China Gazetteer: Research Essay Draft
This assignment asks you to apply what you’ve learned from your topic idea and annotated bibliography assignments, and write as complete a final essay as possible. Your final essay should be 2000 words, or about 7 pages.
1. Review the assessment objectives
Now is the time to address all final assessment objectives (see below) in a coherent, well-synthesized, well-argued essay. The more complete you make this draft, the more effective the peer review and revision process will be.
2. Write in the Google Doc template
You must use the Google Doc template provided in the Google Classroom assignment. This document will be the only file you will use for the essay, from this draft through the final version. You may paste in your annotated bibliography, but you must do all of your substantive writing in this document; do not paste text into this document any longer than a few words or a phrase. We will rely on comments and version tracking in a single document, so this is required.
3. Introduction
Draft an introductory paragraph that explains:
- your place (visible at a human scale)
- your line and how it relates to your analysis
- your problem statement (should be related to your place and argument)
- your argument or thesis (should be related to your place and problem statement)
- the general areas of research you’re drawing on to support your argument
4. Body paragraphs
Draft the body of your essay, which primarily will be a synthesis of external sources and course ideas. Readings and concepts should be discussed in relation with one another, with the aim of developing your own analysis and argument.
Use subheadings to help readers understand what each section is about.
Add visuals that help you develop your argument:
- at least one map of your “line”
- 3 or more images that help visualize your problem statement or argument
5. Conclusion
Draft a conclusion to your essay that quickly restates the problem statement and argument, and summarizes the body of the essay.
6. Citations and references
Follow Chicago 17th author-date style for your citations and references (see the Writing & Citing course guide). Be sure all citations are included in your References section, and that all references are cited your essay.
You should cite:
- Two or more course readings that provide a conceptual or analytical approach for your essay
- Ten or more peer-reviewed scholarly articles (different from course readings)
Write a “Dear Reader” letter
At the end of your essay, after the references section, create a new “Dear Reader” heading and write a letter to your peer reviewers. In 2 to 4 paragraphs, respond to the following questions:
- What is your problem statement? Explain where, when, and what your essay analyzes.
- What is your argument? (Make this bold text.)
- What areas of research are you using to support your argument? Summarize each research area in a sentence or two, and explain how each supports your argument.
- What do you feel confident about in your draft?
- What are you most concerned about in your draft? What areas do you want the most help with?
- If you used AI tools in any way in your research essay, explain how, and add comments in your essay identifying where AI was used in the research and writing process. Remember that under no circumstances should content generated by AI be included in your essay.
Assessment
Your draft will be assessed using the same criteria as the final essay.