Assignment

TOPIC: Essay comparing and evaluating the arguments of the Antifederalists (particularly Brutus) with those of the Federalist Publius over the adoption of the Constitution of 1787.

Abstract and Bibliography Assignment An abstract is a one-paragraph summary of the thesis (i.e. point to be argued) of the work, touching briefly on the methodology (historical, normative, quantitative, etc.), and the kinds of evidence to be adduced to support that thesis. It basically tells the reader at a glance where the work is going, and how the author is getting there. (See Scott and Garrison or other standard style guides for more detail.) A working bibliography lists, in proper citation method, the primary and secondary materials being consulted in the writing of the work. It may be annotated, which will help you (the author) as you proceed in your research and writing. For an annotated bibliography, only one line per reference work is required; this line, at the bottom of each entry, simply summarizes the import and relative value you assign the source. For example: Gilbert, Felix. To the Farewell Address: Ideas of Early American Foreign Policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961. Historical summary and analysis of foreign policy of the early republic; winner of the Bancroft Prize; excellent and useful as far as it goes chronologically.