Examples of C, B, and A Comparisons

Why Using Footnotes or Endnotes Can Help You with Any Evidence-Based Writing.................................................. 1

Why You Use Endnotes in This Course with Your Evidence-Based Writing................................................................ 1

Simple Endnotes for This Course............................................................................................................................. 1

Simulated Endnotes in the Examples of the C and B Comparisons............................................................................ 1

Sources for these Student Examples - What the Students Read............................................................................... 2

Example of a Comparison That Earns a C Grade for a Summary................................................................................ 2

Example of a Comparison That Earns a B Grade with Some Analysis and a Few Examples.......................................... 2

Example of a Comparison That Earns an A Grade with Good Analysis and Many Examples........................................ 3

 

Why Using Footnotes or Endnotes Can Help You with Any Evidence-Based Writing

The Chicago Manual of Style, the method used in the field of history, is ideal for evidence-based writing. Typically, you can use either footnotes or endnotes unless the professor requests one or the other.

·         Footnotes are on the same page as the text with the citation number

·         Endnotes are after the last words on the last page of the text. (In this course, use endnotes.)

 

Citation methods that embed the citations within the text (such as MLA) do not work as a way to record your evidence in a document where the intended audience (whether a boss or a professor):

·         Does not want to see citations in the document (such as in a memo to a boss or a specific assignment by a professor)

·         But may require you to provide specific proof later when the boss or professor has questions (such as at a meeting with the boss or presentation before the class)

 

To be safe in academics and the work, you always need to know where your facts came from even if your boss or your professor does not want to see citations. What is the solution? If you use a word processor such as Microsoft Word,

1.       You can specify the exact source and page for every fact in your file using footnotes or endnotes.

2.       Copy your file for your boss or professor and remove the footnotes or endnotes with 2 simple commands. (Ask if you want to know how.)

3.       Give your bosses or your professors the document they want without citations.

4.       Two weeks later (and that is typical) if your boss or professor suddenly asks you for your proof, you can provide it by looking quickly at your own copy with citations in the footnotes or endnotes.

 Why You Use Endnotes in This Course with Your Evidence-Based Writing

In this course, you use endnotes because you must write a maximum of 1 page (330 words in the font and with the margin specified), but you are allowed to have the endnotes roll to the second page.

Simple Endnotes for This Course

The endnotes shown are the simple system used in the course. The students identified the edition and whether the book was a paperback or hardback at the top of their Comparisons so the citation is only the author and the page number for the specific fact. Example if the fact used in a sentence is from page 414 of the textbook, you would write.

Ayers, p. 414

Simulated Endnotes in the Examples of the C and B Comparisons

To make it where you can see 3 Comparisons in one file without having the endnotes for three papers be confusing, the endnotes for the C and B Comparison are not done as actual endnotes made with a word processor such as Microsoft Word. Only the A Comparison is done with endnotes actually made with Microsoft Word.

Sources for these Student Examples - What the Students Read

If you want to see the pages from the source, click on the links for what our textbook says about Grant’s “Peace Policy” and about the Dawes Severalty Act.

Example of a Comparison That Earns a C Grade for a Summary

Rubric Column for Reading FOR Evidence and Writing WITH Evidence for a Comparison That Earns a C Grade

To use the description from the rubric for a comparison that earns a C grade, the student:

·         Accurately read the parts, but did not try to evaluate or to synthesize the interconnections.

·         Only summarized separately each of the parts of the question, but did not cover interconnections.

 

Example of a Comparison That Earns a C Grade and How the Endnotes Show That the Comparison Is Only a Summary

You can tell that the student only summarized separately because the citations show pages on the “Peace Policy” (414, 416) and then separately the pages on the Dawes Act (447) and the student did not use the second page on Dawes (460) which states the outcome of this act.

Grant's “peace policy” set up separate areas for Native Americans, where they could learn the “values of white society, be taught to grow crops, and be paid a small income until they could support themselves.”1 In the 1870s Native Americans like the Sioux tried to resist these policies. Also, Grant's “peace policy” became part of the scandals about corruption.2 The Dawes Severalty Act “authorized the president to survey Native American reservations and divide them into 160-acre farms.” As a result, the Native Americans’ “tribal structure and culture” was weakened.3

 

1Ayers, p. 414

2Ayers, p. 416

3Ayers, p. 447

Example of a Comparison That Earns a B Grade with Some Analysis and a Few Examples

Rubric Column for Reading FOR Evidence and Writing WITH Evidence for a Comparison That Earns a B Grade

To use the description from the rubric for a comparison that earns a B grade, the student:

·         Accurately read the parts and analyzed each one. Tried to evaluate and synthesize interconnections.

·         Revealed each part and covered some interconnections. Provided few examples.

 

Example of a Comparison That Earns a B Grade and How the Endnotes Show That the Comparison Only Revealed a Few Interconnections

Once again the student summarized separately because the citations show page numbers on the “Peace Policy” (414) and then separately the page numbers on the Dawes Act (447) and the student did not use the second page on Dawes (460) which states the outcome of this act. The student is also following too closely the structures of the language in the textbook. On the other hand, the student did try to evaluate and synthesize and covered some interconnections.

