U.S. History to 1865 Professor Barth MIDTERM PAPER For your midterm exam,

U.S. History to 1865 Professor Barth MIDTERM PAPER For your midterm exam,

you will write a 4-6 page book review on Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different, by Gordon Wood. A book review is a description, critical analysis, and evaluation on the quality, meaning, and significance of a book. A book review is far more than simply a summary. A book review analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of a book, and evaluates how well the author has succeeded in defending his or her main argument. A book review does not need to contain every single piece of information or mini-argument contained within the actual book itself. It simply needs to provide enough information to help the reader decide whether he or she would like to read the book. Therefore, your review must take a position on the book. Would you recommend it? Why or why not? What type of reader would you recommend it to? Were you convinced by the author’s main argument? Why or why not? Be specific. Provide a few examples that stuck out to you in particular. There is no single correct opinion of the book. If you dislike the book, please feel free to say so in your review. If you have merely an average opinion of it, again, say so. So long as you defend your position in a reasonable and adequate manner, you will assuredly score high on the paper. There is also no single correct way to write a book review. You may decide to describe the author’s main argument on the first two pages and then evaluate the effectiveness of the book on the last three pages. Or you may decide to interweave your evaluation of the book’s effectiveness in the same paragraphs that you describe the author’s thesis. This is up to you. As a general rule, however, the format of your review should include: [1] an introduction (a one- or two-sentence broad description of the book’s argument, as well as an additional sentence that hints to the reader how you feel about the book); [2] body paragraphs (the meat of the paper); [3] and a conclusion (three or four sentences, bringing the main thesis of the book back into final focus and concluding with a statement about the overall effectiveness of the book). Things to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of the book (you need not address all of these questions – these are just a few hints): has the book achieved its goal? Is the book coherent? Is it wellorganized? What about the style of writing? Has the author omitted any topics or information that may have strengthened the book? What specific points are most convincing? What specific points are least convincing? Was there anything frustrating about the book? WRITING YOUR PAPER: THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS Please study these commandments carefully and follow them faithfully when writing your essay: 1. Do not merely summarize the book. 2. Write simply and directly. Proofread your work carefuly. Your spelling and grammar ought to be impeccable. This means that your paper should have no sentence fragments and no run-on sentences. Avoid long convoluted sentences. Do not use many words when a few will suffice. Do not use words you do not understand. Do not use contractions (don’t, won’t, etc.). As a rule – when writing about histo rical events – it is best to write in the past tense. Do not wander from the past tense to the present tense and back to the past tense again. Murky prose, bad grammar, and consistently poor spelling will lower your grade. 3. Avoid grandiose language. You do not need to impress us with your vocabulary. Simply review the book and get to the point. Do not write a long introductory paragraph. 4. Avoid the passive voice. For example, “many people believed” is far more compelling and direct than “It was believed by many people.” Avoid the phrase “considered to be.” If, for example, you write, “Gordon Wood is considered to be an economic historian,” you are suggesting that he may not be an historian. You are also raising the inevitable question, “Considered by whom?” If Wood is an historian, simply say so and move on. 5. Avoid long quotations. It is perfectly acceptable, though not required, to include some minimal quotations in your paper. But it is not acceptable to quote long blocks of material from the book. This demonstrates laziness on the part of you, the writer. Only quote material that supports your argument and make sure that you make it clear why the quotation is relevant. 6. Your paper must be in your own words and you must cite any outside sources. Of course, we expect you to paraphrase ideas from the book when appropriate, but when you do use someone else’s words or ideas, you must cite your source. That way, credit is given where credit is due. You do not, however, need to cite your lecture notes. When citing a specific example from the text, you may use in-text citations. At the end of the sentence, in parantheses, cite the last name of the author and the page number, e.g., (Wood 39). You do not need a works cited page or bibliography unless you cite another book besides Wood. You do not need to cite any other books besides Ferguson, but if you choose to, please attach a works cited page to the end of the paper. Plagiarism, the use of another’s words with intent to deceive, is a serious offense. If you plagiarize, you will receive an automatic zero on your paper. No exceptions. 7. Use a standard font and standard margins, and staple your paper together. Your paper should be printed in a 12-point, standard font (Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, etc.), printed on one side of each page, double-spaced throughout, with no extra spaces between paragraphs, and with one-inch margins. Your paper must be stapled together. Your essay is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, March 16th. If you submit your paper after that date, there will be a penalty of 5 points for each day it is late unless you have a documented excuse. Please note that we will not accept papers submitted by email alone. If your paper is late and you send it by email, you must make arrangements to submit a hard copy as soon as possible. SUBMITTING DRAFTS You may email a draft of your midterm paper if you would like for us to review it. Should you decide to do so, please keep the following points in mind: 1. You may submit a draft only once. 2. To insure that we have time to respond thoughtfully to your draft, you must send it by 6:00 PM on Friday, March 11th. You may, of course, send questions at any time. 3. Although we are happy to offer advice, we will not write your paper for you. It is up to you to apply our suggestions as you revise your work.

