1. Find a topic by reading some in your textbook, on the internet, in books, anywhere. Choose a topic in which you are interested.
2. Read about the topic – in this endeavor you can use the internet as a starting point – use Wikipedia or encyclopedias if you like. Read about it in your textbook.
3. While reading on the topic, use the bibliographies to find scholarly sources – search the library’s online catalog to see if it has those sources.
4. Also use the UAH History Department’s Online source guide to find online scholarly sources (link to this is on Angel).
5. Begin taking notes if you are sure about your topic. Become as familiar with this event, person or subject as possible.
6. As you read, make observations about the subject. As an example, I will choose the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. As I read about this topic I note that some have made the claim that Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, knew about the attack before it occurred but allowed it to happen because they knew it would force the US to enter the war to help Britain and France. I choose to argue that the president and prime minister did not know about the attack.
7. Make an outline.
- I. Intro – general to specific – set the scene. Thesis: Roosevelt and Churchill did not know about the coming attack on Pearl Harbor.
- II. Events leading to December 1941
- III. The Attack – No One Saw this coming a. Eyewitnesses to Naval buildup, Japanese and American b. Naval Intelligence – what the most privy knew c. Memoirs of admirals d. Accounts of FDR, Churchill, Stimson
- IV. The Attack – disparate events a. B-29s coming b. Naval Commander suspected, but did not know
- V. Character of the Men a. Accounts of Churchill and Roosevelt b. Accounts about Churchill and Roosevelt
- VI. Conclusion
- a. Summarize facts
- b. Restate thesis and end with an all encompassing statement to wrap up the argument
In the Fall of 1941 Germany, Japan and Italy, the Axis Powers, were seemingly dominating the world. Germany had conquered France in the early summer of 1940, invaded southern Europe down to Crete through Greece and was close to victory over the Soviet Union. Italy and Germany had also invaded North Africa, threatening British holdings there and in Southeast Asia, even India. Japan was threatening the Pacific holdings of the US and was close to a thorough domination of China. Britain had defeated the Luftwaffe in the battle for that island in the Fall of 1940, but was hanging on by a thread. Meanwhile, the British and American governments were conferring about further cooperation, at least without the US entering the war outright. Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States, liked each other and were building a deeper relationship when the unthinkable occurred on 7 December 1941. Japan attacked the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor, killing over 2000 servicemen and decimating the ships sitting at dock. Some in recent years have made the claim that Churchill and Roosevelt knew about this attack and allowed it to occur to bring the US into the war, so it could help Britain not as a neutral marketplace, but instead as an ally and combatant. But when the facts of the attack are studied in true sequence, when one considers the actions of these two men before and after as well as the character each possessed, this theory falls apart. Churchill and Roosevelt had no idea that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. NOTE: Your thesis should be short, declarative and clearly stated.
9. Begin writing the follow-up supporting paragraphs – find facts to prove your thesis. Follow your outline. You can also move paragraphs around, if you think it would make the argument flow better.
10. Write the Conclusion
11. REVISE, REVISE, REVISE
- a. Eliminate extraneous words. Write in Active Voice when you can. Less is more. Read the paper out loud – helps to hear it – you can eliminate redundant words, awkward statements, etc.
- b. Make sure everything is properly cited using Chicago Manual of Style.
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