The evolution of African-American influence on American music in the twentieth century

Develop a thesis statement. This is the main idea or central theme that you are developing, and the bodyof the paper should be designed to support your thesis. Therefore, the thesis should be stated at the outset of the paper, in your introduction. For example, Should Abraham Lincoln be regarded as ‘the Great Emancipator’?

Here you provide evidence in support of this idea, as well as information to the contrary. Then you would weigh the merits of one versus the other and draw a conclusion. In the conclusion, you could take sides or decline to do so by indicating that both viewpoints have merit and why you believe that to be the case. See the Syllabus Schedule for when you should turn this into your Workbook (ungraded).

Identify primary and secondary sources. In the above example, primary sources would be the words and deeds of Lincoln himself, and those of his contemporaries—like Frederick Douglass—while secondary sources would be what has been written about Lincoln based upon primary sources.

The foundation of the paper must be primary sources, with secondary sources being used to present and/or support the thesis based on the work of other scholars.

Conclusion. The end of the paper should indicate what conclusion you have come to after having researched and written about the subject. It should also demonstrate how or why you have arrived at a particular conclusion.