12 Years a Slave
HIST 2300Mr. BeardFall 2020Twelve Years a Slave Paper InstructionsSolomon Northrups memoir Twelve Years a Slave is a gut-wrenching account of the horrors of slavery. Your assignment for this paper is to read the book, craft an argument about it, and write a1-2-page paper discussing the book and putting forth your argument.Some questions you may want to explore in this paper are:
· What do you think Solomon Northup’s intention was in writing his memoir in 1853?· What is the central message of the book?
· What do you think was the effect of the publication of this work at the time?· What elements of the book stand out?· Why is this work still relevant?In answering the above question(s), you will want to construct an argument. Keep in mind: you do not need to answer all of the questions, but you do need to produce a well-organized 1-2-page paper that puts forth a central argument and engages with the book.
In fact, you could write a compelling and original paper that grapples with only one of the above questions.Try not to get bogged down in smaller affairs and avoid simplistic statements like the book was good. Focus your analysis on big-picture questions like–what is the central message? Then fashion an argument of your own and provide material from the book to back up your argument.Keep in mind that 1-2 pages double-spaced is a very short paper, so be very deliberate in what you discuss.
As mentioned, do not get too bogged down in discussing minute matters, as you will run out of space. Instead, focus on crafting a solid, innovative, and original argument, and then think carefully about what specific examples from the book you can use to support your argument. Ask yourself, What passages from the book can you quote to support your argument?Requirements:· Your paper must include an argument.
· Your argument must be underlined. (and should appear as the last sentence in the introductory paragraph)· Your paper must engage directly with the book (i.e. use specific examples from it).
· Your essay must include citations. Citations should be formatted in either Chicago or MLA style. (if you do not use one of these, just be sure that you standardize your citations’ in the past, many students have chosen to use in-text citations because that is easy)· Your paper must be 1-2 pages long, double-spaced with one-inch margins on all sides.· You must use 12-point Times New Roman font.· If you turn in a paper that is less than 1 page, you will automatically get an F.Late Paper Policy:· Your papers are due by November 16 either on the blackboard or via email.
· Late papers will be reduced by ten points per day it is late.Guidelines for Chicago Style Citations:Historians use the Chicago citation style. If you choose to use the Chicago style, your citations must be in the form of footnotes.An excellent guide for citations is Purdue’s Online Writing Lab. Here is their tutorial on Chicago style: https://owl.purdue.edu/ for MLA style:Many other disciplines in the Humanities use the MLA citation style. If you are more comfortable with this style, by all means, use it.
If you need a reference for the rules for this citation style see: https://owl.purdue.edu/ reiterate: you may use Chicago or MLA style, but whichever style you choose, your citations must be formatted correctly according to the rules of that style. If your citations deviate from the rules of your chosen style, your paper will be marked down. Similarly, if your paper lacks citations, you will lose points.
Generic In-text Citations:An easy way to create standardized citations for your power is to use simple in-text citations. For these, you will just put the name of the author and the page number in the book where you got your information in parentheses at the end of the sentence. An example of this is the following.In the first chapter of Twelve Years A Slave, Solomon Northup describes his kidnapping and period of enslavement as being shut out from the sweet light of liberty (Northup, 27).
Be sure to put in-text citations at the end of the sentence that contains the information you are using from the book, placed before the period. Since you should only be citing Northup, you do not necessarily have to put his last name, just the page number. So, either way, is fine.
