To complete this Essay Assignment, you must carefully read/watch AND make use of ALL of the following resources:
* primary sources 6.5 through 6.9 in the Primary Source Project found at the end of chapter 6 of our textbook, Exploring American Histories.
* the introduction to the Primary Source Project on page 204 of our textbook.
* pages 186-187 and 192-193 in chapter 6 of our textbook.
* the assigned video clip “The Battle of Monmouth and the Molly Pitchers.” A link to this video clip is found in the week 6 module.
These resources examine the some of the ways that the American Revolution affected American women and some of the ways that American women affected the American Revolution.
Below are the ground rules for this Essay Assignment. READ them all carefully and make sure that your essay abides by ALL of these ground rules:
1. DO NOT use any additional sources for this essay unless you clear those sources with me first.
2. DO NOT collaborate with others on this essay. Essays are individual work.
3. DO NOT put any kind of heading on your essay.
4. DO NOT put any kind of title on your essay.
5. your essay MUST be written using PAST TENSE verbs only — unless the quoted material you are using in your essay happens to use present tense verbs. In cases like that, of course, you must use the verb tense that the writer of the quoted material used.
6. your essay MUST begin with a good, thoughtful introductory paragraph that a) provides some background information and context so that the reader understands the time period that you are dealing with and some of the realities of that time period and b) ends with a strong and clear thesis statement that makes it very clear to the reader what major ideas you’ll explore in the body paragraphs of the essay. (The writing prompts below will help you do what’s called for in Part B. Your thesis statement should simply be the last 1-2 sentences of your introductory paragraph. In that 1-2 sentences, give me a heads up about the things that you’ll explore in the body paragraphs of your essay.)
7. each body paragraph of your essay MUST begin with a clear topic sentence that lets me know what the paragraph will focus on. (Again. use the writing prompts to help you develop your topic sentences.)
8. your essay MUST demonstrate very careful reading, consideration, and understanding of the assigned resources. Your writing needs to make it very clear that you have read ALL of the documents and ALL of the pages carefully and watched the video clip AND understood what you’ve read and watched AND thought about what you’ve read and watched.
DO NOT assume that your reader has read what you have read or knows anything at all about the assignment. Assume that your reader is COMPLETELY IGNORANT of these things. Explain everything VERY fully, clearly, and carefully, so that even the completely ignorant reader of your essay understands what you have written and, therefore, understands the material you have read.
You are expected to use ALL of the assigned resources in the essay.
9. your essay MUST respond very carefully and very fully to the writing prompts/questions for the assignment (see below).
Those prompts/questions tell you what the body paragraphs of your essay should focus on.
The body of your essay should include AT LEAST one SEPARATE paragraph for EACH of the writing prompts/questions.
10. your essay MUST support your general statements and opinions with plenty of specific examples, details, and information from the assigned documents and pages. Support what you write VERY FULLY, please.
include frequent quotations from the assigned sources in your essay. This is a good way to support your general statements.
11. your essay MUST provide frequent parenthetical citations that indicate the sources of the material that you use in your essay. Here are some examples:
(Exploring American Histories, page 187);
(Primary Source 6.5, page 193);
(Introduction to Primary Source Project 6, 204)
(The Battle of Monmouth and the Molly Pitchers, 3:12)
Each parenthetical citations should be found in the body paragraphs of your essay AFTER the material to which each citation refers to. You need to include frequent citations like these because all of the information in your essay is taken from assigned sources, and you MUST cite those sources frequently.
12. DO NOT include any kind of works cited page or bibliography with your essay.
13. your essay MUST also provide parenthetical citations — as explained above — for EACH quotation that you include.
14. your essay MUST be NO SHORTER than 70 complete sentences in length, but it may certainly be longer than that.
15. your essay MUST consist of multiple paragraphs: one paragraph for the introduction, at least one paragraph for your response to each writing prompt/question, and one paragraph for the conclusion.
16. your essay MUST abide by all of the normal rules of formal writing, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, and explanation.
17. your essay MUST end with a good, thoughtful conclusion.
Write a formal essay in which you respond fully, carefully, and accurately — following ALL of the guidelines explained above — to the writing prompts/questions below. Make sure that your essay is organized so that, in addition to an introductory paragraph and a concluding paragraph, there are separate paragraphs for your responses to each of the prompts below.
* What types of activities did female patriots (that is, supporters of independence from England) undertake in the service of American independence? (Assigned pages in chapter 6 + video clip + primary sources 6.7, 6.9)
* Describe and discuss the role that society in the 1770s expected elite white women (that is, women of wealth and “good family”) in the colonies to play. Based on these expectations, what kinds of activities did elite white female patriots undertake in support of the war effort? (Assigned pages in chapter 6 + video clip + primary sources 6.7, 6.8, 6.9)
* In what ways did patriot women create new opportunities for themselves and contribute to the war and to American independence? (Assigned pages in chapter 6 + video clip + primary sources, 6.8, 6.10)
* What dangers or limits did women face during the war? (Assigned pages in chapter 6 + video clip + primary source 6.6)
