LHR458Y: History of Work in America

I. Overview
II. Objectives
Thesis Statement and Thesis Statement Paragraph
Writing Style authority
Authorized Dictionaries
Inclusion of Opposing Viewpoints
Endnotes
Research
III. Basic Guidelines
IV. Rubrics/Grading
I. OVERVIEW
A scholarly expository essay is a structured, informative, logical argument (thesis) of your viewpoints and your opponents’
thoughts on a given topic. The scholarly expository essay is about arguing your ideas, presenting your AND your
opponents’ ideas, and offering a critical analysis of points of view. It is not about overwhelming the reader with facts or
regurgitating what you have read. The expository essay is about your interpretation of the arguments found in various
sources about your topic.
An expository essay is a logical argument, not a violent or negative disagreement, but a reasonable statement supported
by logic and evidence. It is your thoughtful, reasoned, relatively balanced, analytically argumentative interpretation of your
topic. You use logic and evidence to prove your thesis, which is an elegant or sophisticated statement of your opinion or
viewpoint. Construct a clear, succinct, unmistakable thesis statement that forces you to answer within the statement itself
the “why?” or the “how come?” to the way you think about your topic.
If you have no idea on how to write an expository essay, especially on how to construct the thesis statement, then
contact the instructor. Contact the instructor and/or a reference librarian if you need to know the background to your topic.
The expository essay assignments involve the following.
Write three short essays (each a draft of a different portion or section of the expository essay. See also details in
each short essay guide.
Write the thesis statement and the thesis statement paragraph as part of short essay 03.
Combine the edited short essays into a draft of your expository essay and expand the draft to write the final
version of your expository essay.
LHR458Y: History of Work in America
Work on the Expository Essay
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II. OBJECTIVES
Thesis Statement and Thesis Statement Paragraph
A scholarly expository essay has a thesis statement. A thesis statement is your argument supported by logic and
evidence.
The thesis statement (in the discipline of history) is comprised of one sentence that presents your central idea that
is debatable. It expresses a viewpoint on a topic about which reasonable, well-meaning people might disagree. A thesis
statement allows the essayist to explore various sides of the topic, including opposing ideas. It also informs the
reader what to expect in the essay.
Roughly defined, a thesis statement is a sentence that contains two elements: your opinion on the topic and your reason
that explains why you think the way you do about your topic. Both elements of the thesis statement must contain the
same idea or theme. Make certain that your thesis statement is clear, unambiguous, concise, and precise.
A well-constructed thesis statement paragraph frames and supports a thesis. The thesis statement paragraph is
comprised of thematic sentences that support and logically flow toward the thesis statement. A thematic sentence
presents a main idea that connects to the thesis statement, and it is explored in detail in the body of the essay. Make the
thesis statement the last sentence in the first or second paragraph of the expository essay.
See the Common Writing Style Problems Guide for details about the thesis statement.
Writing Style Authority
Your instructor’s authority for writing style and thesis is Nancy Packer and John Timpane, Writing Worth Reading, third (or
later) edition.
Authorized Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
The instructor’s authority on spelling, definition, usage, and etymology is the latest edition of:
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (https://ahdictionary.com/) or
The Oxford English Dictionary (https://libraries.psu.edu/databases) available on the library’s databases page.
Never cite Wikipedia, an encyclopedia on the World Wide Web, because Wikipedia does not provide peer review of its
entries.
Inclusion of Opposing Viewpoints
Discuss both your ideas AND your opponents’ ideas. The argument in a scholarly expository essay must explore different
sides, including their strengths and weaknesses, of the topic. Your job is to present major sides of the debate or
controversy fairly and honestly while you present your interpretation of the topic.
You cannot make the essay one-sided. You should find flaws in your opponents’ argument or premises and be logical in
explaining your thesis. Be honest in stating that your viewpoint has weaknesses. For example, if you are for a periodic
increase in the minimum wage, then you must be honest in carefully presenting different anti-periodic increase in the
minimum wage and anti-minimum wage views while carefully explaining why your views are worthwhile.
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Endnotes
Use endnotes, NOT footnotes, NOT parenthetical references. You must cite various sources to support your
argument. Documentation must be thorough enough to give the reader a clear idea of the evidence for specific claims.
Have as many cited sources as needed above the required minimum number of sources to support your essay.
An endnote may contain more than one title of a cited source. If appropriate, use the assigned readings for the course
and other sources, for example, books, journals, newspapers, classroom discussion, messages, lecture notes, websites,
and so forth.
All cited sources must conform to the Chicago style of documentation. See the Endnotes Guide for details.
Research
You increase your chances of writing a high quality, scholarly expository essay when you engage in good, in-depth
research. More importantly, you will increase your chances of writing a high quality, scholarly expository essay when you
choose a topic that you love, that truly excites you. Always think about your topic. Continue to look at your topic from
different angles. Play mind games with your topic. Always be critical about your argument.
