Jake Roberson

Unit 2 Activity 2

Part 1:
Essay Exam (History Major)

PurposeTo examine your knowledge on certain materials. Also, to examine critical thinking,
written communication. This also evaluates analysis and interpretation skills. Another main
purpose is to show a cause and effect relationship with certain pieces of history.

ContentThe content would include specific historical examples and facts. This would include
dates, as well as explanation to certain events. Connections as well as relationships should be
shown in the text.

OrganizationThe ideas should be organized in a way that the information flows well and connections
are easily made. Details should be provided in an order that will make the most sense to the
reader.

FormatThe format is generally MLA. Citations are expected and in text citations are expected.

LanguageA formal informative tone should be taken when completing an essay. The writer is
trying to prove something to the reader so they will be providing argument and reason.
Personal experience can be used here to make connections. Descriptive language and
metaphors can and should be used to help make stronger connections. Humor isnt necessary
here but if some was used it wouldnt be completely inappropriate.

SentencesSentence structure should remain concise throughout the paper to keep a nice flow of
information. Normal grammar rules apply here.

Literature Review: (History Major)

PurposeTo show an understanding of the reading as well as to make connections to other

readings/events. This is also used to evaluate the writers critical reading and analysis skills.

ContentThere should be a concise summary of the work. This should include new ideas/thoughts
on certain things from the literature. There should be reference to other events/literature to
show connections.

OrganizationThe ideas should be ordered by importance as well relevance to what youre writing
about. The ideas that are given more importance include ones that are the writers and well as
connections to other texts.

FormatThe layout should be a normal essay form.

LanguageThe tone used here should be informative and formal as they are reviewing literature. The
writer may use personal connections here. Descriptive language along with metaphors should
be used to help the reader understand and connect to the work more.

SentencesThe sentence structure should be concise and have nice flow as is it is presenting
information. Basic grammar rules apply here. Sentences can be both passive and active
depending on the point the author is trying to make.

Bonus: Interview- Dr. Pipkin

Questions:
1. What type of writing is required as a history major?
2. What are the most common genres of writing as a history major?
3. What are the features of those genres? Consider format, tone, purpose, content,
language, sentences and organization.
4. What makes good writing in a history major?
5. What skills are needed/developed by writing as a history major?
Responses: (Paraphrased)
1. Argumentative and analytical writing are the main types focused on by a history
major. Much of the writing includes analysis and interpretation of outside documents
and sources.
2. Research papers as well as literature review are the main genres of writing required
for a history major.
3. The tone is formal; ideas need to be easily identified and organized. Arguments need
to have a clear point and supporting evidence. Content includes that of your own
ideas/argument a long with support from credible sources.
4. A well organized, easy to read paper that includes: clear ideas/arguments of your own
which are then supported and connected to many other documents and other sources.
Footnotes and background information are required if the audience isnt informed.
5. Critical thinking, communication, analysis, adaptability and curiosity.

Part 2:

The source I chose to use from my work is a peer reviewed article

titled, Making good cops in the twenty-first century: Emerging issues for
the effective recruitment, selection and training of police in the United
States and abroad. Peer reviewed article are found by most audiences to
be extremely credible. The reason behind this being that other
qualified/informed people review the articles and if an article does not
meet certain qualifications it will not be published. Another reason for
respect/credibility for peer reviewed articles by most audiences is, that
the person writing them must be knowledgeable to meet all the format
and content requirements to be published. Not to even mention their area
of expertise on the information they are writing about.
The purpose of peer reviewed articles is to inform the target audience
and provide information for research. Peer reviewed articles are commonly
used in scholarly work and research. Peer reviewed articles are composed
of many things. Generally, they are structured around a specific issue or
event where the author has an informed opinion/argument to present.
Their opinion/argument is then supported and furthered by use of credible
sources. The author should include footnotes as well as background
information if necessary. The author must also include some hyperlinks as
well as a works cited page. Most peer reviewed articles, regarding
scholarly research, have similar organization. They start with an abstract
or summary and are followed by an introduction. Once the writer as
introduced the audience to their work, they can then go into to more
detail and support their claim.

Titles and headings are used both to separate different claims/ideas

as well as to identify what the following information will be about. This
helps the reader to separate claims as well as make the reading easier
and more efficient. Some other visual elements used in peer reviewed
articles are pictures, graphs, and layout. Some graphs are included to give
more information and provide it in a different way which can help the
reader relate more. Pictures provide more insight and help to connect the
reader. The layout must be organized and easy to read for the best
connection with the reader. A formal tone is taken, yet language use
shouldnt be too complex for the reader. Descriptive language is used
here; personal experience is also fine to use. The author must avoid heavy
bias to keep credibility. For this article, the author takes a concerned and
informative tone as they report on issues and information that can easily
be identified as important to the authors.
This genre is extremely effective for the message. However certain
biass and other one sided arguments cant be used because they will take
away credibility. The genre used help to portray the information and claim
in a professional way that I connected to as a reader. The authors here
met expectations and didnt break any huh rules here. News articles and
documentaries would also be effective for this message, but not
necessarily more effective.