Requirements
The requirements for the course are as follows: (1) 13 TypePad posts and participation–20%; (2) a bibliography–10%; 3) an outline–10%; 4) a first draft–15% 5) a final draft–15%; 6) two critiques–10%; 7) an oral presentation–10%; and 8) a self-evaluation (1 page, typed, single-spaced) assessing your performance in the course (not graded but required.).
The Good Blog Post
Students often ask about writing a good post. Essentially, a TypePad entry should be three to four paragraphs—roughly 400-500 words or the equivalent of 1–2 double-spaced pages. You might want to draft your entry in a word processing program first and copy and paste after you have finished. Use a plain text editor, such as Notepad on a Wintel platform or Tex-Edit on a Mac, to avoid pasting in all sorts of MS Word weird characters. Although we will discuss the elements of a good post and comment post in class, these paragraphs are offered as a reference and a detailed summary of how your posts will be evaluated.
Format
Online writing and reading differs from print for a variety of reasons. Clarity is the name of the game. Each post should conform to the following format: Post number, post title, underlined or bolded thesis sentence, and space between paragraphs. Titles of books should be italicized, titles of articles or documents should put in quotation marks, and so on. Any links to comments should use the author’s name. Do not simply use a URL.
Title & Introductory Paragraph
A good post begins with a good title. A good title gets the reader’s attention immediately and sets the tone for the rest of the entry. A title, such as “Entry #1,” is not particularly effective or even informative. Since this is a class, you must number the entries so that the reader knows which assignment you are addressing. Examples might include: “#1: Topic Ideas” or “No. 8: Bibliography” You can be much more creative, but your post must have a number. And if you use a catchy title that might be confusing or ambiguous, be sure that the document title(s) is indicated in the first paragraph.
Once you’ve decided on an interesting title, the next step is framing an introductory paragraph. An introductory paragraph can take many forms, but in a short post, two strategies are usually successful: the brief anecdote or narrative or the quotation. The last sentence of the introductory paragraph should be the thesis. You should be aware that it is acceptable (and often necessary because of time constraints) to skip the introductory sentences in an essay examination question and begin immediately with a thesis statement. Since the posts for this class are more reportage than essay, creative titles and introductory paragraphs may be challenging.
Thesis
A thesis is a proposition or statement of an argument. It is not “stage direction” (e.g., “In this post I will tell you about the British and American attitudes toward pre-revolutionary activism, and then I’ll show….”). An adequate thesis is a clear, precise, declarative statement: “The British cartoon ‘Women of Edenton, North Carolina,’ suggests that the British attitude toward patriot activism was _________ and _________.” Obviously, your interpretation of the source will determine what you put in the blanks. Note, too, that this statement identifies the source. Since some of the assignments for this class call for lists, a thesis may be a stretch, so you can use your best judgment in this matter.
Content
For the purposes of this course, the content of the post fulfills the requirements of the assignment. If the assignment asks for a list, you should have a list. If an assignment asks you to comment on another student’s post, you should provide a link to the comment.
Grammar
Grammar and mechanics are important for a variety of reasons—all of them good. All your posts should be grammatically correct in all their particulars. Correctness includes spelling, punctuation, diction, and mechanics. A list of common grammar errors and suggestions for correcting can be found online in the Writing section.
Paper Critique Guidelines
Paper critiques are always difficult propositions. After all, we have spent some considerable time with one another, and the process is not really anonymous. The purpose of this exercise is simply to indicate to the writer where the paper is strong and where the paper is weak. Oftentimes it is easier to be critical of an essay than it is to be praiseworthy. A brief glance at any academic journal will demonstrate that the latter attitude prevails. Nonetheless, paper critiques in this class will begin with the good and end with the not-so-good. Having been the author of several books and critic of any number of books and manuscripts, I am convinced that it is just as easy to be the author of a bad book as it is to be the author of a good book. (Excellent books belong to another category, but that is the subject of another essay.) The same time and effort must go into a not-so-good book or essay as a good book or essay. Perhaps word processors have obviated this distinction but, at this point, I am not so sure. So—in a 1-page, single-spaced paper evaluation, concentrate on the following:
1. You must begin with the strong feature(s) of the essay.
What is good about the essay? In this regard, think about general presentation of the argument. Is there a thesis? Does the rest of the paper carry out the thesis? How does the paper fit in with what we have read, and what large question does the essay attempt to contribute to? Could you easily recap the essay in a sentence or two? Does the essay attempt to integrate the author’s findings into the current historical debates? Does the essay have a conclusion? (This is a different proposition from merely restating the thesis.)
If the argument is defective, concentrate on where the essay is strong in style, breadth of research, the imaginative use of the research materials, and in general presentation.
Finally, think about whether the essay tells a good story or not. Does the author inter-weave specific anecdotes to illustrate a point or present evidence in a convincing manner? Do these illustration pertain to the point at hand? Is the essay interesting to read?
2. End with the weak points in the essay but guide your criticisms by thinking about what improvements the author might make in his or her essay or research in line with the statements and questions outlined above.
The point of this part of the critique is not to devastate the writer but to indicate where the research might be questioned, strengthened, or extended. Do not pull any punches here, but do not be unkind or vicious—to use a nineteenth-century phrase. A university is the place where we might try our mistakes and not suffer inordinately for our thinking or for our risks. But, at the same time, the purpose of writing history, as I see it, is to publish somewhere, sometime. Otherwise, we are garret writers and nothing else; hence, the writing deserves our best critical eye. Think about how a general audience, an academic audience, or a “buff” audience might react. Above all else, is the essay interesting? What would you suggest to make it interesting or captivating? Is the essay stylistically accomplished, or would the writing be improved by re-acquaintance with a style handbook? Do mechanical errors get in the way of easy reading?
Remember: our time is limited; do not criticize an author for an “imaginary essay”—the essay the author might have written “given world enough and time” (“To His Coy Mistress”). In other words, do not criticize a writer for argument and sources beyond the author’s effort or the documents’ availability. We should be all aware at this point of what is possible and what is not. After all, in doing this kind of research, we have, to borrow from Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff, “pushed the outside of the envelope.”
3. Last but not least, assign a letter grade to the paper.
