7/30/2019 Preparing an Abstract

1/1

Preparing an Abstract For a Term Paper or Research PaperProfessor Furner

What is an abstract?

An abstract is a proposal for a paper you want to write. It should help you as you develop your research

topic and help your professor determine whether you have a good subject and adequate sources to write asuccessful paper.

What does an abstract look like?

An abstract should have the following parts, set up as shown.

Course and date Your name

Title of the Proposed Paper

Statement of the Topic

[Write a paragraph or two stating the subject, why you want to do it, and what makes it exciting,

serious, and important to you. The idea here is to justify the paper and also to demonstrate that youhave a specific, well focused subject. You should be able to locate your subject, both in the context

of surrounding events and in the primary and secondary sources.]

Example: I am interested in race relations in the Gilded Age and I want to know why the

Republican Party shifted from the strong commitment to AfricanAmerican civil rights it had shown

early in Reconstruction to abandonment of the Black vote by the end of the century. Specifically, I

would like to study the fate of the so-called Force Bill introduced in the House of Representatives by

Henry Cabot Lodge and under consideration in Congress between 1888 and 1891. President

Benjamin Harrison referred in his first inaugural to the vile southern methods of coercing Black

voters and the danger they posed to the nation. Senator John Sherman of Ohio declared, [M]ore

than a million of lawful voters are substantially disfranchised by the Democratic party . . . ; they onlyare they denied political rights, but the political power awarded to them in used against them. Yet

opponents of the Force Bill included Republicans such as Senator William Steward of Nevada, who

claimed, The best remedy for the [Negro] question is time. . . . Whenever the federal government

obtains control of state elections, as contemplated by the bill, the alternative is presented of

monarchy or revolution. On January 5, 1891, after a long filibuster, the Senate dropped the Lodge

bill and took up consideration of a silver coinage measure as part of a deal among party leaders .

Questions to be addressed in the paper

1. What led to abandonment of the Lodge bill? How much were congressional Republicans influenced

by pressures from Northern economic interests, powerful Western silverites and Southern

industrialists, concerns about the Populist challenge, and recent racial incidents?2. Did failure of the Lodge Bill reflect a rising tide of racism and a narrowing meaning of citizenship?

Where did Blacks themselves stand on the Force Bill?

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

List your sources in correct bibliographic form, including author, title, andpublication facts. See the website for a guide on style for notes and bibliography.