Bad behaviour and social control in north america

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HIST 1086 – Essay (30%)
Info and Expectations
In this essay, your goal is to critically explore a
selected issue related to the history of vice. You
must demonstrate effective research skills by
finding appropriate academic and primary sources.
You will be evaluated based on your ability to use
these sources to construct a clearly defined
argument that is directly relevant to both history
and vice. The body of your essay must expand on
this argument and logically present the evidence
that you have found. If you have any questions,
please contact your teaching assistant.
1. Essentials
Your research essay in HIST 1086 must meet the following requirements:
a. Adhere to the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty. Do not plagiarize. Submit only
your own work, do not work in partners or groups, do not submit material that has
been submitted in another course
b. Length: 2500-4000 words (excluding direct quotes, footnotes, and bibliography)
c. Submit your essay via Turnitin on Moodle
d. You must have a central argument/thesis directly related to the history of vice
e. Your topic must have a clearly defined time period of analysis, including a starting
year and ending year (no later than 2000) with justifications for each
f. You must build on the research of at least 8 scholarly sources, these must be
academic journal articles, scholarly books, or a chapter in a scholarly book (book
reviews, websites, or newspaper articles do not count toward this minimum)
g. You must include at least 8 primary sources created during the time period of your
study
h. You must cite these sources using Chicago style footnotes and a bibliography
2. Introductory Paragraph
Your essay must begin with an introductory paragraph. The goal of this paragraph is not to
summarize your paper, but rather, to quickly establish the context of your topic and the
scope of your analysis. Explain what your topic is about, define the starting point and
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ending point as well as the geographic location of your study. Once the basic setting has
been established, you should conclude your introductory paragraph by presenting your
central argument, or thesis statement. The introductory paragraph should:
a) Capture your reader’s attention with something focussed and interesting. Avoid the
meaningless first sentence: “Throughout history…” “Humans have always enjoyed
vice…”
b) Establish the context of your topic and its direct relevance to studying the history of
vice
c) In establishing this context, your reader should be aware of the geographic area
(within North America)
d) As this is a history project, your introductory paragraph should indicate a start year
and end year as your time period of study. You should indicate what specifically
occurred in these years to justify this as the beginning and ending of your analysis
e) Your introductory paragraph should be between seven and twelve sentences long
(not including the thesis)
f) Your introductory paragraph should conclude with a thesis statement: “I am going to
argue that…”
3. Thesis Statement
The goal of your essay is to analyze a topic and then craft an argument that helps us
understand the history of vice. This argument must be succinctly and clearly presented to
your reader near the beginning of your essay. Your thesis is not a summary of your
evidence, it is a specific argument about the history of vice. Your central argument must be
based in history prior to the year 2000:
a) Your thesis should follow the phrase, “I am going to argue that…”
b) Do not argue that “it is obvious,” “it is evident,” or that “it is clear,” these are not
arguments about the history of vice
c) Do not argue something factual, e.g. “I am going to argue that bawdy-houses were
criminalized in 1892.”
d) Your thesis should be clear and precise: do not be overly broad or vague
e) Your thesis should be 1 or 2 sentences long
f) Your thesis should be the best 1 or 2 sentences of your essay (proofread, remove
unnecessary words, remove any repetition, grammar must be perfect, no run-on
sentences)
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4. Body Paragraphs
The body of your essay is where you will present evidence that supports the argument
made in your thesis. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. The topic
sentence should directly move the narrative of your argument forward. The rest of your
paragraph should directly support the argument you make in your topic sentence. In the
sentences that follow, you will outline your evidence and provide direct examples that are
supported through footnotes. The final sentence of your paragraph is a transition
sentence. This sentence should link the content of the paragraph with the topic sentence of
the paragraph that follows:
a) Indent the first line of each paragraph
b) Each paragraph should be no less than three (3) sentences long
c) Each paragraph should be no more than ten (10) sentences long. Generally,
paragraphs are 6-8 sentences long. Be succinct and move your discussion forward
d) Each paragraph must begin with a topic sentence. This is an argument that directly
supports your thesis statement
e) Each paragraph must end with a transition sentence. This links the content of each
paragraph with the topic sentence of the paragraph that follows. Using these will
improve the quality of your writing. If you find it difficult to craft transition
sentences, it could be a sign that you need to rearrange your paragraphs
5. Concluding Paragraph
It has been several pages since your thesis was presented. The conclusion is a good
opportunity to remind your reader why your thesis applies to the final preceding body
paragraphs of your essay. The conclusion is a time to refocus the conversation on broader
ideas and larger questions. You may also wish to raise future questions that you or readers
may have on the issue:
a) Your conclusion should remind the reader of your central thesis, and why it is
relevant
b) Remind the reader of your strongest arguments and most pertinent evidence
c) Use the conclusion to keep your reader interested in your topic even after they have
finished reading your essay
6. Evidence, References, Bibliography
Your essay must make use of the evidence that you have found. Having completed the
research assignment, you should be able to locate a breadth of sources, including at least 8
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scholarly and 8 primary sources. In the body of your essay, when you provide examples,
you must use footnotes in the Chicago style to indicate where these ideas come from.
