PAPER GUIDELINES
This assignment requires you to write a research based argumentative essay that answers
a specific question about the topic you have chosen. Questions will be proposed by the
professor in response to your topic selection.
What was the turning point in the Battle of Shiloh and why?
Format
The paper should be 7 pages long, double spaced, with all margins set to 1” and the text
formatted to a 12 point font.
Research requirements
To be considered for a grade of A, the paper should make significant use of at least seven
research sources. Four of these may be secondary sources, that is, books and articles
written by historians. (These should be published by reputable scholarly presses.
Wikipedia and non-refereed internet websites are not appropriate for a college research
paper). In addition, however, the paper should make use of at least three primary sources:
original letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, etc. which were produced during the
historical period or event you are studying. For almost any topic, there should be many
published collections of primary sources available in the library. Often you can track
down relevant primary sources by observing the sources that your secondary authors
make use of in their writing.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used whenever you are citing information from a particular book. If
you are discussing some aspect of frontier warfare in colonial New England, for instance,
and you make use of information found in Neal Salisbury’s book, Manitou & Providence,
you need to indicate that in a footnote. You can either place the footnote directly after
the sentence in which you use the information or wait until the end of the paragraph. The
footnote will consist of two parts: a superscript numeral directly at the end of the
sentence in which the cited material occurs (see the end of this sentence, for instance) and
bibliographic information about the book at the bottom of the page.1 The information
within the note at the bottom of the page should be formatted as it is in the note below.
When you cite the same author for the same work again, you can either cite it as Ibid.,2 if
it directly follows a previous citation of the same work, or as an abbreviated reference,3
since it isn’t necessary to repeat all of the bibliographic information.
1
Neal Salisbury, Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europeans, and the Making of New England, 15001643 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University press, 1982, page #.
2
Ibid., Page #.
3
Salisbury, Manitou and Providence, page #.
Quotations
You should always place a footnote after quotations, and you should generally try to
quote only from primary sources. You should only quote from secondary sources if you
are making a point about the author’s argument.
Bibliography
The bibliography is a complete list of all the books and articles that you have used (and
only those that you have actually cited) in the paper. It is placed at the end of the paper,
usually under the heading Works cited or simply Bibliography. The books should be
arranged in alphabetical order according to the first letter of the author’s last name. (See
sample bibliography below).
Books
Crane, Verner W. The Southern Frontier: 1670-1732. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1967.
Hann, John H. Apalachee: The Land Between the Rivers. Gainesville: University
of Florida press, 1988.
Articles
Fairbanks, Charles. “Excavations at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama.” The Florida
Anthropologist 25 (1962): 41-56.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s writing. Students who simply copy text directly
from a book or article or internet site into their own paper and pretend that it is their own
work are committing plagiarism. Students who rearrange sentences from a paragraph
copied from a book or article are still committing plagiarism. Placing a footnote after
copied text, moreover, does not transform it into your own writing. Sentences that you
feel are absolutely vital to your argument may be placed in the text as Quotations.
Similarly, students who routinely copy text from a book or article and simply change
certain adjectives or prepositions are committing plagiarism. Information from research
sources should be used as the basis for original thinking and original writing. It should
not be viewed as a reservoir of material for cutting and pasting. The penalty for
plagiarism is an automatic failing grade for the assignment and possible course failure.
PAPER GUIDELINES
This assignment requires you to write a research based argumentative essay that
answers a specific question about the topic you have chosen. Questions will be
proposed by the professor in response to your topic selection.
What was the turning point in the Battle of Shiloh and why?
Format
The paper should be 7 pages long, double spaced, with all margins set to 1” and the text
formatted to a 12 point font.
Research requirements
To be considered for a grade of A, the paper should make significant use of at least
seven research sources. Four of these may be secondary sources, that is, books
and articles written by historians. (These should be published by reputable scholarly
presses. Wikipedia and non-refereed internet websites are not appropriate for a college
research paper). In addition, however, the paper should make use of at least three
primary sources: original letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, etc. which were produced
during the historical period or event you are studying. For almost any topic, there should
be many published collections of primary sources available in the library. Often you can
track down relevant primary sources by observing the sources that your secondary
authors make use of in their writing.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used whenever you are citing information from a particular book. If
you are discussing some aspect of frontier warfare in colonial New England, for instance,
and you make use of information found in Neal Salisbury’s book, Manitou & Providence,
you need to indicate that in a footnote. You can either place the footnote directly after
the sentence in which you use the information or wait until the end of the paragraph. The
footnote will consist of two parts: a superscript numeral directly at the end of the
sentence in which the cited material occurs (see the end of this sentence, for instance) and
bibliographic information about the book at the bottom of the page.1 The information
within the note at the bottom of the page should be formatted as it is in the note below.
When you cite the same author for the same work again, you can either cite it as Ibid.,2 if
1
Neal Salisbury, Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europeans, and the Making of New England, 15001643 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University press, 1982, page #.
2
Ibid., Page #.
it directly follows a previous citation of the same work, or as an abbreviated reference,3
since it isn’t necessary to repeat all of the bibliographic information.
Quotations
You should always place a footnote after quotations, and you should generally try to
quote only from primary sources. You should only quote from secondary sources if you
are making a point about the author’s argument.
Bibliography
The bibliography is a complete list of all the books and articles that you have used (and
only those that you have actually cited) in the paper. It is placed at the end of the paper,
usually under the heading Works cited or simply Bibliography. The books should be
arranged in alphabetical order according to the first letter of the author’s last name. (See
sample bibliography below).
Books
Crane, Verner W. The Southern Frontier: 1670-1732. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1967.
Hann, John H. Apalachee: The Land Between the Rivers. Gainesville: University
of Florida press, 1988.
Articles
Fairbanks, Charles. “Excavations at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama.” The Florida
Anthropologist 25 (1962): 41-56.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s writing. Students who simply copy text directly
from a book or article or internet site into their own paper and pretend that it is their own
work are committing plagiarism. Students who rearrange sentences from a paragraph
copied from a book or article are still committing plagiarism. Placing a footnote after
copied text, moreover, does not transform it into your own writing. Sentences that you
feel are absolutely vital to your argument may be placed in the text as Quotations.
Similarly, students who routinely copy text from a book or article and simply change
certain adjectives or prepositions are committing plagiarism. Information from research
sources should be used as the basis for original thinking and original writing. It should
not be viewed as a reservoir of material for cutting and pasting. The penalty for
plagiarism is an automatic failing grade for the assignment and possible course failure.
3
Salisbury, Manitou and Providence, page #.