History Paper Framework
Thesis Paragraph (4-5 sentences)
Thesis
Map of paper (topic sentences A, B, C)

Supporting Paragraphs
(Topic sentences should be argumentative assertions supporting your thesis.)
Topic Sentence A: Argumentative assertion A

A1. First evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion.

A2. Second evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion.

A3 Third evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion

Topic Sentence B: Argumentative assertion B

B1. First evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion.

B2. Second evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion.

B3 Third evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion

Topic Sentence C: Argumentative assertion C

C1. First evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion.

C2. Second evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion.

C3 Third evidence/examples
Discussion
Explain how evidence supports assertion

Topic Sentences: argumentative assertions that advance your thesis

Example 1

Original: Pedro Joaquin Chamorro had warned that people in the U.S. "don't even know we exist."

Comment: Statement of fact. It can't be proved or disproved.

Better: Reagan's propaganda barrage depended on the average U.S. voter's ignorance of Central America.

Example 2

Original: On May 4, 1855, William Walker and "The Immortals" set sail for Nicaragua.

Comment: Narrative (a story fact) and not arguable

Better: U.S. military intervention in Nicaragua had precedents that warned against any direct intervention.

Example 3

Original: Reagan expected the CIA to go to any lengths, including evasion and outright lies.

Comment: Arguable! However, it is promising way more argument than can be delivered in one paragraph.

Better: From the beginning, Reagan's officials lied about why arms were being provided to the Contras.

Example 4

Original: The sudden change in power forced Carter to take a closer look at the situation in Iran.

Better: The fall of the Shah revealed the shortcomings of U.S. intelligence on Iran.

Even Better: Carter's indecisiveness reflected the unreliable intelligence he received about Iran and his own frustrated awareness that the CIA did not understand what was happening in Iran."

Comment: This keeps the focus on the President and relates the paragraph topic (bad intelligence) to the main issue in the paper (Presidential decision making).

Example 5

Original: Carter's advisors assured him that U.S. relations with the Shah were good and that the Shah was a strong ruler.

Better: Carter was blinded to the coming crisis in Iran by the assurances of his advisors that the Shah was in firm control.

Even Better: Carter's key advisors, fearful of Soviet "penetration" in the Middle East, promoted the Shah as a U.S. ally and advocated support for him without regard to his standing in Iran.

Comment: Again, this last version keeps the focus on the main event, Carter's decisions, and begins the analysis of the paragraph (lacking in the original) of why the advisors were so optimistic about the Shah's staying power: he had to stay to keep the Soviets out.

Example 6

Original: Businesses became dominant in industries by using vertical and horizontal integration to control costs and run out competition.

Better: If businesses did not adapt their organizations like the railroads, controlling costs, then their businesses would either perish or not be very successful.

Even better: Once the rise of big business made the lesson of the day "organize or perish," businesses that did not use vertical or horizontal integration to control costs could not compete against giants like Carnegie Steel or Standard Oil.

Comment: The focus stays on the essay's thesis that the lesson of the day was "organize or perish." The assertion can be proved with evidence of businesses run out of business by Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil.
History Department Citation Guide

This history department requires that citations and bibliographies conform to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style. Consult the MLA Handbook for Writers and Research Papers (available in the library) or your grammar book.

MLA Documentation

Relationship between citations and works cited page: The word(s) in parenthesis should correspond with the first word(s) in the alphabetized works cited page. Usually this is the author's last name. In the absence of an author, it is the short version of the title.

Text Examples:

Essentially, the Ku Klux Klan was the militant arm of the southern Democratic Party. Their main objective was to "affect power relations . . . reverse the interlocking changes sweeping over the South . . . destroy the Republican Party's infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination" - all interests of the Democratic Party (Foner 425-426).

Scholars agree that the mass of black voters showed real courage in their persistence voting in the face of threats and violence (Foner 431; Kolchin 224).

Ulysses S. Grant described the basic practices of the Ku Klux Klan: "They had perpetrated many murders and hundreds of crimes . . . all of which were unpunished"(Grant 418).

At times African Americans fought back and in one case killed a member of the Klan, but their efforts were useless as a form of protection ("Supposed Member " 5).

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: American's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.

Grant, Ulysses S. "Special Message to the House of Representatives." 19 April 1872. Lexis-Nexis. Online. Lexis-Nexis Universe. St. Stephen's School Becker Library. 20 April 2003.

Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery, 1619-1877. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.

"A Supposed Member of the Klan Shot Dead by a Negro at Memphis." New York Times. 19 March 1868. 5. New York Times Online. Online. Proquest. St. Stephen's School Becker Library. 11 June 2003.