Unit 1 History 1301

Due on Sunday, October 3 rd.

Instructions

Formal Essay (100 points)

Compose a thesis-driven 4-5 page formal essay in response to the essay topic. You have a choice between two topics, provided below. This essay should be at least four full pages in length (typed, double spaced with 1inch margins), written and organized according to academic paper standards (thesis, topic sentences, formal tone, grammar and spell-checked), and draw on ample course material from Unit 1.

It is important to avoid re-telling the history covered in Unit 1 in great detail and narrative form. Instead, focus on making arguments and supporting these arguments with “evidence” (examples) taken from the course material.

Topic Options (choose one):

• Option 1 : Draw upon course material to identify and discuss the role/s played by rising modern capitalism in the development of colonial American history. You should discuss each of the three major colonizing powers in North America: Spain, England, and France, recognizing there are similarities and distinctions. You should also incorporate each of the three general groups of peoples brought together in the New World in relation to rising modern capitalism: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Summarize where possible and selectively reference specific people and phenomena to support the points that you make.

• Option 2 : Draw upon course material to identify and discuss the manners in which a diversity of peoples, cultures, ambitions, and entities (etc.) encountered one another in the New World during the colonial period and the product of these encounters. You should discuss each of the major colonizing powers in North America: Spain, England and France. You should also address each of the three general groups of people who were part of these encounters: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Summarize where possible and selectively reference specific people and phenomena to support the points that you make.

Academic Paper-Writing Tips

1. Begin by creating a thesis. A thesis is an argument in response to the essay question or topic. It is permissible to create a thesis by simply rephrasing and transforming the essay question into a statement.
2. Come up with a series of more precise arguments or points which support your thesis. This is where you decide what topics, patterns, truths (etc.) you would like to selectively incorporate into your paper, thus avoiding the need to address the entire scope of history covered in the unit. These more precise arguments make good topic sentences (first sentence of each paragraph).
3. Once you have identified a series of precise arguments/points to be made, which support your thesis, selectively draw from the course material “evidence” (examples). These examples should support the arguments/points you would like to make and utilize precise names, events, phenomena, etc (try not to generalize).
4. You do not need to write about each example in great detail. Focus on summary and significance. Beyond one or two examples for each point being made, it is permissible and encouraged to simply reference other examples (“name-drop”).
5. A constructive pattern to follow is to begin with a paragraph that provides your thesis and supporting arguments. Then, make each supporting argument or point into a topic sentence to begin a paragraph. Finally, fill the paragraph with “evidence” or examples that support the argument or point made in the topic sentence.