When you provide examples, you should endeavour to put these ideas in your own words.
Use direct quotes sparingly, avoid long block quotes (more than 3 lines of text). At the end
of your essay, please include a bibliography that separates your primary sources from your
secondary sources. To receive credit for your research, every source listed in your
bibliography must have been analyzed somewhere in your essay and supported with a
footnote. When you footnote secondary sources, you must indicate a specific page
number, or a page range of not more than two pages. You may wish to use this handy
citation guide (available by clicking here.)
a) Your bibliography must include at least eight (8) scholarly sources (journal articles,
academic books) and at least eight (8) primary sources (created during the time
period of study, including historical newspapers, court cases, archives, and others)
b) You may use sources listed on the HIST 1086 course syllabus, but they will not count
toward the minimum required in 6. a).
c) Your scholarly sources must have been created after 2000. You may use scholarly
sources created before 2000, but they will not count toward the minimum in 6. a).
d) Your scholarly sources must be either academic books or peer-reviewed journal
articles. Book reviews, reports, websites, or newspaper articles will not be counted
toward the minimum for scholarly sources as outlined in 6. a).
e) Examples, paraphrased ideas, or direct quotes from your primary or scholarly
sources must be cited using footnotes in the Chicago style
f) Your footnotes for scholarly sources must include reference to a specific page
number, or a page range of not more than two pages (e.g. 38-9)
g) Subsequent footnotes must be abbreviated
h) Do not provide hyperlinks in your citations for scholarly sources or for historical
newspapers. Do not provide hyperlinks for sources that require a login/password
for access (including yorku/ezproxy links)
i) Your bibliography must be listed at the end of your essay after the concluding
paragraph. Your bibliography must be single-spaced and must separate scholarly
sources from other sources used. Scholarly sources should be listed in alphabetical
order by author last name.
j) Only sources that appear in your footnotes may be listed in your bibliography
k) Direct quotes must use quotation marks. Direct quotes do not count toward 1.b.
Long block quotes should be avoided unless absolutely required
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7. Argument, Logic, Construction
Paragraphs are where the writing happens, but once your ideas have been separated into
its component parts it is up to you to put them together in a logical way that best supports
your central argument. In some cases, researchers prefer to arrange their arguments in a
chronological way. However, some prefer to arrange their ideas thematically, breaking
down the chronology into separate side stories that run in parallel as the essay unfolds.
How you arrange your ideas, arguments, and evidence is completely up to you. However,
the way you arrange your essay is a large component of your evaluation, so invest time into
this process. It is often best to begin the work of essay construction by creating an outline,
this will help you to unveil your ideas in a logical way:
a) All arguments in your essay must be focussed on demonstrating your central thesis
b) Your arguments must be presented using logical, inductive reasoning. This means
that one idea should flow from the next
c) Each argument should build on strong evidence to help support the central thesis
d) Your essay should demonstrate a deliberate plan of constructing and arranging
your paragraphs and arguments
e) Do not be overly descriptive. Say what happened in the narrative of your story, but
then quickly move on to telling your reader why it is important to understanding
your issue in the history of vice
8. Style, Proofreading, Spelling, Grammar
Your arguments must be presented in a way that your reader can understand. This not
only includes proofreading for spelling and grammatical errors, it also means you have
invested time and effort into carefully crafting your sentences and paragraphs. Be
deliberate in the words you choose, express your points clearly, and be concise. Sometimes
it helps to have a friend or family member read your essay for you to find common errors,
or to indicate where you might need to rephrase your ideas:
a) Proofread your essay for grammar, spelling, clarity
b) Use formal essay writing language
c) Construct your sentences with purpose. Make each sentence clear and focussed
d) Avoid run-on sentences
e) Avoid broad language and meaningless phrases (“back in the day,” “throughout
history,” “humans have always…”)
f) Avoid common errors not discovered by spellcheck: “too, to, two,” “their, there,
they’re”
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g) Avoid repetition. Examine your writing to catch if you are using the same words
several times in a sentence or in a paragraph
h) Use the active voice, not the passive voice. (Example: [active – use] “The professor
graded the essays.” [passive – avoid] “The essays were graded by the professor.”
i) Use commas, colons, and semicolons appropriately
j) Do not use all caps unless you are referring to an acronym
k) Proofread your footnotes
9. Evaluation
Your essay will be graded based on the above guidelines. Generally, an “A” essay will meet
all guidelines contained in this document, with only minimal/superficial errors. For a “B”
essay, only a few guidelines will have been missed, and when they are missed, they are not
severe. For a “C” essay, several guidelines will not have been met, though there is potential
for improvement. For a “D” essay, numerous guidelines will have been missed, or a few
guidelines were missed, and it was particularly severe (e.g. poor spelling/grammar
throughout, improper citations). Essays that miss most of these guidelines, or are missing
parts of Guideline 1 – Essentials, or Guideline 6 – Evidence, Citations, and Bibliography, will
result in a failing grade. Good luck and happy writing! We always enjoy reading research
papers as we love to learn new things about the history of vice. Please contact your TA if
you run into any problems through the essay construction process.