write your draft thesis paragraph for your own research paper. In the first paragraph of your paper your goal is to introduce your subject (2-3 sentences) and clearly state your thesis (1 sentence, this is your revised claim from Week 3) and introduce the major points your will put forward to support your argument (2-4 sentences). If you don’t have an argument in your paper, the reader will be left wondering what your paper is all about. Also keep in mind that history is about arguments, not stories. Every history paper (or article or book) must make an argument about a historical topic. It is not acceptable at the level of academic history to just tell a little story that has no real point (no argument) to it. Review the points below to make sure you post a complete draft thesis paragraph. Again, post your draft thesis paragraph by Saturday.
Your second task is to provide feedback to two of your peers on their draft introductory/thesis paragraphs. Use the following points to judge their paragraphs by (this is also the grading rubric I will use to grade your draft thesis paragraphs):
1. Does the paragraph start with an introduction (two or three sentences) that both introduces the subject of the paper and draws the reader into their subject. Remember, that all of us are not expert on all of your topics, so please place them in terms of subject and time in your introduction.
2. Does the paragraph have a clear thesis statement that clearly states an argument about their historical subject. Can you find a statement that tells you what the author will argue. A thesis statement should be only one sentence long.
3. Does the paragraph provide a brief introduction of the major points that will be presented to prove the thesis argument.
These should be broad and two to four sentences in total length. Remember to be helpful rather than just laudatory in your comments. That means to point out points that can be strengthened rather than just saying “good job”. So your second task (what your discussion grade is based on) is to provide feedback to two or more of your peers about how to strengthen their draft thesis paragraphs .
Your draft thesis paragraph is a separately graded assignment. Your discussion grade for this week is based on your two or more peer feedbacks. Your draft thesis paragraph grade is worth up to 50 points (5% of your overall course grade). Your peer feedback on two or more of your peers’ draft thesis paragraphs is worth up to 20 points (2% of your overall course grade). This is for a total of 70 points.
Again, this assignment is something you can insert right into your draft paper once you get feedback from your peers and revise it accordingly. Once you revise your thesis paragraph, Historiographical Essay (use it as your research paper’s historiography section) and your bibliography (remove the annotations and correct the bibliographic forms), you will have everything written for your paper except for your supporting points and conclusion; that means after this week 20-30% of your final paper will be pretty much done! WRTG – Formal Research Structure (umgc.edu) chapter 4
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