Be very careful when searching the Internet. You must exercise critical thought when looking at various websites because
some websites, which appear so well written in conveying ideas and facts, are truly disreputable. As for interpretations,
you must learn to be judicious in your assessment of the information.
Use the library. Reference librarians are ready to assist you. They will work with you to find material from high quality
sources that in some cases are not on the Internet. They also have a good idea about which websites are effective for
your topic. You must have an outline of how to approach your research topic before consulting with a reference librarian.
But do not wait until the last month of the semester to talk to a reference librarian because the reference librarian will be
assisting many students from numerous courses.
III. BASIC GUIDELINES
The expository research essay has standard margins, type size twelve, and Times New Roman or Calibri font, preferably
double-spaced. (The one and one-half spacing is fine as well.)
Your instructor does not count the cover page, charts, tables, illustrations or the endnotes toward the minimum number of
pages of text in the essay.
The range of the number of pages for the expository essay is a minimum of ten full pages of text and a maximum of
twenty full pages of text.
You need to cite a minimum of twelve titles of sources of any combination of books, articles from journals, magazines,
and newspapers, and other formats. If your sources are from the Internet, then you must include the URL (the website
address) in the endnotes. You may cite encyclopedias and dictionaries in your endnotes, but encyclopedias and
dictionaries do not count toward the number of cited sources in your endnotes.
Use the university library catalogue, available on the library home page (https://libraries.psu.edu/) at , or other online library
catalogues to locate books appropriate for your topic. For articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers, go to the P
attee-Paterno Library databases page (https://libraries.psu.edu/databases) .
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IV. RUBRICS/GRADING
NOTE: The course designer follows the rubrics shown below. If your instructor wants to use a different set of rubrics, then
he or she will announce the rubrics that he or she wants to apply. In addition, this rubrics/grading section is for the
expository essay only. See the short essay drop boxes for rubrics/grading of the short essays.
Criteria for grading essays include one’s effort, rigor of thought and logic, spelling, grammar, style, syntax, thesis, writing
style, use of sources, and accuracy of citing the readings. Refer to this guide, the Common Writing Style Problems Guide,
and the Endnotes Guide.
Checklist criteria:
The following checklist items must be met before placing the expository essay in the drop box.
Must have the required minimum number of twelve cited titles of sources
Must have page numbers
Must start the page numbering on the first page of text, not on the cover page
Must have the required minimum number of pages of text;
cover page, charts, tables, illustrations, and endnotes do not count toward the number of pages of text.
Must not use unauthorized dictionaries or encyclopedias like Wikipedia
Must have no or very few spelling mistakes, or at least no consistent spelling mistakes
Must use the Times New Roman or Calibri font and type size twelve
Must submit the essay as a Microsoft Word file attachment
If the above is not followed, then your instructor will either return the essay to you for corrections or deduct ten points
from the final expository essay score if time has run out at the end of the semester.
Graded
Elements for
Expository
Essay Maximum 10 points earned Maximum 5 point earned Maximum 1 point earned
Timeliness (see
course
schedule)
Points earned x
1 =__
Submitted before 12:00 pm of
the due date
Submitted after 12:00 pm
the due date but before
12:00 pm of the last date
of finals week
Submitted after 12:00 pm of the last
date of the finals week
Endnotes
Points earned x
1.5 =__
Minimum of 12 cited titles of
sources; clear & well-formatted
of note numbers & citations; or
not enough cited sources for
your topic
Fewer than 12 cited titles
of sources
No endnotes; or note numbers not
in sequential number order;
improper use of software to create
note numbers or endnotes
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Pagination
(page numbers)
Points earned x
0.5 =__
Paginated (page numbers);
minimum of ten full pages of
text
Paginated (page
numbers); less than ten
full pages of text No pagination (page numbers)
Other
Mechanics
Points earned x
1 = __
No or very few scattered
spelling mistakes; no use of
unauthorized dictionaries or
encyclopedias; professional
tone
Some or very egregious
spelling mistakes and
typos; no use of
unauthorized dictionaries
or encyclopedias; use of
slang terms
Many or consistent or very
egregious spelling mistakes and
typos; use of unauthorized
dictionaries or encyclopedias;
general sloppiness of writing; use of
slang terms
Common
writing style
problems by
category:
#1through #23
& #26 through
#44
Points earned x
2.5 =__
No problems present, or any six
or fewer problems by category
present
Any seven to twelve
problems by category
present
More than any twelve problems by
category present
Thesis
statement &
thesis
statement
paragraph:
Points earned x
1 =__
Thesis statement & thesis
statement paragraph are clear
& strong
Thesis statement & thesis
statement paragraph are
unclear or weak No thesis statement
Intellectual
contents
Points earned x
2.5 =__
Presentation of the topic, with
analysis of the strengths &
weaknesses of the topic & your
thoughts or impressions of the
topic; not a polemic or diatribe
Presentation of the topic
with your thoughts or
impressions on the topic;
somewhat unbalanced in
presentation of viewpoints
Presentation of the topic without
your thoughts or impressions on the
topic; unbalanced presentation;
polemical or a diatrib