RESEARCH PAPER: The Thesis

1. Historical & Current Event What is the SPECIFIC historical event? What is the SPECFIC current event? An era or movement is NOT specific enough; you need to identify/reference a specific event within the time period. Make sure your thesis is narrow, qualified and does not claim too much. If it’s too broad, you won’t be able to prove it. Without identifying a SPECIFIC historical and current event, you have not adhered to the parameters of the assignment.

2. Identifying the Relationship What is the relationship between the past and present event? What are the similarities/differences between these events? In order to formulate a successful argument, the thesis must identify a common link, trend and/or theme between the past and the present.

3. Significance of Relationship? What is meaningful and unique about this specific relationship? What is the CAUSATIVE relationship? (Identifying correlation is not sufficient.) In order to achieve novelty, your thesis must address the HOW & Why of the relationship. Your RESEARCH paper is not intended to be a book report. If you aren’t answering a new question or providing a new answer to a previously asked question, what’s the point?

Example #1 In a nation that preaches diversity and freedom of speech, race has long been a troubled subject. Although the United States was founded as a nation of immigrants, history teaches us that newly assimilating immigrants have often faced persecution, racism and nativist sentiment. Soon after the Chinese immigration of the 1850s, a widespread and conspicuously racist anti-Chinese backlash developed in America. Today, however, such candidly racist material has almost disappeared from public discourse. Although this new era of color-blind speech suggest a more accepting, less racist American society, the truth is that racism is still strong and has merely been relegated to new avenues of expression, such as the internet. Thus, while the current public debate over illegal immigration focuses on economic and pragmatic concerns of the American people, the internet reveals that privately many Americans still hold blatantly racists views and use speech very similar to the anti-Chinese rhetoric of the 19 th century.

Example #2 Mark Twain once said, “A lie can go halfway around the world before the truth even gets its boots on.” When the Al- Queda terrorist group attacked the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001, why did the Bush Administration support the idea that Al-Queda was linked to Saddam Hussein and Iraq when intelligence reports continually disproved this? In the Gulf of Tonkin, when the crew on the U.S.S. Maddox claimed they were attacked by North Vietnamese ships, why did the Johnson Administration agree with the story even though it was proved to be false? American Presidents use the publics post-crisis emotions and misinformation about event to their advantage in order to gain support and rationale for entering wars.

Thesis RUBRIC Specificity: Is your thesis specific and qualified? Does your thesis have a narrow focus? Did you clearly identify your historical and current event? Novelty: Does your thesis answer a question which has never been asked before? Did you provide a different answer to a question that has already been asked? Does your thesis take a clear stance/position? Does it make a clear argument? Did you employ complex sentence construction to convey the tension/complexity in your argument?

Thesis RUBRIC (cont.) Clarity: Is your thesis clear? Is this the best sentence you have ever written? Syntax? Diction? Run-on? Research: Did you submit a Works Cited page with at least 10 sources (at least 2 of which were primary sources)? Is your Works Cited page in MLA format? Did you submit an additional 10 pages of research?