World History – World War I Essay
Prompt:
-Was World War I a necessary war?
-It is evident that World War I began due to many different reasons, some more superfluous than
others. While known at the time as The Great War, many historians are still unable to come to a
consensus on why it began. Others also believe the war to be completely unnecessary. Write an essay
in which you explain why the war began, emphasizing if it was through necessary or unnecessary
means. Your thesis should explain whether the war was necessary or unnecessary, giving the major
causes of the war. Your analysis portions of the essays should then seek to answer this question, while
providing the major causes of World War I.
The Process:
As you become more mature of a writer, you will need to amend and tweak your essays, but you can’t run
before you walk, so we’re starting really simple with a four paragraph essay. All said and told, this essay
is going to be about 2-3 pages in length, double-spaced using 12 point Times New Roman Font.
For your convenience, I have broken the essay down into three components:
1. ANTE
2. TIQA
3. CONCLUSION
Introduction (ANTE): For you, this as a single paragraph and needs to have four things:
Attention Getter: You know this one – your essay needs to grab the attention of your reader. It needs to
pull them in. The best way to do this is to write about something which you can later relate to your thesis.
Typically, this is some sort of big idea which can exist outside of the work in which you’re writing about.
The content of your attention getter will largely depend on the prompt you choose!
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Necessary Information: Provide some historical background and context for your essay. In other words,
tell us what we need to know about World War I and about Europe to understand your essay and thesis.
And there ARE things we need to know.
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Thesis: This is your thesis statement. A thesis statement should clearly indicate the topic of your paper.
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Evidence: Your thesis statement needs to be followed by the three two (since this is our first essay) ways
in which you will support your thesis statement.
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Body Paragraphs (1): The body paragraphs of your paper are your opportunity to be analytical and to
use the text as a weapon to prove your point. However, body paragraphs need to be majority analysis. For
that reason, get that big and bulky quote you’re used to using out of your head. It gets in the way of
analysis. All body paragraphs need 5 things:
Topic Sentence: Look at this as the thesis of your paragraph.
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Introduce Quote: This is where you give context to be able to use the quote. For instance, you might give
some plot information indicating what has happened in the work around the time of your quote. You
might, depending on whether or not you’re using multiple sources, give the author and the work. You
might discuss the character speaking . . . you might do a lot of things, but a quote simply cannot stand
alone. One of your quotes should be from some outside source, but the other can easily come from our
textbook or lecture. In many cases, you also don’t need to “Quote” but merely paraphrase. Write what’s
happening IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
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Quote: Your quote should appear ultimately be cited and, if possible, should be embedded directly into
the prose of your paragraph.
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Analysis: The analysis portion of a body paragraph should be the emphasis of your paragraph. It needs to
relate the quote to the topic sentence, and it should be exhaustive. Your analysis also needs to transition to
a new paragraph.
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Body Paragraphs (2): The body paragraphs of your paper are your opportunity to be analytical and to
use the text as a weapon to prove your point. However, body paragraphs need to be majority analysis. For
that reason, get that big and bulky quote you’re used to using out of your head. It gets in the way of
analysis. All body paragraphs need 5 things:
Topic Sentence: Look at this as the thesis of your paragraph.
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Introduce Quote: This is where you give context to be able to use the quote. For instance, you might give
some plot information indicating what has happened in the work around the time of your quote. You
might, depending on whether or not you’re using multiple sources, give the author and the work. You
might discuss the character speaking . . . you might do a lot of things, but a quote simply cannot stand
alone. . One of your quotes should be from some outside source, but the other can easily come from our
textbook or lecture. In many cases, you also don’t need to “Quote” but merely paraphrase. Write what’s
happening IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
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Quote: Your quote should appear ultimately be cited and, if possible, should be embedded directly into
the prose of your paragraph.
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Analysis: The analysis portion of a body paragraph should be the emphasis of your paragraph. It needs to
relate the quote to the topic sentence, and it should be exhaustive. Your analysis also needs to transition to
a new paragraph.
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Conclusion: Your conclusion needs to restate your thesis, but that isn’t all it needs to do. It should also
make connection, as your introductory paragraph did, to ideas which can be related to the text, but which
can also exist outside of the text.
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Due Dates:
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Outline: Monday, April 30
First draft: Wednesday, May 2
Final draft: Friday, May 4