Workshop Assignment #1: Historical Thinking Diagnostic Essay
Write a 3–4 page historical essay based on the documents in Shi & Mayer ch. 30 “The Second World War.”
Historical essays (we’ll call them “Workshop essays” in this course) are not summaries of the assigned primary documents. They are not “reaction papers” offering your feelings about what you’ve read. They bear little resemblance to history papers you’ve written in which you were asked to “discuss” something. So what are they?
Workshop essays are arguments,
assembled in answer to some question,
using primary historical documents as evidence.
There is more than one way to write a successful historical essay. But here’s a 1-2-3 covering the basics that will get you started. We’ll learn more in class as we go along.
1. Read the assigned documents. For general directions on how to read a primary source, see the excellent insturctions on this helpful web page from a history professor at Bowdoin College, “How To Read a Primary Source," http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/.
2. Now take a break. Make a cup of tea. Go for a run. Give yourself time to mull things over. What you need now is a question the assigned documents can answer. Ask yourself a question of historical interpretation that the documents can answer.
- A bad question: What year did WWII begin? Why is this a bad question? It doesn’t require a lot of thinking to answer, does it? Therefore, it’s not interesting.
- A good question, but difficult to answer: Which country was most responsible for Allied victory in WWII? Good question! But our documents don’t address this, do they? If you can find some that do, from the Internet perhaps, great! If they’re not bogus and you use 2–4 of them, you’ll get a point for doing your own research. But if it’s all the same to you, why not ask a question our Shi & Mayer documents can answer?
- A good question: During WWII, how well did the U.S. live up to its own ideals as set forth in the Atlantic Charter? Here’s a question our documents can answer! And since the answer is bound to be debatable, it’s an interesting question, too.
3. Now it’s time to pore over the documents. This time you’re looking for answers to your question. The conclusion you settle on will become the thesis of your paper. What you want to do in your paper is defend and explain an arguable thesis that at least partially answers your question.
- A poor thesis: The United States and its allies won WWII. (Not really arguable, is it?)
- A good thesis: The real winner of WWII was scientific barbarism. (Debatable! Hence interesting and significant.)
4. Now write your essay to provide credible reasons for believing your thesis.
- Bad: Only one reason is given; or your reasons don’t relate well to your thesis.
- Don’t do this! When you make a claim about something, you don’t quote from the documentary evidence to back up your claim.
- Good: You offer at least two relevant reasons to support your overarching thesis. You cite specific and relevant evidence from the documents to support your reasons and explain how your evidence supports your reasons.
5. Before you finish up, there’s one more thing to do. At some point in the essay, consider a claim(s) that opposes your thesis/reasons; then rebut this opposing argument with new evidence or reasoning that reinforces your original thesis. Or, just admit that the objection to your view is certainly something to think about, though it doesn’t yet change your mind, and then explain why.
6. At the end of your essay, triple space and write the question your essay claims to answer. Then write a question or two that asks for new and unknown data that would help us test the thesis you have just argued.
Still unsure what you’re being asked to write?
Check out one of the sample essays on file for our course at library reserve.
Ask a librarian at the circulation desk to see one.