Thought Papers

Study Aids - Thought Papers

This page was origianlly designed to help students write thought papers about primary source documents and related secondary source materials in order to prepare for weekly discussion sections.

This page only offers quick suggestions for very focussed short writing assignments of about 1-2 pages. Students who are constructing longer essays or research papers, should look at the writing papers page, which contains better guidelines for those kinds of assignments.

Even so, this page offers some useful suggestions for students looking to start their papers.

Ten Steps to a Thought Paper | Student Samples

Writing a Thought Paper: The Ten-Step Process by John Grant

There are many things that go into writing a good thought paper. One might compare it to building a house. Think about it: if you do not take the time to plan for construction, the house will fall. Writing a good thought paper is similar. Therefore, I have devised a ten-step process to help you write better thought paper. These guidelines will help you in writing any essay.

1) Before reading the documents, write down the assigned question that you are going to address in your paper. Read this question several times to yourself. The purpose of this exercise is to get you thinking about what your answer will be, before you begin reading.
2) Read the documents. Meanwhile, jot down any evidence from the documents that you might want to use in the paper.
3) Write a thesis statement that answers the assigned question.
4) Write down several sub-themes that you would like to address in the paper. Initially, write as many as you think of. Then pick the two most interesting subthemes that you would like to discuss.
5) Write an outline, like one listed below. After completing this outline, you'll find that the paper is virtually written. All you have to do now is write the first draft.

Suggested Thought Paper Format:

A. Introductory paragraph
1. Write a lead sentence that gains the reader's attention. Example: When speaking of families, it's important not to neglect the issue of sexual behavior.
2. Introduce your thesis or primary argument. Example: The American Revolutionary War was less of a social revolution than it was a fight for economic autonomy.
3. Introduce sub-arguments or sub-themes that you are going to use to support your thesis.

B. Body of the paper
1. Discuss the sub-themes that you identified in the introductory paragraph, in separate paragraphs.
2. Write down page numbers of the book (document reader or textbook) that you're going to use to support these sub-themes.

C. Conclusion
1. Restate your thesis and sub-themes.
2. Write any closing comments.

6) Write the first draft of the paper.
7) After you've completed writing the first draft, the hard part begins. Yes, it's time to proofread.
8) When proofreading, you want to correct several things, which I've listed below:

spelling--Most word processors have a spell-checking feature, but do not rely heavily on them. Use a dictionary, to correct any words that you are not sure about.
usage--Be sure that you are using the word that you intend to use correctly.
Examples: there/their/they're, no/know, it's/its, lead/led, or any other homonym
punctuation--Use periods, commas, semi-colons, colons, dashes (two hyphens), when necessary.
verb tense--to improve the flow of your writing, choose a tense (i.e., past, present, future) and stick with it. Most historical writing speaks of figures from the past in the past tense ("John Hancock said...").
paragraph construction--Think of each paragraph that you write as presenting a complete idea. Thus, you want to form a topic sentence that each subsequent sentence relates to. Then you want to make sure that the last sentence of each paragraph, flows into the first sentence of the following paragraph.
words of hesitation--Try to eliminate words that connote a sense of hesitation (e.g., maybe, might, perhaps, possibly) unless you absolutely have to use them as qualifying language.

9) After proofreading for these things, go back, and read your paper aloud. This process will allow you to hear any inconsistency that you did not pick up earlier when reading silently. Meanwhile, ask yourself the following questions:

a. Do my thesis, sub-themes, and conclusion make sense?
b. Do I support all of the statements that I've made with evidence from the readings?

10) This last step is probably the most important. Have someone else read your paper. Often a fresh eye will catch things that you did not. I will be happy to read drafts of your paper during my office hours.

Congratulations! You're ready to turn in your paper.

Student Examples

These samples are taken from an earlier semester that required weekly written assignments. You can read them to see how other students worked with evidence and presented their arguments. Notice that I allowed the students to use a shortened form of MLA notes in these papers, which you should not copy.

This is a student essay answering the question from week 1. Any typos are mine, and not original in the essay. The formatting on this page does not follow the requirements for thought papers, but is designed for easy reading. After you read it, look at the comments that follow.

Essay 1

When it comes to conquests, there is really no nice way of going about them. A conquest is not only not pacific in nature, it is typically a violent occurrence. To conquer is to overcome, to win over, and no one wants to be a loser. Likewise, no culture wishes to be physically overcome by a conqueror's epidemic, as occurred with the native Americans and the Spanish invasion. However, these events should not be considered brutal or catastrophic. They are merely historical events, and do not presently warrant any outrage.

In fact, many conquests have spawned numerous breakthroughs in such fields as horticulture, health care and economics. To begin with, the agricultural advancements gained through conquests include the utilization of modern farming tools and an upgrade in the quality of vegetables (AH 9). These advancements vastly changed the eating habits of the eastern regional tribes, and "as better nutrition improved health and lengthened the life span, communities grew in size and developed more complex cultures." (AH 9)

Another advantage of conquests is that they made possible an exchange of knowledge and skills among cultures that otherwise may have never even encountered one another. For instance, in The Journal of Christopher Columbus , the natives "came swimming to the ships' boats, bringing the men various gifts such as parrots and cotton thread in balls and spears" (de Las Casas, DC 13). It has also been stated that "The Age of Exploration fueled economic activity in Europe and created prosperity for the upper and middling classes" (AH 4).

