Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Dimensions of the Essay Your essay should conform to the following technical details: -it should be 5-6 pages (between 1250-1500 words), typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, 1″ margins. In addition to the five-six pages of text, students should provide a cover/title page (that includes a title for the essay, student’s name, the course title, and date submitted—student’s essay should begin on the following page, numbered, 1). -student’s essay should also be well organized, containing an introductory paragraph, a body, and a conclusion. -finally, student’s essay should be based overwhelmingly on the document collection provided by the professor and on the course textbook. Students may cite from another source/s (if you do, however, do so VERY sparingly, because students’ grade on the assignment will depend on command of the document set and on command of the course textbook). Be The Historian Consider the documents in this packet as a kind of puzzle, a kind of problem you are attempting to solve. In the broadest sense, you should examine and analyze the pieces of the puzzle, thoroughly and carefully, until you become so familiar with them that you can write a history of the Homestead Strike, just as an historian would. That is, use evidence (from the documents and the textbook) to understand the event for yourself and then create what you think is the best explanation of it for readers. To do that, your history of the Homestead Strike should explain WHERE the event took place, WHEN it occurred, WHAT happened there, WHO the important figures were, and most important, WHY it happened. In short, be the historian of the Homestead Lockout and Strike of 1892. Historical Context It isn’t possible to explain the full significance and importance of the Homestead Strike by focusing exclusively on the events of it. Every historical event, anywhere, anytime, is just one part of a larger environment of events, ideas, values, beliefs, conditions, laws, historical forces (etc., etc., etc). Historians call this larger environment, HISTORICAL CONTEXT. Your history of the Homestead Strike should explain how it emerged out of, and was also part of, the larger environment of the late 19th century. While you study the documents, then, you should also attempt to understand the broader historical context in which they were created. One way to do that is to consider why the events of the Homestead Strike mattered to people at that time. Audience While thinking about and composing your essay, you should write as if you were writing for someone who is smart but doesn’t necessarily know anything about history, and more important, doesn’t know anything about the Homestead Strike. So, again, be the historian, and teach them the history of this event.
