History Essay Final Checklist

FORMATTING

o You have double-spaced your essay and used 12-point Times New Roman font

o You have page numbers at the top right of each page

o You have a title page which meets South Carleton’s documentation guide requirements: Essay title, Essay topic, Submitted by, Submitted to, Date, Class code o You have included a bibliography at the end of your paper, in proper MLA format, with the sources organized alphabetically EDITING

o You have edited/proofread your essay for spelling, grammar, punctuation, proper spacing

o You have indented the beginning of each new paragraph

o You did not write in the first or second person (e.g. I, me, we, you, yours, etc.), and you only wrote in the third person and in a tone of objectivity (e.g. he, she, it, them, etc.)

o You did not put any abbreviations or symbols in your essay (e.g. #, etc, fyi, $)

o All numbers in your essay are written out in word form, with the exception of dates

o Ensure that you have spelt the names of historical places and people correctly

o You never use the phrases “this essay will prove”, “I believe”, “In my opinion” – this essay should be OBJECTIVE, meaning it should only involve facts and not your personal opinion. Also, we know that it is an essay and there is no need to tell us so o You have cited all of your information and included it in the bibliography

o You have no colloquial language or slang in your essay

o Do your best to avoid repetition in your language choice and content. Use a thesaurus if you find that you are often and noticeably repeating words in your essay CONTENT

o You have (at least) 5 strong and distinct paragraphs

o Your introductory and conclusion paragraphs contain your thesis, and your body paragraphs connect back to your thesis in some way o Your body paragraphs contain 2-3 (or more) facts that support your thesis – your essay is nothing without facts to back up your argument!

o Your strongest argument is in your first body paragraph, your second strongest in the second paragraph, etc

o You have followed the proper structure of a formal 5 paragraph history essay (as outlined on the flip-side of this page) Formal 5 Paragraph History Essay Format

Paragraph 1: Introduction - Hook/Lead: A general statement about life, society, people, etc. that relates to your topic in someway and draws the reader into your essay - Introduce Topic: Relating to your hook, introduce the topic of your essay and provide some context of the time/location/historical figures that you will be discussing - Plan of Development: Outline the three main arguments that you will be making in your essay – one in each of your body paragraphs – in the exact order that your body paragraphs will be written in the essay - Thesis: The main argument of your essay which you will be referring to and proving throughout the essay

Paragraphs 2-4: Body Paragraphs - Topic Sentence: Connects the subject of that body paragraph to your thesis and introduces the contents of the body paragraph - Your Evidence/Facts (2-3 per body paragraph):  Set up your fact by providing context, extra information, etc. that introduces your information  State your fact and provide examples for it if possible, based on your research  Comment on your fact and relate it back to your thesis in some way - Concluding Statement: This sums up the findings and conclusions that you made in your body paragraph, and discusses how it helps to prove your thesis

Paragraph 5: Conclusion - Restatement of Thesis: This paragraph begins with your thesis, but put the main ideas of it into different words, so as to avoid repetition

- Restatement of Plan of Development: Keeping the same order as in the introduction, restate the three key points of your three body paragraphs, discussing how each helped to prove the essay in some way

- Concluding Statement: A generalized conclusion that you drew from your essay that relates in some way to your topic. It is ideal that your hook and your concluding statement correspond in some manner