Thesis paper instructions:
-An original and well-crafted thesis, as discussed in class and in Manual for Writers 5.1-5.4. (attached)
-Analyze primary sources and explain their historical significance. You will do more than mine a source for information, but you should demonstrate that analysis is part of your source use.
-Analyze secondary sources, understand their arguments, and compare them with other works.
-Thesis is supported by evidence use consistently developed throughout the composition.
–HISTORIOGRAPHY: Ability to place your work within the context of previous historical work on the subject. The paper should have a historiography section.
-Use historical resources and reference tools.
-Use of Chicago Manual of Style conventions for usage and citation as located in A Manual for Writers, 9th edition. (attached)
Mechanical Issues (IMPORTANT!):
-Size limits do not include footnotes and citations. Just uncheck the box for citation on word count.
-Papers must have an absolute minimum of 4500 words and a maximum of 5500 words.
-1200 (minimum) 1500 (maximum) words of the essay must be a historiographic essay discussing the arguments of secondary sources and the importance of your work in comparison. Historiographic sections of papers are best situated either at the very start of the paper or at the very end. This section should have a sub-heading labeling it as your historiographic essay.
-The paper must use serif fonts. Sans serif fonts will result in a penalty. Size 12. Sans serif fonts like this fatigue the eyes.
-The paper must have a descriptive and catchy title placed at the top of the first page in 16-point bold font.
-Double spaced
-Do NOT have a cover or title page.
-Use past tense.
-Use active verbs / avoid passive voice.
-University-level spelling, grammar, and construction conventions are expected.
Those are the instructions from my Senior Thesis class. I’ve attached the resources mentioned. This thesis paper is a spin-off, or a continuation of the research I’ve been doing on the Romanian Orthodox’s role and involvement in the Holocaust. I’ve attached my previous research paper for you to refer to, to help frame the context of this new paper. In this new paper, however, I want to focus more on the present day, on the legacies antisemitism and the Holocaust left behind in Romania, and how it is impacting Jewish communities today. I’m not really set on what kind of effects to write about, just that I’m trying to find out how Jews are still affected today by the actions of the Church, which has a big influence on the government since most of the politicians in Romania are Orthodox Christians. So this could mean any kind of effect. I’ve also attached a paper outline for this new paper that I had to create and turn in to class yesterday. I created it using AI, so I don’t actually plan to write the paper this way, but Chatgpt was helpful in giving me some good sources and leads to look at on this topic. You are free to use and discard whatever information/sources you would like from this outline, I’m only attaching it because it has a possible thesis statement at the top (which you can completely change if you want, it’s not set), and you can draw on information from it such as Jews still fighting for property restitution in Romania, and some other ideas of how Jews are being affected. So I wanted you to have this document as well.
One thing I need help with is the strength of my argument. My hypothesis, based on my last research paper, is that the decisions and actions of the Romanian Orthodox Church during WW2/the Holocaust still have some consequences for the Jews today. There were policies passed during WW2 that denied Judaism legality. While that law has likely been reversed now, what are some more subtle, or lesser-known policies/decisions, that were not completely reversed or just modified to be somewhat more fair? Or things like property restitution, which is a negative legacy of WW2. It is difficult for both non-Jewish and Jewish families in Romania to get properties back that were taken from their families in WW2. Things like that are what I want to find out. And my previous paper helps better understand how the Church had a role in politics and public policy. But I need to make that a strong connection in my paper. There has to be a very strong connection between the Orthodox Church’s influence and involvement and Jewish marginalization/injustice today. I am a Romanian living in America, and I know the Orthodox Church’s presence and ideologies are behind a lot of the inconveniences the Romanian Jewish community faces, (because I know how much influence this Church has over the nation), I just have to prove it in this paper.
So, I am asking for a really strong thesis, it does not have to be the one I’ve provided, but a thesis that argues what I’ve just discussed, and a thesis that has solid evidence to back it up. I’ve attached the sources I’ve been looking at the past few days, and in my other research paper, which I’ve attached, there is a bibliography at the end which has other great sources on this topic.
The number of sources required for this paper is not specified, so use as many as you need to sufficiently support/prove the thesis.
*A note my professor made on my annotated bibliography that I had to turn in:*
“Concerns:
-The historiography section will need to work hard to set your work apart from the secondary material.
-The historiography section should think beyond Romania- Book recommendation: Kevin Spicer’s Religion, Ethnonationalism, and Antisemitism in the Era of the Two World Wars”.
I’ve attached a pdf of the book here. This book is useful in discussing the scholarship of this topic and putting Romania into a broader context of a larger historical theme/concept. I would like this book discussed in the historiography section of this thesis paper.
The bibliography I turned in to class is the bibliography from my previous research paper which is the document “ORIGINAL Orthodox Church Paper.docx”. My professor wants me to distinguish my work from the secondary sources in this bibliography, which can mean using different research methods, using primary or secondary sources that they have not, and taking an angle that they have not/having a unique thesis. So things like that. In his words, “What makes your work cool? What makes your work different?” This section should work to make this paper stand out.
I think that is all the information I have to share with you, and I want to thank you for helping me with this paper. I have one more quarter before I graduate and I feel too brain-dead to take this on, which is why I need help. So thank you so much!