History
579
Devine
Fall
2012
First
Analytical Essay Assignment – Option A
INSTRUCTIONS
Your
first essay is due Saturday, October 6th.
I prefer you email me the paper as an attachment since this is the best way to ensure that it does not get lost. When
you email me, you should also 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. Late essays will be penalized, so
please turn your assignment in on time. If you do not wish to do this paper,
you can wait for the next essay assignment (Option B) which will be due on
Saturday, November 3rd.
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.
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”) 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. (Hunt, 47). All direct
quotes MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited. Paraphrases of ideas drawn
from the book MUST also be cited.
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?)
4) scope (does your
paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?)
THE ASSIGNMENT
Answer ONE of the following questions:
1.
American foreign policy often
reflects the nation’s “sense of mission.”
Choose two instances, one a foreign
policy success and the other a foreign policy failure, that you believe best
demonstrate the validity of this statement.
The key to a successful essay is making a compelling case
that your two choices are the most apt. In making your case, you will also need
to address how you are defining “America’s mission.”
2.
Anne Pierce’s evaluations of Woodrow
Wilson and Harry Truman seem decidedly more positive than Michael Hunt’s. Why
is this the case?
What does Pierce find admirable?
What does Hunt criticize? Do the two
authors assess these presidents using different criteria? Which author’s assessments do you ultimately
find more persuasive?
3.
In
What America Owes the World, H.W. Brands chronicles how “exemplarists” and “vindicationists”
have alternated in exercising dominant influence over American foreign policy.
What factors help determine whether exemplarists or vindicationists exert more influence over policy? How, for
example, can a specific political, economic, or diplomatic context favor one
side or the other?