World Wars One and Two Research Paper - Honors – 1011b

Due May 5/26 – NO LATE PAPERS FOR ANY REASON

Report Topic: ______________________________________

You are to write a formal research paper.  This paper should be approximately 750 words long, and may not be longer than 1,250 words.  The paper should explain the importance to the World Wars of the events, people, battles, or devices assigned.  With people in particular, do not focus on their early or later lives.  For your paper, focus on how your topic affected the war in question.

Necessary elements:

15 points -  A works cited page.  Follow the style sheet that I handed out.  Your sources must include at least three web sites and two books.  You may use only one encyclopedia.  I will check the web links to ensure that they are accurate.

100 points - A 750 to 1,250 word, double-spaced research paper. 

How to write a research paper:

Start with an intro paragraph that summarizes the importance of your topic in a few sentences.  Make sure to have a thesis statement ending the intro paragraph.  This thesis statement should tell me what it is your paper will prove or explain.  By the end of your intro paragraph, I should have a good idea exactly what you will be telling me, in detail, in the rest of the paper.

Example thesis statement:

Although he often considered to have been an evil genius, in the end Adolph Hitler was simply a vicious megalomaniac who happened to be in the right place at the right time, to the great despair of Germany and the rest of the world.

A series of body paragraphs should follow.  For each body paragraph, start out with a topic sentence that explains what the paragraph in question will discuss.  After that, you should provide quotes and specific detail to explain and prove some point about your topic.  Use quotes not to tell me basic facts, but rather to prove the points you have made.  At the end of each body paragraph, provide a conclusion sentence explaining what it is the body paragraph just proved.

Example body paragraph skeleton:

One of Hitler's key failures was his determination to run the military side of Nazi Germany, a topic about which he was dangerously incompetent.  FACTS, EXPLAINED, AND QUOTES FOLLOW TO BACK UP THE TOPIC SENTENCE.  Although this disastrous military meddling on Hitler's part weakened Germany a great deal, it was certainly a saving grace for the rest of human civilization.

Finally, your conclusion paragraph should summarize your main points and drive home your thesis.  Ideally, you will have some sort of complex thesis that you will have proven.

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Any project that does not include a works cited page will receive zero credit.

YOU MAY NOT WRITE ABOUT HITLER!