RUBRIC

 

Name ___________________________________                            Grade / 100 ________________

 

	Excellent	Good	Average	Poor	—-
Clarity, Organization, and Grammar
Identifies the main thesis of the book
Takes a well-supported position on the book
Uses sufficient examples and evidence
Uses sufficient examples and evidence

 

 

 

Excellent:  19 pts – Good:  17 pts – Average: 15 pts – Poor: 13 pts

 

 

Clarity, Organization, and Grammar

Excellent:   paper is exceptionally well-organized, with clearly composed transition sentences, body paragraphs, and a highly effective introduction and conclusion. Few to no spelling or grammatical errors. Meets the four page minimum.

Good:  paper is reasonably well-organized, with all the main structural components – introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion – reasonably well composed. Some spelling or grammatical mistakes, but nothing unusually or exceptionally damaging to the paper as a whole. Meets the four page minimum.

Average:  paper includes a basic organization of major structural components – introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion – but the general direction of the paper is either disconnected or not entirely clear. Spelling or grammatical mistakes may also be particularly acute. Number of pages might fall shy of four pages, though over three pages.

Poor:  little to no organization to the paper; only consists of three or fewer pages. May also include unusually serious writing errors.

 

 

Identifies the main thesis of the book

Excellent:  clearly identifies the thesis of the book in the opening paragraph, and identifies it correctly and comprehensively.

Good:  clearly identifies the thesis of the book in the opening paragraph, but possibly misses a key component of the book’s main argument.

Average:  identifies the thesis of the book – perhaps not in the opening paragraph, but eventually in the paper – but misses key components of the book’s main argument.

Poor:  student does not clearly identify the thesis of the book anywhere in the paper.

 

Takes a well-supported position on the book

Excellent:  student stakes out a clear position on the book – whether positive, negative, or a mixture of both – and defends this position exceptionally well throughout the paper.

Good:  student stakes out a clear position on the book – whether positive, negative, or a mixture of both – and defends it reasonably well, but not as convincingly as could have been possible.

Average:  the student’s position on the book is not entirely clear, or not directly stated, but the paper includes a general idea of what the student thought of the book, including a reasonable defense of that general position.

Poor:  student takes little to no position on the book, except perhaps a few sentences, with little to nothing to back it up.

 

Uses sufficient examples and evidence

Excellent:  student effectively incorporates into the paper a wide range of specific examples from the book – and not simply from one or two parts of the book, but examples dispersed throughout most parts of the book. Student sufficiently and adequately demonstrates that he or she read and understood the book in its entirety.

Good:  student incorporates abundant examples and evidence from the book, but focuses primarily on a few main sections, without much acknowledgeent of anything else beyond that.

Average:  paper does not contain many explicit examples from the book, but only broadly references a few aspects of the book without any real specifics.

Poor:  paper contains little to no examples from the book, and only rarely even broadly references various aspects of the book.

 

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