OVERVIEW
Stage III: Analyze and Argue
This is the final stage of your mini research project this semester. It is where you will put together all of your work so far and provide an answer to your research question, based upon the sources you chose in Stage II. Are your sources up to the task? We’ll find out!
Be sure to follow the instructions below carefully. (Note that you will not be writing a formal research paper. Instead, you will merely address the prompts in the provided template as you did in the first two stages).
INSTRUCTIONS
Read the information below on and conduct the research necessary to posit a plausible and solid historical argument in response to the research question you created.
Respond to the prompts using the provided template
. Submit your completed template to receive credit.
Analysis
Analysis is the most important tool a historian has. It allows us to take raw data and turn it into something meaningful. It requires an understanding of the historical context, the creators of our sources, and a significant amount of critical thinking.
For this assignment, you will conduct basic analysis on your historical sources. Essentially, this simply means asking: How does this source help to answer my historical research question? Answers can be unexpected at times, so approach your source with an open mind.
Analysis requires not just offering a piece of evidence but framing it and clearly explaining how that evidence supports your historical argument. You’ll do this in the template by providing direct quotations for each of your sources and explaining how they support your thesis/argument.
Argument
An argument or, commonly, a thesis statement is a historian’s answer to their research question. It is considered a “thesis” or “argument” precisely because it needs to be proven and may be open to opposition from someone else with a different point of view or a different set of evidence.
As such, your historical argument should be provable and manageable (within the limitations of your sources). It should not make any big claims that you cannot support with the available evidence. Yet, it should also be confident and strongly worded. It should have a clear point of view. It should take a stand.
In other words, your argument ought to have something meaningful to say. Rather than a summary of “what happened,” this is where you’ll make a declaration about the precise nature of the “cause and effect” relationship about which your research question asked. It is where you decisively say why or how the event you are studying occurred in the specific way that it did.
Crafting an Argument: Examples/Advice
- Your argument should be concise but specific. For instance, you do not want it to be so broad as to be meaningless, but you also don’t want to get “into the weeds” or details of all the reasons your argument is correct (that’s the responsibility of the rest of your work).
- Below are a few potential answers to the sample question from Stage II, “How did France’s support impact the American Revolution?
- Good example: The money and naval support provided by France bolstered the Americans’ fledgling war effort, ensuring their victory over the British.
- Note that the language of this argument corresponds directly to the question, mirroring the names of those involved. It provides specifics without getting bogged down. It uses strong language “ensuring… victory” to demonstrate the historical significance of the argument.
- Okay example: France’s most important impact on the American Revolution was not guns or money but the boost it gave to the America’ s fledgling morale.
- In this thesis statement, the author acknowledges that “morale” was not the only impact but strongly asserts that it was “most important.” It is clear and relatively concise. Yet, it might benefit by being a bit more direct, placing the central argument at the forefront and avoiding the negative, i.e. France’s most important impact on the American Revolution was the boost their support gave to American morale. It also does not directly address the question or mirror its language. The question never asked what the “most important” impact was. It can generally be tricky to prove qualitative assessments, i.e. what was “most” and “least” important in shaping history. If you avoided such value judgements in your question, as you were advised in Stage II, then don’t try to insert them into your argument.
- Not-as-good example: France’s support was essential to American success during the Revolution.
- This thesis is okay, but entirely too vague – to the point it is virtually meaningless. Avoid words like “essential” unless you can explain how it was essential. “Success” is likewise vague. Contrast it with the first question, which states what success actually meant (“victory over the British”).
- For more, please see this resource from the Department of History at the University of WisconsinLinks to an external site. (one of the top history departments in the country).
- Good example: The money and naval support provided by France bolstered the Americans’ fledgling war effort, ensuring their victory over the British.
Once you’ve read the above information, please complete and submit the provided template.
Grading Criteria/Rubric
- Each prompt is accurately and fully addressed, according to the instructions.
- At least one direct quote is provided from each source.
- Analysis is provided and clearly demonstrates the connection between the provided evidence and the historical argument/thesis in question.
- Analysis demonstrates original critical thinking that demonstrates a strong grasp of the course concepts and the historical material in question.
- Citations are accurate and consistent. There are no major grammatical, spelling, or formatting issues that undermine clarity.
