History 477
Devine
Spring 2013
Essay Assignment #1
(Option A)
Your
first essay is due Saturday, February 23 by 11:59 pm. If you do not wish to do this paper, you can
wait for the next essay assignment (Option B). If you plan to work with a writing tutor on
this essay, you should email your complete
5-page draft to the tutor at the same time you email me your paper. I will pass
around a sign-up sheet in class so you can schedule a meeting with the writing
tutor.
If you complete this
essay and do not do well, you may then turn in the Option B essay. I will count
only the better of the two grades.
My email address is tom.devine@csun.edu.
When emailing your essay, send a copy to yourself on the “cc” line. If you
receive the email, it’s likely I did as well. I will send you a confirmation
email when I receive your paper, however, it is YOUR
RESPONSIBILITY (and not the email
server’s) that I get it. (“But I sent it to you – didn’t you get it?” will not
be a legitimate excuse for a late paper.)
DIRECTIONS
HOW LONG SHOULD THE PAPER BE?
Papers MUST be 1500 words and no more than
1900 words.
HOW SHOULD I FORMAT THE PAPER?
•
Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around.
•
Please number your pages.
•
Give your essay a title that indicates what the paper is about. (Something more
revealing than “Essay #1” or “History 477 Paper”) Clever titles will be duly
noted.
•
Base your essay entirely on
the assigned course reading. You do not have to (nor should you) draw on any
outside sources.
HOW DO I 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. (Levine, 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 are drawing ideas from a range of pages in
a source, you would cite as follows: (Levine, 32-35).
HOW WILL I BE GRADED?
You will be graded
on:
1)
focus (do you have a
thesis statement and does it answer the question asked?)
2)
evidence (do you back up your
argument with specific information from the reading and is the supporting
information especially effective in making your case)
3)
coherence (is your argument consistent and understandable
throughout the piece? do your sentences make sense?)
4)
scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth
and breadth?)
THE ASSIGNMENT
Answer ONE of
the following five questions:
[In answering, you can draw on Barnum’s
autobiography in which he provides some of his own answers to this question,
but the chapters by Neil Harris should also be helpful in establishing a
broader context that helps explain Barnum’s success.]
2. Why did working class
audiences enjoy going to the theater and blackface minstrel shows? Did they derive anything from the experience
other than an evening’s entertainment?
[A strong paper will
draw on evidence and arguments from a variety of readings and include an
analysis of both theater and minstrelsy.]
[In establishing the broader context and
explaining why it was conducive to a riot, you can draw on Cliff’s essay but
also other readings that engage this topic.]
[In answering, you might consider how changes
in theater performances, venues, and audience etiquette show that the lines
between “highbrow” and “lowbrow” entertainment were becoming more sharply
drawn. In addressing Barnum and Foster, you might note how they adjusted their entertainment
offerings to the middle class’s desire (and their own desire) for “respectability.”]