QUESTION: How did the crime/trial reflect the notion of what was criminal in that period and what does it tell you about the culture at that time in US history? You will want to give a brief overview of the trial or crime (depending on your focus), but most of your paper will be analysis and contextualization of the primary source in the secondary sources. This is a 1500-word-maximum research paper. This paper is analytical, not descriptive. Therefore, do not give a lengthy account of the crime or the trial, rather address this main question.
In thinking about the main question, bear in mind these smaller questions: How did this crime connect to larger society and other events at that time? Was this an isolated incident or connected to much larger events? What sectors of society did it involve? How was the crime either exemplar or peculiar to the changes in understandings of what was criminal and what was legal at the time?
You must have a thesis statement in your introduction paragraph (a single sentence that sums up the main argument/point of your paper and provides an answer to your main research question. Do NOT rephrase the question; rather give the answer!) Each paragraph must start with an analytic topic sentence that connects back to and supports your thesis.
FORMATTING: It MUST be an MS Word file (.doc or .docx) or a PDF file available on ALL John Jay computers. 1 Inch Margins all-around. 12 Pt Times New Roman font. Double-spaced. Regular indentations on each paragraph. Include page numbers. (maximum 1500 words, excluding footnotes, your name and title, etc, this word limit is strictly enforced).
CITATIONS: Citation format for this paper is Chicago Style. You must cite ALL information that you take from them, not just quotations. See the Citations help sheet on Blackboard in the Week 10 section.
Use DRAFT, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND TRIAL SUMMARY TO help u with the final paper, all the quotes i have must be used in the final.