WRITING A SOCIAL STUDIES ESSAY

* Note: RED = you must learn for our test

Types of Essaysin Social Studies

Essay: a writing composition on a particular subject or theme

There are many types of essays, but 3 types dominate social studies classes:

1) Expository Essay: a researched and detailed analysis of a topic. You mention various views, but you do not express your own opinion.

2) Persuasive Essay: when you take a position (or argue) something and back it up with logic and evidence you research. The goal to convince the reader that your position is the correct one.

3) Research Essay: a kind of a persuasive essay where you assess your ideas with respect to someone else’s.

THIS YEAR, WE ARE FOCUSING ON THE PERSUASIVE ESSAY

Creating a Thesis- Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. After you have chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one complete sentence that answers your question. THIS IS KNOWN AS YOUR THESIS OR THESIS STATEMENT – the sentence that answers the question your essay in answering.

- Each thesis can have as many parts (also called “CLAIMS” or “SUBTOPICS”) as the writer wishes. However, for no extremely good reason, it is popular practice in the US to have a thesis with THREE claims/subtopics.

- A serious writer will research first, and then write a thesis based on how the evidence swayed his/her opinion.

Example:

Q: What three events led to Rome’s involvement in the Punic Wars with Carthage?

A: (your thesis statement): Rome and Carthage fought the Punic Wars as a result of (claim/subtopic #1), (claim/subtopic #2), and (claim/subtopic #3).

THIS YEAR, WE WILL FOCUS ON MAKING A BROAD THESIS STATEMENT. INSTEAD OF SOMETHING EXTREMELY SPECIFIC, YOUR THESIS’ CLAIMS/SUBTOPICS WILL BE ANY 3 OF THE 6 SOCIAL SCIENCES. THESE 6 FIELDS IN COMBINATION WITH HISTORY IS WHAT “SOCIAL STUDIES” REFERS TO! ENLIGHTENING, ISN’T IT?

So, to use 3 of the 6 social sciences, clearly we must learn what they are! Go to the next slide to find out…

Social Science 1/6: Geographic (from “Geography”)

Geography (full definition): the science dealing with the areal differentiation of the earth's surface, as shown in the character, arrangement, and interrelations over the world of such elements as climate, elevation, soil, vegetation, population, land use, industries, or states, and of the unit areas formed by the complex of these individual elements.

* Cheat Sheet: anything to do with location, place, human-environment interaction, travel, the land, communication, human movement, borders of countries, regions, etc.

Social Science 2/6: Cultural(from “Anthropology”)

Anthropology (full definition): the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind.

* Cheat Sheet: anything to do with patterns of human knowledge, patterns of human behavior, beliefs, religion, shared attitudes, values, customs, how people act in a society, etc.

Social Science 3/6: Political(from “Political Science”)

Political Science (full definition): a social science dealing with political institutions and with the principles and conduct of government.

* Cheat Sheet: anything to do with government behavior, power struggles, negotiation, war tactics, etc.

Social Science 4/6: Economic (from “Economics”)

Economics (full definition): the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind.

* Cheat Sheet: anything to do with trade, business, scarcity, resources, money, different economic systems/beliefs, etc.

Social Science 5/6: Sociological (from “Sociology”)

Sociology (full definition): the science or study of the origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society; the science of the fundamental laws of social relations, institutions, etc.

* Cheat Sheet: anything to do with behavior in groups (from 2 people to everyone on Earth), society in general, mass movements, social class, social mobility, etc.

Social Science 6/6: Psychological (from “Psychology”)

Psychology (full definition): the science of the mind or of mental states and processes, and of human and/or animal behavior

* Cheat Sheet: anything to do with a single person’s behavior, perception, personality, relationships, emotion, ways of thinking, etc.

Outline of a Persuasive Essay- It is not enough to simply write out sentence after sentence after your thesis. There has to be a specific order! This is really important, because most of your essays in school through college will be in this format.

- There are 5 paragraphs in an essay with 3 subtopics/claims. (There is always 1 paragraph for the introduction, and on paragraph for the conclusion. The number of subtopics in the thesis statement are added to this for the total number of paragraphs).

