History 371

Devine

Spring 2014

 

Essay Assignment #2, Option C: Michael Patrick MacDonald, All Souls

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

This essay is due by 11:59 pm on May 5th. You may email your essay to me as an attachment (the preferred method), turn it in to the History Department office (Sierra Tower 610) during business hours, or hand it to me in person.

 

If you are submitting this essay as a draft and intend to work with a writing tutor on a revision of your essay, please indicate in your email that the document you are submitting is a draft. To take advantage of the Writing Center, you must submit a complete 1500-word draft by December 4th. Incomplete drafts will be graded as is.

 

If you use the writing center and revise your paper, the final version will be due in class on the day of the final exam – May 13th. To make an appointment, call the History Department at 818.677.3566.

 

All students are welcome to make an appointment with me to go over a draft before submitting a revision and the same deadline will apply.

 

How Long? 

 

Papers MUST be 1500 words and no more than 1900 words.

 

Format?

 

• Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around.

 

• Please number your pages (use the INSERT menu on MS Word and choose “Page numbers…”)

 

• Give your essay a title that indicates what the paper is about. (Choose something more revealing than “Essay” or “All Souls”) Clever titles will be duly noted.

  

Be sure to put your name at the top of page 1 of the essay before you email it. (People actually forget to do this.)

 

How to cite?

If you are quoting directly from the book, cite the author and page number in parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (MacDoanld, 47). All direct quotes MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited. Paraphrases of ideas drawn from the book MUST also be cited.

 

If you have any questions or are in any way unsure about what you are being asked to do, be sure to speak with in person or via email.

 

How will I be graded?

 

You will be graded on

 

focus (do you have a thesis statement and does it answer the question asked?),

 

evidence (do you back up your argument with specific information from the reading?),

 

coherence (is your argument consistent and understandable throughout the piece?),

 

scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?). 

 

 

Answer ONE of the following questions:

 

 

  1. The residents of Southie believed they lived in the “best place in the world.”  They stuck together and they did not trust outsiders. Was this strong sense of “neighborhood” more a source of strength or the source of the people’s problems? Did it help them survive or keep them from living more fulfilling lives?

 

  1. Why was forced busing so controversial in Southie? Why did residents end up hating the rich, suburban liberals who supported busing more than they hated the poor blacks who were bused into the neighborhood?

 

  1. How did Whitey Bulger end up destroying the community he claimed to be protecting? How did he exploit the residents of Southie by appealing to the very values that many residents believed made their neighborhood special?

 

  1. Why did government-sponsored measures intended to improve race relations and alleviate poverty – such as busing, the enforcement of “hate crimes” laws, provision of public housing, and welfare payments – actually end up fueling racism in Southie and making poverty more difficult to escape?