WRITING TIPS
Remember, you only have 1-2 pages (500 words)! So be concise, get right to the point, and use evidence to support your thesis. Use in text citations
First sentence of intro: Please do not start your paper with some momentous gesture–e.g. “In the history of Yiddish culture, education has played a major role.” Instead, start off in a way that takes your reader right to your area of interest. In 1-2 pages, you don’t have the room to write full introductions and conclusions. So be clear, and be precise! State your thesis right at the beginning.
Narrow down exactly what it is you are working on–what book, what author, what concept, what idea. And then provide evidence!
Use quotations from the text to support your argument. But remember that in addition to quoting sources, the purpose of this paper is also to interpret, reflect on, argue against, or respond to quotes. Remember that you are not writing this “to the professor” but to someone who maybe read the material but was not in our class discussions. Your job is to lead your reader through your argument. Give me your hot take!
You are only required to discuss one text we read for class. But if it helps your argument, you may discuss an additional text we’ve looked at. To keep things manageable (and under 500 words), please limit yourself to no more than 2 texts. (Be mindful that if you choose to use 2 texts, you may only have space to choose one example from each.)