+1 862 207 3288 Guidelines:
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Structure
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• Title that relates to your thesis
• 600-800 words
• Paragraphs: Introduction, Conclusion, probably 2-4 body paragraphs
• Edited prose free of grammatical and spelling errors
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Thesis
• Make a clear claim that responds to a paper topic and is supportable
through The Female Marine without reference to outside sources.
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Supporting claims
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• Body paragraphs that support and develop your thesis.
• Each body paragraph has a clear focus, begins with a topic sentence, and
ends with a concluding sentence.
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Evidence
• Each body paragraph is supported with an appropriate amount of evidence
(quotes or paraphrases) from the text.
• Evidence is discussed/explained, not merely presented.
• Quotes are properly cited: Parenthetical in-text citations for the most part,
and either a Bibliography or a footnote giving a full Chicago-style citation
for each of the texts (you can cite both parts of the Lucy Brewer /Louisa
Baker text as the same text.)
• The proper citation category is chapter or section in an edited volume.
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First Take-Home Essay
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This assignment asks you to engage in an exercise in close reading of primary
sources. The point of the exercise is not to conduct research, synthesize other
course material, or draw upon your historical knowledge in order to make sense of
historical documents. Rather, you are asked to analyze and interpret what you see
in the documents themselves.
The two documents you are being asked to read both appear in Daniel A. Cohen’s
The Female Marine, an edited collection of cross-dressing narratives originally
published in the years following the War of 1812. They are:
1. The Female Marine, or the Adventures of Miss Lucy Brewer (published in two
parts)
2. The Surprising Adventures of Almira Paul
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Advice:
In analyzing these historical documents, do not treat the texts as reliable statements
of the facts they relate (they can be safely presumed to be fictional), and do not
treat them as evidence of what all Americans at the time believed, advocated, or
imagined (two texts don’t permit such inferences). At the same time, do not
discount the documentary status of the sources by expecting them to confirm what
you already think you know about the period. Treat the sources as stories produced
during the time period that make claims, convey messages, or seek to entertain
their readers.
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Assignment:
Answer one of the following three questions in 600-800 words, citing evidence
from the sources to support a clear, original, and interesting argument in forceful
and elegant prose . Make sure to consider the entirety of each text in making your
argument.
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1. Compare the representation of gender roles in The Female Marine to that
of The Surprising Adventures of Almira Paul. What similarities or
contrasts connect the two texts’ attitudes (not your own attitudes or those
of the various characters) toward the differences between men and
women and the distinctive positions they occupy in American society?
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2. Compare the two narratives as expressions of nationalism. To what
extent and in what ways does each text celebrate the unity of the United
States or assert its superiority over other nations?
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3. Compare the representations of captivity and mobility in the two texts.
What meanings does each narrator (not necessarily each main character)
associate with being confined in space or moving easily from one place
to another?
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