HIST 450
Spring 2011 Subtheses Exercise (Misc. 7)
Due in paper at the start of class on Thursday, 26 May.
Bring in enough copies for everyone in your group, plus one for me.
The purpose of this exercise is to help you think about the overall structure of your paper and to
help you develop smaller arguments (subtheses) that will allow you to support your main paper
thesis. A subthesis is a smaller argument that will directly support your main thesis. The body
of your paper should contain three to five subtheses. Each subthesis will provide the guiding
argument for a section of the body of your paper. Thus, when you write your final paper, you
should imagine the body of your paper as divided into three to five sections, with each section
having a clear subthesis and primary sources that support that subthesis.
For this assignment, please type your responses to each of the following items:
1. Your paper’s main thesis or argument. Write out, as best you can, the argument of your
paper. If this is a tentative thesis, that’s ok. Just mention that it’s tentative. If you have no idea
what your paper will argue, take a guess and write down a couple speculative options for what
you might argue. You will find that even the process of guessing will help your thought process.
2. Your paper’s first subthesis. Write down what the first subthesis will be. If you are not sure,
take a guess (and let us know that you are just taking a guess.) It’s ok to guess at this stage. Also
write down the kinds of primary sources that you will use to develop this subthesis. Then, take a
guess as to what percentage of your total primary sources will go in this section of your paper’s
body. Write down that percentage too.
3, 4, 5, 6. Your paper’s next subtheses. Repeat step two for as many subtheses as your paper
will have. You should have at least three subtheses, but try not to have more than five.
SAMPLE
1. Thesis. The develop of jarred mayonnaise in the 1920s reflected the growing participation of women in the wage
labor force, but it was a disaster for American culinary taste.
2. Subthesis 1. Before the 1920s, Americans either made their own fresh mayonnaise by mixing eggs and oil, or they
used more flavorful condiments like mustard.
primary sources: 19th century cookbooks
10%
3. Subthesis 2. In the 1920s, Hellman used new chemical discoveries in food preservation to develop a stable longlasting mayonnaise-like product that the company labeled mayonnaise.
primary sources: mainstream newspapers, autobiography of Hellman’s owner 40%
4. Subthesis 3. Hellman’s advertising marketed their mayonnaise as a convenience for busy working women.
primary sources: magazine ads
30%
5. Subthesis 4. Hellman’s advertising stressed that their product was “modern” and more hygienic than homemade
mayonnaise.
primary sources: more magazine ads 10%
6. Subthesis 5. By the 1930s and 1940s, cookbooks no longer assumed that home cooks would be willing or able to
make their own mayonnaise. Recipes assumed store-bought, preserved mayonnaise.
primary sources: 1930s and 1940s cookbooks
10%