Round 2 with my Historical Interpretation professor was a success, although I actually struggled with this paper. It had to be 7-9 pages in length, but there was so much information to pick from that I had a hard time making decisions about what was most relevant. Here's what my prof had to say:
"This is a very polished, well considered essay. You show a firm grasp of several of the essays we've read for this unit, and you draw on them well to support your viewpoint. You don't have a really explicit thesis statement, which you should have, yet fairly early on I see what point of view you are taking. This is a very well written paper that considers alternative points of view fairly. You lean heavily on the preexisting presence of a slave trade in Africa, which at first blush might not seem to advance (or retard) your argument, but you make sense of it (even though, as I've indicated, I don't think all forms of slavery were the same). Overall this is a very good job and suggests you can write excellent papers for this class."
Grade: A-
Phew! This was the day-brightener that I needed! I wish I could bottle up the feeling you get when you receive good praise from a professor for an essay, it would make staying motivated while writing them a lot easier. Maybe this blog will be a valuable tool while writing papers after all!
One of his bits of constructive criticism is aimed at a seemingly missing thesis statement. I have to disagree with him on that point; I believe the last sentence in my opening paragraph sums up my argument pretty clearly. Everyone looks at a paper differently though, so I'll try to improve on that in my next paper.
AE
"This is a very polished, well considered essay. You show a firm grasp of several of the essays we've read for this unit, and you draw on them well to support your viewpoint. You don't have a really explicit thesis statement, which you should have, yet fairly early on I see what point of view you are taking. This is a very well written paper that considers alternative points of view fairly. You lean heavily on the preexisting presence of a slave trade in Africa, which at first blush might not seem to advance (or retard) your argument, but you make sense of it (even though, as I've indicated, I don't think all forms of slavery were the same). Overall this is a very good job and suggests you can write excellent papers for this class."
Grade: A-
Phew! This was the day-brightener that I needed! I wish I could bottle up the feeling you get when you receive good praise from a professor for an essay, it would make staying motivated while writing them a lot easier. Maybe this blog will be a valuable tool while writing papers after all!
One of his bits of constructive criticism is aimed at a seemingly missing thesis statement. I have to disagree with him on that point; I believe the last sentence in my opening paragraph sums up my argument pretty clearly. Everyone looks at a paper differently though, so I'll try to improve on that in my next paper.
AE
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