History 371HON

Fall 2014

Devine/Thompson

Paper Assignment #2 Option B

 

This essay is due Sunday, December 7th. You may email your essay to me as an email attachment. If you did not submit an Option A paper, you must complete this assignment.

 

If you are submitting this essay as a draft and intend to work with a writing tutor on a revision of your essay, you should aim to submit your essay by Tuesday, December 2nd so that you will have sufficient time to complete your revisions. Regardless of when you meet with your tutor, all final versions are due by December 16th. 

 

To make an appointment, call the History Department at 818.677.3566. Appointments may be difficult to get this time of the semester, so try to call as soon as you can.

 

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 1500 words.

 

Format?

 

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

 

• Please remember to number your pages.

 

• Give your essay a title that indicates what the paper is about. (Something more revealing than “Essay #2” or “All Souls”) Clever titles will be duly noted.

 

• Base your essay entirely on the assigned course reading. You should not draw on any outside sources.

 

How to cite?

 

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

 

How will I be graded?

 

You will be graded on:

 

1)  focus (does the paper make a clear argument that answers the question posed in the prompt?)

 

2)  evidence (do you back up your argument with specific information from the reading and class discussion?)

 

3)  coherence (is your argument consistent? do all of your sentences and paragraphs make sense? do your paragraphs flow in a logical order?)

 

4)  scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth? or is your argument superficial and backed up only with the most obvious evidence that we went over in class?)

 

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

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

 

Answer ONE of the following questions:

 

  1. The residents of Southie believed they lived in the “best place in the world.” 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. Historians, sociologists, and policy makers have long debated whether social conditions and institutional structures or personal choices are more determinative in accounting for poverty. Based on what you read in All Souls, what would you say best explains the persistence of poverty in Southie – structures or personal choices? 

 

[In answering, do not simply assert your opinion. Use specific evidence in the book that shows why the residents of Southie found it so difficult to escape a life of poverty.  Were there governmental structures that kept them from improving their situation?  Were there forces beyond their control that limited their options?  Did they themselves make bad decisions that closed off opportunities for a better life?]