Western settlers wanted Native Americans eliminated from the region. It was suggested that tracts of land be set aside as “reservations” in the Dakota and Oklahoma territories for the Native Americans to inhabit. Effort would be made to teach them agriculture and pay them a stipend. President Grant appointed a Seneca, Ely Parker, to head Indian affairs. President Grant had respect and understanding for Native Americans and wanted them well treated. His “peace policy” was designed so that if the Native Americans cooperated with the presence of church officials on the reservations, the government would not interfere. However, the threat of military enforcement was ever present.1

 

The Dawes Severalty Act divided the tribal land into 160-acre farms, damaging the Native Americans’ “tribal structure and culture.” After dividing the tribal land, any leftover land was sold to whites. In the first 50 years after passage, Native Americans lost nearly 2/3 of their land to white settlers.2

 

1Ayers, p. 414

2Ayers, p. 447


Example of a Comparison That Earns an A Grade with Good Analysis and Many Examples

Rubric Column for Reading FOR Evidence and Writing WITH Evidence for a Comparison That Earns an A Grade

To use the description from the rubric for a comparison that earns an A grade, the student:

·         Accurately read the parts and analyzed each one. Evaluated and synthesized the interconnections.

·         Understood each part and revealed the parts’ interconnections. Provided clear and representative examples.

 

Example of a Comparison That Earns an A Grade

This example takes the facts in the Comparison that earned a B grade and reorganizes them as a Comparison. It uses 3 of many possible issues in the handwritten sketch of all the facts the pages on the “Peace Policy” and the Dawes Severalty Act. (You can find the handwritten sketch of the 5 Ws chart for the facts that are provided in the Ayers textbook, the typed 5 Ws chart, and an explanation of the method at this link.)

 

If you compare the comparison that earns a B grade and the comparison that earns an A grade, you will recognize the same student’s words used in both. What makes the paper below an A paper is the structure of a comparison on 3 issues that:

·         Makes the interconnections and examples easier to see because each issue is in a separate paragraph

·         Means each paragraph has facts and citations from the “peace policy” and from the Dawes Severalty Act making it easier to see how history changed

 

You can see the differences best with the Comparison with colored labels to point out the paragraphs and the citations.

 

Grant’s “Peace Policy” and Dawes Severalty Act reveal what western settlers and easterners wanted. Although different, what the two wanted damaged the Native Americans.

 

With both the “peace policy” and the Dawes Severalty Act, western settlers wanted Native Americans removed from where they were. In the 1860s, President Grant’s “Peace Policy” reduced the Native Americans’ land in the Great Plains to “reservations” for tribes in the Dakota and Oklahoma territories.[1] By the 1880s westerners wanted the tribes “gone.” In 1887, the Dawes Act divided the land the tribes had owned into 160-acre farms for individual Native Americans and any leftover land was sold to whites. In the first 50 years after the passage of the Dawes Act, Native Americans lost nearly 2/3 of their land to whites.[2]

 

On the other hand, with both the “peace policy” and the Dawes Severalty Act, easterners wanted the Native Americans to become part of American life. Easterners favored Grant’s “peace policy” because its plan was to teach Native Americans the “cultural values of white society” and agriculture. It also planned to pay them a stipend. President Grant even appointed a Seneca, Ely Parker, to head Indian affairs.[3] In the 1880s, easterners had pushed for reform in the treatment of the Indians and assimilation of them into American life, and the Dawes Act included a clause stating that any Indian who “adopted ‘habits of civilized life’ became a U.S. citizen,” but that rarely happened.[4]

 

With both of these periods, the actions of westerners and easterners had a negative result for the Native Americans. Grant’s “peace policy” was designed so that if the Native Americans cooperated with the presence of church officials on the reservations, the government would not interfere. However, the threat of military enforcement was ever present. The whites viewed the policy as “humane,” but the Native Americans saw it as a way to “undermine their way of life.“[5] The Dawes Severalty Act damaged the Native Americans’ “tribal structure and culture.”[6]   It also “completed the process of stripping Indians of their rights.”[7] As Ayers notes, the “combined efforts” of easterners and westerners “devastated Indian culture.”[8]

 

 

Because Endnotes are always placed at the end of the paper, scroll down below to see them after this required contact information on how to reach your professor. You will find a short line and underneath it the superscript numbers 1 through 8 with the specific page cited.

 

These examples show the simple method used in this course when citing the textbook. Since the first fact used is from page 414, you would use this for the first endnote.
 Ayers, p. 414

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2015

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2015

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/

 

 



[1] Ayers, p. 414

[2] Ayers, p. 447

[3] Ayers, p. 414

[4] Ayers, p. 447

[5] Ayers, p. 414

[6] Ayers, p. 447

[7] Ayers, p. 460

[8] Ayers, p. 447