Anthropology Guidelines For the Evaluation of Papers Prof. Jeanne L. Shea/Fall 2006

1. Completion of Assignment: It is crucial that you address all parts of the assignment.

2. Incorporation of course readings and class content: Explicitly relate the observations that you make in your paper to specific assigned readings, lectures, and class discussions. Cite sources.

3. Thesis: It is vital that your paper has a thesis statement (your main point) that is clear, concise, specific, interesting, and worth arguing (not too obvious/simplistic). In a paper of 30 pages or less, you should put your thesis statement in your first or second paragraph (preferably on the first page) so that the reader knows right off where the paper is going. Put all parts of your thesis statement in one place. Make sure to signal that this is the main point that will run throughout your whole paper. Somewhere right before or right after your thesis statement, situate your argument within the context of scholarly debates so that your reader gets a sense of why your argument is important and how your argument is similar to and/or different from other scholars’ views on the topic. Mention any strong counter-arguments and/or counter-evidence that could be waged against your argument. Explain why you feel that your argument is more reasonable and supportable.

4. Structure: In organizing your paper, choose a structure that will best serve to carry the flow of your argument. After your thesis statement, include a phrase, sentence or brief paragraph that foreshadows the structure of the body of your paper (including the main topical sections of your paper, the main logical steps in your paper, and the main sources of your evidence). In the body of your paper, start each paragraph with a topic sentence that gives a clear and comprehensive sense of the main topic and the main point of the paragraph. Check that your topic sentences carry your argument. Try reading just the first two paragraphs of your paper, the first sentence of each paragraph in the body of your paper, and your concluding paragraph. Do the main argument and topical divisions of your paper come through loud and clear? Are the paragraphs and sections of your paper arranged in optimal order for communicating your main point? Does the paper sound repetitive or thin on ideas in some places? Are any sentences or paragraphs out of place or peripheral to your argument? Could the paper benefit from the addition of subheadings?

5. Conclusion: In writing a conclusion, it is often helpful to include a summary of the main points you made in the body of the paper, but make certain your conclusion is not merely a rehash of the thesis statement from the introduction. Bring something fresh and new into your conclusion, such as insight into the broader theoretical or practical implications of your findings.

6. Transitions: Check for smooth transitions as you move from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, section to section, introduction to body, and body to conclusion. Make sure that the body of the paper delivers what the thesis statement and foreshadowing of structure promised. Check that the thesis statement and foreshadowing of structure include all important dimensions found in the paper’s body. Look for contradictions in the statements you make in your paper, and either strive for consistency or acknowledge the contradiction and why it is difficult to reconcile.

7. Evidence: Give concrete evidence for your main points. Include enough vivid, concrete evidence and examples to convince your reader of your point and to capture their interest. Make sure that the evidence you choose really does do a good job at illustrating the point that you want to make. Tell your reader the historical time period and geographic location in which the data was collected. When appropriate, draw upon more than one kind of evidence (narrative, statistical, etc.). Interpret the meaning of quotations and other evidence for the reader; do not expect that everyone will have the same interpretation that you do. Specify what is your own point of view and what is the point of view of other scholars, your professor, your classmates, people you’ve interviewed, or other sources. Make sure to use quotations, ideas, arguments and evidence from other authors in a critical manner; just because something has been put into print by a published author does not mean that it will necessarily be credible to your reader. Cite the sources of your evidence and of any borrowed ideas or terminology. Define any specialized terms the first time you use them, and cite the source(s) for your definitions. Give a brief introduction (a phrase or a sentence or so) of any interviewees, scholars, books, articles, or films that play an important role in your paper. Before using a direct quotation, introduce the source (e.g., according to Smith, …).

8. Cover page, thesis/outline page, internal citations, endnotes. bibliography, annotations: In turning in your paper, you should include, in order, a cover page, a thesis/outline page, the body of your paper, endnotes if needed, and a bibliography (plus annotations if assigned). The cover page should include your name, the date, paper title, assignment title, course title, professor’s name, and your contact information. The thesis/outline page should state your main argument and provide an outline indicating the main sections of your paper, the main steps in your argument, and the evidence and sources used to support your points. In writing your paper, you should follow the AAA Style Guide from American Anthropological Association (see handout) which abides by the Chicago Manual of Style (Turabian 1996). In citing sources, you should use internal citations in the body of your paper within the sentence or paragraph in which the information is cited (Turabian 1996: 179). Internal citations are standard in anthropology and are used instead of footnotes. If you have essential side comments that would break up the flow of your paper, these should be placed into a section titled ENDNOTES between the end of the body and the bibliography. Endnotes are listed by number in the order cited in the text and are signaled in the body with superscripted numbers.¹ The bibliography, by contrast, lists sources in alphabetical order. At the beginning of your bibliography, you should type “WORKS CITED” (only the sources cited in your paper) or “BIBLIOGRAPHY” (an exhaustive search). Then type the sources in alphabetical order in the following format. If you are assigned to annotate your bibliography, then each source should also be followed by a sentence or two stating how that source was useful in writing your paper.

Turabian, Kate L.

1996 A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Willis, Marie

1995 Recent Studies of Infertility. In Interdisciplinary Research on Health and Healing. Carolyn Johnson, ed. Pp. 32-45. Durham: Chapel Hill Press.

Yandow, Evan

1996 Cultural Variation in Views of Femininity, Masculinity, and Androgyny. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gender Research, January 14(1): 27-35.

Shea, Jeanne

2006 Notion of Culture in Anthropology. Lecture presented in Anthropology 225: Anthropological Theory. Burlington: University of Vermont, September 5.

American Anthropological Association

2006 Ethics in Anthropology. Electronic document, http://www.aaanet.org/ethics.htm, accessed January 1, 2006.

9. Mechanics: Proofread for grammatical and spelling errors. Look for sentences and paragraphs that are too long and need to be subdivided. Tone down language that seems extreme. Enliven boring sections; clarify confusing parts. Trim your paper if it is over the page limit; beef it up if it is too short. Papers should have one-inch margins and be typed, stapled, double-spaced, in 12-point font, with one-inch margins and pages numbered.