The broad question is: How has religion both influenced, and been influenced by, various political, social, and economic developments in American history up to 1877?
I need at least 9 sources used.
The following is the rubric:
Grading Rubric
Heading. Top line: “Pulling it Together Activity”; next line: your name; third line (and more): type the full question to which you are responding in bold font.
10% — Introduction (one substantive paragraph). In clear, flowing prose set forth the arguments/claims/assertions you will be presenting in response to the question selected. This serves as a roadmap to the reader for where you will be going throughout the course of your PITA.
Hint: You will find that developing an outline helps organize your thinking. As a result, your introductory paragraph will be thorough and the actual writing of the paper will be more clearly focused.
30% — Breadth. Present a number of examples that illustrate and support your case. Examples or evidence discussed may be drawn from the course text or class lectures, as well as from ETSs or other primary or secondary sources. ). A minimum of eight source uses (about one a page) is expected for the full PITA (or four for each half), although you may use more if you wish. At least two of your eight source uses must be from outside sources other than the course text or ETSs. This is your very modest research component. A “source use” is defined as a brief quote [a phrase or sentence or two; nothing longer] or paraphrase from the source that you are using to illustrate or prove a point you are making in your PITA. Because some sources, especially longer secondary sources like the course text, can be drawn on to make a number of different points, more than one of the minimum eight “source uses” may be taken from the same source.
Hint: As you write your PITA, imagine yourself in a court of law arguing a case before a jury. You will need to present relevant examples/evidence and discuss them convincingly enough so that the jury is persuaded to vote in your favor.
30% — Depth. Compelling arguments are the outgrowth of clear and logical analysis. Do more than merely cite sources or examples when arguing your case. Analyze them, dissect them. Don’t assume that the reader will see in any given source/example what you see in it; make it explicit. Exactly what do you think your source/example/evidence is saying? Spell it out, and in doing so, make clear, logical connections between the wording of your source and what you are arguing. Avoid assumptions and unfounded assertions.
Hint: You may wish to let a friend or two (or one of the campus writing labs) read a draft of your PITA to see if they follow your line of reasoning. Having a friendly reader remark, “I don’t see how you got this out of that” may help you discover blind spots in your logic and sharpen your reasoning.
20% — Style. A PITA should be well-written. Its organization, first signaled in the introductory paragraph, should be transparent throughout the PITA. Writing should be characterized by coherence and flow. Transitions should be clear and graceful. Sound grammar and sentence structure are important. In sum, you should craft sentences and string them together in a way that leads the reader along smoothly and engagingly from start to finish.
Hint: Revise, reread, and revise again. Constantly ask yourself (or a friendly reader) if your PITA “flows well.” If you or your friendly reader has to reread one or more sentences or paragraphs in order to follow what you are saying, you haven’t said it well enough. Revise and rewrite.
5% — Mechanics. Yes, spelling does matter. So does proper referencing of sources, but this has been simplified. No bibliography or “works cited” page is required. Instead, use in-text, parenthetical references or footnotes [not endnotes]. For the course text, you may simply use the abbreviation PN (for A People and a Nation) and cite the page number (e.g., PN, 65). For ETS sources, use a shortened title for the document, followed by the page number, if there is one (e.g., Hutchinson Trial Excerpts, 83). For outside sources, simply include author, title, publication information [publisher, if it’s a book; journal/magazine title, if it’s an article in a journal/magazine], and page number.
Hint: Proper referencing is easy. Just provide enough information that the reader can find your source on their own. Mechanics constitutes a very small percentage of your grade because, as you can see from the percentages elsewhere in the grading rubric, the professor is mainly interested in seeing how you analyze, reason, and write.
5% — Conclusion (one substantive paragraph). Tie your PITA together with a restatement of your arguments (not a mere repetition of verbiage from the introduction) that leaves the reader convinced of your case and its significance.