Subject:  World War I


Date Due:  By the end of my office hours on Wednesday of the last week of regular classes.

Note well:  This does not mean on the last day of classes, much less during the reading period or on the exam day!!  Although I will read and grade late papers, failure to hand it in on time will result in a penalty.  The later the paper, the larger the penalty.  The only exceptions will be for students who inform  me in advance that they have had what I regard as a bonafide emergency, in which case they may be given an unpenalized grace period to submit the work.
 

Length:  8-10 pages; double-spaced typewritten on one side of a sheet of 81/2 x 11 inch paper

The requirements concerning length are guidelines, they are not hard-and-fast rules.  If one can do adequately handle the topic in fewer pages or can only do a good job by running somewhat over, so be it.  The critical consideration will  always be, "how good is the paper?  At the same time, please try to a maximum of ten pages as possible; remember either the TA or I has a lot of these to correct.

Title Page:

The title page should contain all of the following information:

The title of your paper (Remember, choosing a good descriptive title is an important part of writing a paper!)

Your full name, including any middle initial(s)

Your UTEID

Your College at the University of Texas

Your class standing (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)

Topic:

The paper may deal with any topic relevant to World War I.

This might be a person, a weapon, a battle, a campaign, a military tactic, a type of fortification, a kind of ship used in the conflict, document concerning military activity (for example, the Schlieffen Plan or Plan XVII), a treaty, a diplomatic incident (such as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the Balfour Declaration or the Zimmerman Telegram), war on the home fronts, the literature of the war, the role of women or minorities, an analysis of a wargame based on the conflict, etc. etc. etc.

Acceptable topics include those delving into the background to the war (just as these were considered in the course):  Otto von Bismarck, the Kaiser and his policies, military changes of the 19th century that set the stage for WW1, the Peace Movement, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, etc

 The topic you choose should be something that is of enough interest to you to spend the time to do it well.

However, one word of advice:  do not choose such a large topic that you cannot cover it adequately in 8-10 pages.  An important part of learning to write papers is learning to limit your topic.  It is always better to do a thorough and well-thought-out job on a more limited topic. Consequently, you will be judged in part on the care with which you have defined your topic.

Ideally, by the 7th week of the semester, all students should have formulated some idea, even if only tentative, and begun the writing process.

Two things can make a considerable difference in getting started:

(1)  Consultation with the professor that takes place during office hours

(2)  Examining the notes on sources placed on the website

Sources:

The paper should use and cite roughly a half dozen sources.  

 At least several of the research sources should come from places other than the web.  (Books, articles, etc.)

At least two and possibly more of these sources should be primary in nature.

No research paper should be based entirely upon secondary sources.  With only a few, fairly specific exceptions, no paper based solely on secondary sources is worth writing.

A primary source is a source more or less contemporary with the event, individual, or whatever else you have chosen to write about.  Eyewitness accounts contained in contemporary reports, diaries, or letters are good examples of primary sources.

On occasion, a student's language capacity may prove of use.  However, I do not expect you to go to sources in the original language (particularly if you do not know that language).  For most topics, there is far more than enough available in English translations. 

Therefore, in choosing a topic, a student should always start the process soon enough to allow time for exploration of the sources. 

Citation:  Footnotes or Endnotes of the sort used by historians

The use of footnotes/ endnotes is absolutely required in any good research paper.

The footnotes much be in the style used by most historians (usually referred to as the Chicago Style) , not the MLA (Modern Language Association) style. 

An excellent summary of the Chicago Style can be found in the classic student guide currently in its 7th edition::

Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Seventh Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing.

Alternatively, I have posted on the web my own guide to doing footnotes which varies slightly from the official Chicago Style:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9507/c-AllCourses-Writing11-Notation.html

Whatever guidelines you use, be thorough and consistent in your footnoting. 

Endnotes need not be counted as part of  the page limit placed on the paper.  Therefore, using them gives you a somewhat longer space in which to write your text.

Bibliography: 

A complete bibliography (list of souces) used in its preparations should be placed at the end of the paper.  This is count when reckoning the the length of the paper.

Submission:  In a soft-covered, three-ring folder of the sort displayed in class; NOT in a three-ring binder!

This folder must contain not only the title page, the full text, the endnotes, and the bibliography, but also photocopies of major sources employed in writing the paper.  

If you have made extensive use of a book or a printed article, photocopy the title page and any pages within the work that have been extensively utilized in preparing the paper

If you have used a webarticle, print down and include the entire article

Follow Instructions:

The requirements are thoroughly and clearly spelled out.  Be certain that you meet them.  Any failure to do so may result, at best, in your obtaining an incomplete for the course.  There may also be a penalty involved.  The more failure to follow instruction, the more extreme the penalty.

Avoid Plagiarism

In general, plagiarism is "stealing" another author's work. 

It can take the form of either following the wording of the source too closely, failing to give the author adequate credit for his writing/ideas, or some combination of the two. 

Writing in your own words is the best way to avoid one of the most deadly of intellectual sins.
 

An Added Suggestion from your professor (and his):

My academic mentor, J. H. Hexter, one of the twentieth century's foremost historians of the early modern period, regularly told his graduate students “your historical writing will only be as good as the questions you ask.”  This is good advice for all writers.

For example, if you are interested in doing something about airplanes, you should start from one or more questions that you wish to answer. 

What role(s) did the airplane play in World War I and what role(s) did they not fulfill?

Which were the best planes of World War I and why?

Looking at the history of several of the aces of World War I, what can you say about factors that entered into making a good pilot?

It is this answering of interesting questions rather than just a narrative of facts that makes a paper worth writing AND worth reading.

The answer(s)  that you arrive at should lead you to formulate a point of view.  The statement of that point of view, known as "the thesis statement," should come somewhere near the beginning of the paper.