2-4 Page Essay on U.S. History from 1865 to present Choose a subject, person, or event in U.S. History. Include one book, one primary source and one or two articles in your research. Use the Chicago Manual of Style for documentation—footnotes and bibliography style.
A) Narrow your topic because this is a short paper.
B) Form a research question before beginning your research such as, “Why did Napoleon sell the land in the Louisiana Purchase instead of keeping it for France? Answer your research question by doing library research.
C) When you have answered your research question, state what you have learned in one sentence. This statement is called a thesis statement, and it should be added in the introduction (first paragraph) of your paper.
D) Follow your thesis statement sentence with a topic sentence that functions as an outline to tell the reader what you are going to write about. Have about three main points that support your thesis statement that you can cover in the body of your paper
E) Make sure your paper has an introduction, body, and conclusion and is 2-4 pages long
F) Cite your sources. Use the Chicago Manual of Style for citations. Put a note number after quoted information, or if you didn’t know the information before you researched it. Add a footnote at the bottom of the page (remember that Jeffrey from the library gave us a good online source for citing sources. Just choose Chicago as the desired style for footnote format).
G) Add a bibliography with all of your sources as the last page of your paper. It’s fine to read online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia for general knowledge, but do not cite them as a source in your bibliography. You must paraphrase sources such as Wikipedia or other online dictionary to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism=passing off someone else’s work as your own.
