Writing Instructions and Formatting / Citation RequirementsWriting Instructions and Formatting / Citation Requirements
For the Primary Document Analysis (PDA) papers this semester, you will select a single document or specified group of documents from the documents provided within each Unit’s PDA Assignment page. After reading your selected document please submit a written essay that:
1. Addresses the stated writing prompt(s) associated with the specific PDA assignment and selected documents.
2. Exceeds the stated MINIMUM length requirement for the associated writing prompt(s).
The Writing Assignments for this course should be written and submitted with the following formatting rules:
1. The essays should be Double-Spaced and written in Times New Roman font with a point size of 12.
2. The top, bottom, left, and right margins should all be the standard 1″ in size.
3. The single-spaced header on the first page should include your Name and Document # from which your analysis is drawn. There is no need for a header on any
subsequent page. There is also no need for a Title. Please be aware that if you should decide to include in your submission a Title that this will not be
counted towards your minimum length requirement.
4. You will be penalized for any submission that does not meet the stated minimum length requirement.
5. Because of the short length of these assignments, please avoid directly quoting the document unless it is absolutely essential to your argument. Instead, briefly
paraphrase the passage(s) and focus instead upon providing your analysis and supporting your argumentation.
6. There is no need to provide a citation for the single document you are analyzing. However, if you have used outside sources beyond the document provided,
please include citations using the MLA Format. This will include in-text citations and a Works Cited Page. The Works Cited Page should be on a separate page at
the conclusion of your essay and will not count towards the minimum length requirement.
If you need any help with the above formatting guidelines or citing your sources, please do not hesitate to email me. A very good online resource for any
college-level writing assignment is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).The following URL will lead you directly to their pages related to MLA citations: Click Here
Finally, there should be no excuses for attempting to use the ideas and/or words of any of your sources and attempting to pass them off as your own. Plagiarism
will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Simply citing your source(s) does not give you permission to copy them word-for-word unless they are being directly
quoted and placed in quotation marks. Even attempting to adjust the sentence structure or altering a couple of words in a source will not absolve you of charges of
plagiarism. The skill of paraphrasing (or putting a source’s words or ideas into your own words) is not a simple one to acquire. The Purdue OWL provides some
helpful hints and exercises to work on this: Click Here
The trick with paraphrasing is avoiding the words and phrases of your source(s) as much as possible. The best technique I have learned is to read your source and
then either close the book or minimize the website. Think about what you read and how it makes sense to you and the argument(s) you are trying to make. Next,
without the help of the open book or visible website, write the information down in your paper. It will probably not sound as good or be as polished as the original
source, but hopefully it will actually be your own thoughts about the chosen topic. The purpose of these Unit Essays is for you to think deeper about a topic of your
choosing and provide me with your own thoughts on the matter. Outside research is certainly acceptable. However, I am interested in what YOU think and not what
others have said about the questions/issues being addressed.
Once again, please email me with any questions that you may have and I look forward to reading your original words and ideas this semester.
Document Set #1: Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (1905)
This document sheds an unfiltered light on politics in the Gilded Age by detailing the famous / infamous career of a New York City politician. Plunkitt’s views provide
a window into this era and the fundamental transformations reshaping the country and redefining what it meant to be an American.
Answer the following three (3) questions in an essay a MINIMUM length of Two (2) FULL Pages.
1. What does this document reveal about the nature of American politics in the Gilded Age? Please be specific.
2. What major aspects of Mr. Plunkitt’s approach to politics do you approve of and/or disapprove of? Why? Please be specific.
3. Are there parallels with this primary document from the early 1900s and the nature of politics and role of politicians in modern society today? In what specific ways?
Please remember to use specific evidence from these documents to support your arguments.
A note about Minimum Length Requirements
Please be aware that the associated page length requirement stated in the writing prompt for these PDA Assignments is merely a MINIMUM one and the expectation is
that you will do more work in this course than simply the bare minimum. The historical subjects and events covered by these documents
should provide you with enough material to never have to be concerned with having too little to write about. In my history courses, there is never such a thing as a maximum
length limit. Consequently, please refer to the grading rubric for this assignment to understand the point penalties for not clearly exceeding the minimum length requirement.
