Research Paper Reminders

1. Research Paper Reminders Due Nov. 14

2. Formatting • Footnotes • Title Page • Page Numbers • Capital letters are only for proper nouns: Civil War v. American soldier • Film Titles in Chicago Style? • Remember we’re doing Chicago Style. When in doubt, check your Hacker!

3. This is a formal paper • Grammar and mechanics count • Refer to figures by their last names (especially sources you quote and historical figures) • Use an academic style and tone • If you need help with your writing, please go to the Visor Center.

4. Big Picture issues • If you’re writing about the past, write in past tense. • Write about films in present tense. • Be careful to differentiate between the film and history. Sometimes, it’s tough to tell whether you’re narrating the plot line of the film or the timeline of history. • Introductions—consider your scope. Don’t start with the dawn of time; just get the reader into the paper. • Information requires a source; if you don’t cite, you’re plagiarizing. • This is a historical research paper. You need historical research. If your only sources are film reviews, you’re in trouble. • Film summary should be strategic; if you find yourself just writing about the plot, you’re not doing the assignment.

5. Our assignment requires • An argument • Historical research • Both parts—info about your memorial’s relationship to war and how and why your memorial is culturally significant and effective • Researched information that is: • Introduced • Shared • Cited • Explained • Every time you make a point, your reader shouldn’t have to ask, “So what?” You should explain! • Every time you make a point, it should be related to one of the two parts of the assignment.

6. For this assignment • There’s a built-in logic. • In choosing a film or museum that acts as a memorial to war, you’re already asserting that thing is a memorial • That means you need to explain this process by addressing the film or museum’s relationship to that war. • In choosing this film or museum as a memorial, you’re already asserting that it’s culturally significant and effective (or not, as the case may be) • That means you need to spend time explaining how and why when you write about it. And this requires examples.

7. Arguments • Need to be debatable. • I can’t write an argument about the fact that Abraham Lincoln was an American president. That’s a fact. It’s not up for debate. • I can write an argument about what kind of president Lincoln was. I can say he was a “good” or “bad” president, and, either way, people will be able to agree or disagree with me. • If I really want to make an argument, though, I’ll say something about how and why Lincoln was either a good or bad president.

8. A good argument • If I want to write a really good thesis, I can say something like: • Abraham Lincoln was an excellent president because he steered the people of America through the difficult times of the Civil War, continuously fighting to unite the nation despite the very fundamental differences that split the North and South. • This argument, encapsulated in a one-sentence thesis, sets up my reader to be ready to hear the following: • How and why Lincoln was an excellent president • Lincoln’s connections to the Civil War and that time in American history • Lincoln’s work to unite the nation • An examination of the fundamental differences that split the North and South in the 1860s during the Civil War