Objectives:
- Design the structure that will contextualize and support your senior thesis. (The outline is the structure.)
- Collaborate with your peers to strengthen your outline and theirs.
Deliverables:
- Initial Post
- Two Peer Responses
I want this to be a very straightforward assignment so that the focus is on your figuring out how you are going to organize your paper rather than a discussion about different form of outlines. Because of that, I want you to take the below outline and fill in the blanks. Once you have done that, you should have a good road map for writing your paper.
Outlines are just a guide. You can change them as you go, so don't worry about your outline being exactly the way your final paper will turn out. When writing you might figure out that supporting point A would be better going after supporting point B (so just change the order).
📌 Initial Post: Take the below outline and fill in the blanks. Provide at least three major points and sub-points to them. Post your outline here.
Basic Outline Form:
- Thesis Paragraph (this should be no longer than one page) If you include this paragraph, I'll give you feedback on it.
- Historiography Section (this is your revised Historiographical Essay)
- Methodological Paragraph (this is the paragraph that comes right after your historiography section in which you explain what is "new" about your paper. You should highlight how your argument is different from what other historians have argued or how your focus is different. You should also state what historical approach you are using in your paper (remember that a field of history like military history is not a historical approach). If you include this paragraph, I'll give you feedback on it, which was very helpful to students last semester.
- Supporting Point 1 (fill in this blank)
A. (fill in this blank)
B. (fill in this blank)
C. (fill in this blank)
V. Supporting Point 1 (fill in this blank)
A. (fill in this blank)
B. (fill in this blank)
C. (fill in this blank)
VI. Supporting Point 1 (fill in this blank)
A. (fill in this blank)
B. (fill in this blank)
C. (fill in this blank) (The paper will need at least three major supporting points, but you may add more. Likewise you can go beyond "C" in your sup-points for each supporting point.)
VII. Conclusion
VIII. Endnotes
IX. Bibliography (take your annotated bibliography and edit out the annotations to make this a regular bibliography. Use the heading "Works Cited" for this page (centered on the top of the page). Only include sources that you actually cite in your paper in your bibliography.
The following from the syllabus may be helpful.
You will prepare an outline that accounts for all of the basic sections of your final paper. In brief, your final paper will consist of the following sections:
- an introduction
- a body
- a conclusion
Anticipate your introduction to contain an opening paragraph with your overall thesis statement (about 1 page), a revised version of your survey of secondary sources paper (4-8 pages), and a summary of your writing methodology (about 1 page).
The main body of the paper should be 2,500 to 4,000 words in length (about 10 to 15 pages, or 15 to 25 paragraphs). It should lay out your argument in logical order and match your points to supporting evidence. The body may be divided into subsections.
The conclusion should be 300 to 500 words in length (about 1 or 2 pages, or one to three paragraphs), and reiterate the argument of your paper.