Additionally, conquests spread religious beliefs to various cultures, allowing many individuals to make informed decisions for themselves regarding to whom and in which way they wished to worship. Without the knowledge of the existence of other religions, many worshipped in the manner they did only because it was the only one they had ever known. Yet another example of where conquest of a culture benefitted not only the conqueror, but also the conquered, is the case of Diaz del Castillo's Discovery and Conquest of Mexico . The caciques and Cortés established tight bonds with one another [through intermarriage which benefitted both groups].

Conquests have taken place since the beginning of civilization. Without them, many lands would remain un-utilized and undeveloped. Practicality points to the fact that to avoid conquests would be to deny growth to an empire. Growth is essential in the survival of any empire, just as it is in the survival of a city, or corporation. Cities buy additional property for expansion; corporations enter into mergers and buy-outs; the need for growth was as great in the days of conquests and empires as it is today. The theories of Charles Darwin would support conquests along the terms of natural selection and survival of the fittest. The definition of yin and yang, the balance of good and evil, backs the idea that the brutality of a conquest is necessary in order to have the peace that follows it. To put it simply, this is just the stuff of history.

Comments: This essay meets all the grammar requirements for good spelling, good usage, punctuation, paragraph and sentence construction. Aside from a split infinitive in the first paragraph ("to be physically overcome" should be "to be overcome physically"), the composition is technically correct.

This essay is a little trickier when considered for content. The author is saying that she believes conquests are part of life, why get morally outraged? (One thinks that she might feel differently if it was happening in her hometown.) Her thesis does answer the question, is clear and strong, and she develops her subthemes using evidence drawn from the documents collection (several times, in fact). Her conclusion is strong, not merely restating what she already said, but adding to it with an interesting metaphor: the modern business or city as another conqueror, and Darwin's ideas on evolution.

Essay 2

This was taken from week 11 and concerned the question: which difficulties faced by soldiers were worse: those on the battlefield or those in the post-war world they confronted after returning home?

During wartime, soldiers were confronted with extreme difficulties. Most wounds eventually resulted in infection, and ultimately death.Some might argue that such fate is by far the worst imaginable. However, many southerners believed that the supreme crises did not lie in death, but in life after war.
In "A Soldier's Letter to His Wife (1862)" James B. Griffin describes the probable post-war world for the South, should they be conquered (DC 290). Griffin wrote that the worst aspect of such an outcome would be that the Southerners "would be a humbled, down trodden and disgraced, people. Not entitled to the respect of any body, and without respect for themselves" (DC 290). Griffin directly asks his wife if she "desires to live, and be willing to leave her Children under such a government" (DC 290). He thenanswers for his wife, "No."

Most southern soldiers found the humiliation of submitting to the North to be a fate worse than death. To die for one's cause was viewed as noble, but to lose, and then "be what their Northern Masters say they may be would make them the most wretched and abject people on the face of the Earth" (DC 290). The southern "masses remained in a state of fearful expectancy" of the impending conditions immediately following the war (DC 300). These fears proved to be warranted, as most were forced to "yield submission to the national government" (DC 300).

Although the Confederacy was most significantly impacted by the conditions following the war, Union troops were also affected by the change. "Upon the whole, the soldier of the Union remained to be looked upon as a stranger, an intruder--as the 'Yankee,' 'the enemy'" (DC 301). In Carl Schurz's report to the Senate, he offered the opinion that "it was by no means surprising that prejudices and resentments, which for years were so assiduously cultivated and so violently inflamed, should not have been turned into affection by defeat" (DC 301).

The period following the war was tumultuous. Many soldiers had been separated from their families for several years. They faced devastating health problems in the war, and lost many friends and family as well. Unfortunately, surviving the war was only the beginning of their efforts to overcome crises. Upon returning to their families at the close of the war, most soldiers confronted difficulties such as a drastic change in government operations. Confederate soldiers had to set aide time to "brood over their losses and misfortunes," and face the fact that they had spent several years fighting a losing battle. They returned home to children they had never seen before, and they returned as failures. Most confederates forced themselves to swallow their pride in order to provide for their families. For these soldiers, accepting defeat was the most brutal of all difficulties, during wartime and afterwards.

Comments: The essay has a clear thesis which answers the question, and sets out to show the truth of that thesis by supporting it with subthemes and evidence drawn from the readings. The proposed answer allows for alternative interpretations ("Some might argue that such fate is by far the worst imaginable") of the same evidence, a very sophisticated way of acknowledging other, contrary interpretations. The organization of each paragraph is internally logical, and the ideas of one paragraph flow smoothly into the ideas of the succeeding paragraph, making for a series of flowing transitions from one sub-topic to the next sub-topic.

Sally Hadden
401 Bellamy Bldg.
Dept. of History
Florida State University
Tallahassee FL 32306-2200