In this assignment you will write an essay based upon both primary and secondary materials found in
Unit 3. You will upload the assignment through the link at the bottom of this page. Worth up to 100
points, or one letter grade (10%) of your semester grade.
This assignment should use the Rule of Three format and use modified Turabian citations (module style).
No outside materials – everything you need can be found in the assigned materials.
You may complete the worksheet below for up to 10 points of extra credit. This worksheet should be
combined into one file with your essay and uploaded into blackboard.
Details: 2-3 pages, double spaced, 12 pt type, 1 inch margins. Grammar, logic, and clarity count.
Specific and detailed evidence required.
Assignment Prompt
In this assignment I want you to take on the persona of someone born in 1920. Be sure to briefly
explain who you are (social status/profession) and where you live. Choose to be a member of one of the
groups listed in the Discussion 3 assignment.
You have lived through a turbulent period in American history and are a member of what will later be
called “the greatest generation.” Your childhood was during the Roaring Twenties, you were a teenager
in the Great Depression and came of age during WWII. You are now a 30-something living in the 1950s.
Your oldest child (one of the first of the baby-boomer generation) has asked you to tell him the story
of your life, what it was like for you and your segment of society “in the old days.” You decide to
write him an essay which you hope he will keep and pass down to future generations. In this essay you
want to give him a sense of how things changed over time for you and your segment of society. You will
discuss social, political, and economic changes that you lived through (1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s)
and discuss whether or not you believe things became better, worse, or stayed the same for you and your
group. You will also want to give him a sense of the history you lived through, so put these changes
into their historical context by making reference to specific events, people, laws, etc.
Be sure to use the Rule of Three in this assignment. You should have an intro with thesis statement,
at least three paragraphs in the body (one old for each point of the thesis) and a conclusion. The
best way to organize is to use political, economic, and social as your thesis points.
This essay should be a minimum of 5 paragraphs long. The first paragraph is your introduction with
thesis statement. The second through fourth paragraphs (the body) will discuss social, economic, and
political reforms (you should organize in this way, minimum of one paragraph on economic, one paragraph
on social, and one on political). Each paragraph of the body must have its own thesis statement and
there should be at least three pieces of evidence (properly cited in Turabian format) in support (the
“rule of three” for analytical writing). The last paragraph is the conclusion.
You will be using modified Turabian FOOTNOTES in this assignment. You must provide the footnote,
including locating information, for each of your three pieces of evidence per body paragraph (so a
minimum of 9 footnotes required).
THE “RULE OF THREE”
You will need to use an analytical writing style in this class. The basic form of analytical writing
utilizes the “Rule of Three.” Simply, there should be at least three key points/pieces of evidence in
a piece of writing introduced by a strong clear thesis.
This is a 2-3 page essay length assignment. Your paper should begin with an Introduction which sets
the prompt in the historical context, the LAST sentence of the intro paragraph is the thesis statement
which lists the (minimum of) three points (X,Y,Z) that will be more fully developed in the paper. The
first paragraph of the body (paragraph 2) would discuss key point X (this paragraph would have its own
thesis as the first sentence, followed by three pieces of evidence/analysis in support), then a
paragraph on Y, and finally one on Z. An essay ends with a conclusion paragraph – which sums up the
argument you made and ties X, Y, and Z together. The conclusion is NOT the place to introduce new
arguments or evidence.
Another way of thinking about it is that an essay is comprised of three paragraphs in the body of
similar composition to the one paragraph you wrote in the Reaction 1 exercise.
So Rule of Three means three key points in a thesis, a body with three paragraphs (one for each of your
key points), each paragraph has a thesis supported by three key pieces of evidence. Followed by a
conclusion.
Important notes
All information you need to respond to the prompt is contained within the materials assigned in the
1312 course module. I want you to react to the assigned materials. DO NOT DO OUTSIDE RESEARCH or seek
your answer on the internet.
I also want to know what YOU think, therefore DO NOT DIRECTLY QUOTE SECONDARY SOURCE MATERIALS. Most
students use quotes as fillers, this is unacceptable in a college history course and does not reflect
upon YOUR understanding of the topic at hand. The only acceptable use of a quote is a short (phrase or
sentence) quotation from a primary source document (properly identified and cited) that you immediately
discuss and is part of your analysis.
PRIMARY SOURCE = Something produced in the historical era under study
SECONDARY SOURCE = Something produced at a later date. A history textbook, a documentary film, etc.
How the Assignment is Graded
The assignment is worth up to 100 points. The following factors are taken into account when I grade:
THESIS – Do you have a well thought out and clear thesis?
EVIDENCE – You must have solid evidence for each point you raise in the thesis. Evidence is not simply
a statement, there must be an explanation of how that evidence supports the thesis statement. You must
provide a MINIMUM of THREE pieces of evidence in support of your argument.
Example: If you were writing a paragraph on the causes of the Cold War, you might use the Baruch Plan
as an example. Simply writing “the Baruch Plan was a cause of the Cold War” in your paragraph would
not be enough to earn a point. However, the following sentences would earn a point:
“One cause of the Cold War was the failure of the United States and the Soviet Union to agree upon a
plan for nuclear disarmament after World War II. The Baruch Plan, presented by the US, would maintain
the American atomic weapon advantage for the foreseeable future. This played into Stalin’s suspicions
of the Americans’ true motivations toward the USSR.”
You should have a minimum of three pieces of evidence in support of your thesis (each point of the
thesis needs at least one piece of evidence in support). There are three possible points here, one for
each piece of evidence.
HISTORICAL ACCURACY, CLARITY, AND LOGIC
Is your argument clear and does it make sense? Is it historically accurate? Does your evidence prove
your point?
PROPER CITATION
Have you properly cited? Have you used the format required in this course (modified Turabian). You
must also FOOTNOTE (see information about creating a footnote in Word given at the beginning of the
course). Parenthetical cites are NOT allowed. No research allowed, so no outside sources.
Website to get information (Please use the only information provided, no outside resources) Use as many
as needed per the information provided.