Assignment:
Paper asks you to be the historian. Read the segments of Peter A. Morton's The Trial of Tempel Anneke: Records of a Witchcraft Trial in Brunswick, Germany, 1663. This is a transcript of a witchcraft trial and you must take these transcripts (primary documents) and use them to answer ONE of the following three questions in a thoughtful essay. Be sure to use examples from the book and have an argument.
1. What does this trial show about attitudes towards witchcraft in Early Modern Europe?
2. What does this trial reveal about everyday life in 1663?
3. You tell the story - using footnotes to show your evidence - of what happened. From whose viewpoint would you tell it? What would you highlight? You must include a paragraph explaining how your choices highlight the historical points you are trying to make.
Goals for essays:
Include direct quotes and/or specific examples from Morton and cite them. This is your evidence and an essay is only as good as the support you have for your points.
Each body paragraph should have its own distinct topic, which should be stated in the first sentence. Your topic sentence should be centered on an idea rather than being descriptive.
The best paper should do more than just show us x, y, and z about witchcraft or everyday life. You should reach for what those points together tell us about society at that time. In the best papers the points should build off each other and cumulate in an overarching point. [For the third option you can accomplish this in the explanatory paragraph and your narrative should have a historical point as its goal]
Make sure you provide a clear thesis statement in your introduction. A thesis needs to stake out your position and should be followed by a sentence briefly summarizing how you intend to prove it. This thesis needs to be explicit about which question you are answering!
o If you answer question about social attitudes, you should present the points-of-view for at least two groups (e.g. ecclesiastical authority, secular authority, social elites, commoners, Protestants, Catholics, men, women).
You should aim for at least three specific examples to use as evidence for your argument. You will devote a separate paragraph (at least) to each point.
o All general statements need to be followed by specific examples or details to elaborate the point.
o You should offer a brief description of your example to establish the context for your analysis. Provide who, what, when, where, and how/why.
o If you paraphrase information from one of the primary sources, cite it just as you would a direct quotation.
o Choose your direct quotes judiciously.You may refer to the Introduction to help with context, but if you quote directly from the book, it should only be from one of the primary sources. This quote should explicitly demonstrate your point, so choose your evidence well.
o You should explain what this evidence demonstrates.
o You should explicitly tell me how the evidence supports your argument and why it is significant.o You should provide a transition to your next example by showing its connection to the current example.
You must cite your sources, whether it is a paraphrase or a direct quote. Direct quotes must be cited immediately after the quoted material; paraphrased information can be combined into a single citation at the end of a paragraph