Essay Exam 1 Instructions

Instructions

The Essay Exams are designed to get you to think analytically and critically about the material and present your assessment in an organized and coherent manner. It is also important to incorporate information from as many of the assigned reading assignments and video lectures as possible so as to exhibit a depth and breadth of knowledge on the topic.

Click HERE (Links to an external site.) to watch a useful video on how to organize your essay before you get started.

Below are two questions. Prepare essays for each question and upload them into Canvas as a Microsoft Word or PDF document before the Essay Exam 1 due date. Only one of your essays will be chosen and assigned a grade. Because you do not know in advance which essay will be chosen, it is important to prepare high quality essays for both questions.

Please submit both essays as one document .

Questions

1. Compare and contrast Social Darwinism and the Gospel of Wealth during the Gilded Age. Which do you believe is more closely aligned with traditional American values? (See textbook for historical context, the primary documents from Discussion 2, and the Rise of Big Business Video Lectures.

2. Who were the Populists, what did they try to accomplish, and to what extent were they successful? (See textbook for historical context, the primary documents from DISCUSSION 3, and the Populists Video Lectures).

Expectations

You will find ample information to address these questions in video lectures, the textbook and primary documents. Essay responses should show a thorough understanding of the readings and be college level (clear, organized, without typographical errors, logical, etc.)

Your essay should have an introduction with a clear argument, a well-developed body with ample supporting evidence, a conclusion that provides some final analysis, and be between five and seven paragraphs (paragraphs should be at least five sentences in length but often longer). Your argument is your brief answer to the question while the body of the essay is used to provide detailed historical examples to support your argument. Although analysis of the material should be woven into the body of your essay, the conclusion is where you will be able to show that you have thought about the material in a critical and analytical way (rather than simply regurgitating information). Also, remember that any information included in your essay should be pertinent to answering the question asked of you.

Citations

For the purposes of this essay, you can use parenthetical citation. Please only use information from within the confines of this class, such as video lectures, the textbook, primary documents, and any other assigned readings.

• Example for Video Lecture citation: (Populists Video Lect.).
• Example for Textbook citation: (Foner, 445).
• Example for Primary Document citation: (Omaha Platform, 2).
• Example for A People’s History of the United States citation: (Zinn, 55).

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