Founding Brothers Paper

Guidelines for Interpretive/Comparative Essay

Pick your favorite two (2) chapters out of the six (6) chapters from Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis and write an interpretive/comparative essay based on those chapters. The essay must be typewritten, double-spaced and at least five (5) but no more than seven (7) pages. The essay should answer the following questions:

Interpretive

1. What are the stories about? Give a brief synopsis of each chapter.

2. Why were the episodes important to American history?

3. What did you learn reading these stories?

4. What was your overall impression of these stories? Did you like them? Why? Why not?

Comparative

1. Did the author do a better job of telling the story in one or the other chapter? Why do you think so?

2. Can you find any connections between the two stories (either the subject or the individuals involved). If so, what are they?

3. How does the story compare with what you’ve heard or read (either previously or in your current textbook) about the subject?

The final draft is due: Sunday, November 15 at 11:59 pm. LATE PAPERS will be PENALIZED 10% PER DAY LATE

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling will be part of your grade so make sure you proofread your papers (and remember, spellcheck will not always catch all mistakes). Footnotes will not be necessary, but if you use a direct quote, cite it by using the author’s name and page number in parentheses: (Ellis, 29).

Some of the grammatical points I will be looking for include, but are not limited to:

–Do not use colloquial expressions. Slang is inappropriate in an academic paper.

–Avoid using all first and second-person pronouns in your writing;

Examples include “me,” “my,” “I,” “we,” “our,” “us,” “you,” and “your.”

Instead of saying, “I believe the author was…” Just say, “The author was…” You’re writing it so I know it’s your opinion.

–Avoid using contractions in formal writing. Use “did not” instead of “didn’t.”

–For more guidance, see Strunk and White, Elements of Style or Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

Organizes, synthesizes, and discusses information to reveal patterns, limitations, and implications and supports these with appropriate standards of evidence.

Synthesizes detailed information from relevant sources and presents an argument or conclusion as a logical extrapolation. These relevant sources represent various points of view associated with the inquiry.