World War II

After completing all the reading for Unit 4 (see attachment), compose a formal essay that address the following “Big Questions:”

Significance: What was the most interesting thing you learned in these unit chapters and why?
Connection: What connections or parallels can you make between that event, or person, or concept, or place, and events within the United States today (economic, political, social, cultural)?
I’m trying to accomplish several things with this assignment.

Teach you to think about this history at a more personal level by encouraging you to draw your own conclusion about its significance. (You must use specific evidence to accomplish this so that you are presenting a scholarly critique, and not just a half-baked opinion)
Teach you to connect the past to the present by encouraging you to see that we are still impacted by past events (again, you will have connect specific things in the past with the preset and not just state oversimplified generalizations).
Brainstorm. Sometimes it is easier to just sit down and brainstorm before you start writing this essay. Do this by answering the following questions (I should see your “answers” to these questions throughout your formal essay):

Did you learn something new that was interesting or stimulating to you? Why and how was it interesting or stimulating? Did what you learned challenge something you already thought you knew, or did it confirm an idea or concept you already understood? What is the connection between this past idea and the present? I want to know what you think about U.S. History and how past events relate to your life and our country and world, today. How and why is something that happened in our collective “American” past (our History) relevant to our lives’ today? This is the most important question we ask within any History course that I teach and that is why I need to hear specifically from you. Your opinion matters and your ideas are valid in this class. l know that you can do this, because all of us do this every day, in every possible moment, of our daily consciousness. We take in information, we process that information, and we form opinions or ideas about how to respond or “think” about the information.
I only want you to use the attachment for all information or research on any topic in this class. No other sources needed. Your e-textbooks will provide plenty of detailed evidence for you to process.

Format and Length. 12 pt. fonts, approximately 800 words, single or double spaced.

Formal Essay Guidelines:

You must compose your essay using a formal style so follow these rules of formal writing:

Thoughtfulness:Your essay should demonstrate mastery of the chapter content and critical thinking skills
Thesis:Your essay should start with a clear thesis statement
Focus:Each paragraph should be focused on another topic within your central thesis
Explanation/Examples:You must provide evidence. Each paragraph of your essay must contain several detailed examples that support or “prove” your thesis and topic statements.
Connection:Your response should directly relate to the ideas (facts and theories) presented in the course e-textbook. You must show me how much you have absorbed this semester and dazzle me with your deep understanding of U.S. History.
Basic Sentence/Paragraph/Essay Structure

A paragraph presents and develops one or two ideas only and usually accomplishes these tasks:

Makes an assertion (topic sentence)
Explains the assertion (define, clarify)
Provides evidence (details, examples, illustrations or other types of proof)
Comments on the significance of the evidence.
As a rule of thumb, avoid vague or overly general language. Instead, use specific details and give me examples to demonstrate or prove your points. In the field of history, we call this “evidence” and you will need a lot of it if you want me to follow your ideas or agree with your conclusions. Your essay should be filled with lots of sentences beginning with “for example.” You can attack my 2 “Big Questions” any way you like and I encourage you to be original and to challenge my or the e-book’s interpretations. However, I don’t want outside info or overly technical responses. I am asking you what you think, not what someone else thinks, so tell me and only use the evidence supplied in your e-textbook.