The Outline of a Persuasive Essay (with 3 subtopics/claims)I. Introduction

a) Attention grabber (first sentence to grab reader’s attention)

b) Background (in our case a quick historical background)

c) The overall question that your thesis statement will answer

d) Thesis Statement (in our case with 3 claims/subtopics)

e) Hook (sentence about 1st claim/subtopic to set up next paragraph)

II. Body Paragraph #1

f) Many sentences supporting your first subtopic/claim.

b) Hook (sentence that links this subtopic/claim to the body paragraph #2’s subtopic/claim

- It is a good rule of thumb to state your evidence or reasoning first, then explain why it is important second.

- You may have as much or as little evidence here, but as a rule of thumb 3 pieces of evidence to state and explain is typical.

III. Body Paragraph #2

c) Many sentences supporting your second subtopic/claim.

d) Hook (sentence that links this subtopic/claim to the body paragraph #2’s subtopic/claim- Follow the guidelines written above

IV. Body Paragraph #3

a) Many sentences supporting your third subtopic/claim.

b) Hook (sentence that links this subtopic/claim to the body paragraph #2’s subtopic/claim- Follow the guidelines written above

V. Conclusion

a) A restatement of the thesis

b) Your final opinion on your position (note: never bring new evidence into this paragraph)

c) A final sentence or two designed to give your reader a sense of perspective of the whole thing

Primary vs. Secondary ResourcesFor our purposes, there are 2 types of resources you can use as evidence in your essay:

Primary Resource (Drake, Nelson): direct records from the period or by the people who are the subject of the historian’s study. They may be a document in print (i.e. letter, diary, speech, official correspondence, newspaper or magazine article); an image (i.e. photograph, painting, political cartoon, map, chart, graph); broadcast media (i.e. movie or television show clip, radio broadcast); or an artifact (i.e. tool, apparatus).

 

Secondary Resource (Drake, Nelson): books, essays, and articles historians write that are accounts of a period or a topic after an event has taken place. They offer a narrative of the subject studied by the historian. It is possible for a secondary resource to become a primary resource (i.e. a history textbook from the 1920s is a primary resource when studying textbooks in the 1920s).

How to Cite Evidence (Quick Version!!)- In your essay, you must do 2 things regarding the evidence you use. First, you must CITE each piece of information you use WITHIN the essay. Second, you must create a separate WORKS CITED PAGE (similar to a bibliography) that will be attached to the end of your essay.

Review:

1) CITE each resource you use. You do not cite anything that is “common knowledge” (for example: the US won World War II), but you must cite everything else. If you do not, this is illegal and known as plagiarism.

2) The works cited page must be in alphabetical order. The format below must be followed exactly.

Book:

In the Works Cited page format:

Author Last Name, Author First Name. Book Title. Publication Location: Publisher, Publication Year.

Example:

Parsley, Reed. Sugar Ships. San Francisco, USA: Green Tiger Press, 1990.

As a citation within the essay:

(Author Last Name page number).

Example:

Self-directing and self-correcting books help students learn how to follow directions (McGee 1).

 

- IMPORTANT: in ALL citations, use “quotation marks” if you are quoting the a person or source word for word. Summarizing (or paraphrasing) does not need quotation marks but still needs a citation at the end of the sentence.

Internet

In the Works Cited page format:

Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Article or Page Title." Site Name. Institution or organization affiliated with the site. <URL>.

As a citation within the essay:

(Website root name).

Example: In 2009, Australia’s per capita income was $40,000 (cia.gov).

- Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).

- Cite the root URL, not the entire source. For example, use (cia.gov), instead of (www.cia.gov/worldfactbook/austr).

- Websites that are acceptable are news sites, university sites (end with .edu), reputable organization sites (end with .org), and some government sites (end with .gov).

- Sites like Wikipedia, ask.com, etc. are NOT acceptable , but in some cases you can verify something these sites say elsewhere. Be careful with this !!

 

For more specific information about citing all other resources, visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/