts must be cited within your paper. The last page of the paper
should be a Works Cited page, where you will list the full citations of each one of your
sources in proper MLA fashion. The Works Cited page does not count toward your page
total. Papers must be turned in BOTH in print to me in class on the due date AND to the
dropbox on D2L that same day. Late papers will be reduced by five points per day, up to
a maximum of twenty points. Failure to turn in a paper in both formats will reduce the
grade by ten points, and papers not turned into D2L will not be graded.
Good luck, and remember that I am always available to help you get started and to
answer any questions.

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