Term Paper on "Horatio Alger Gender and Success in the Gilded Age"

Quoted Instructions for "Horatio Alger Gender and Success in the Gilded Age" Assignment:

I need a book report and some writtings to review the book Horatio Alger: Gender and Success in the Gilded Age and how it correlated with the era of the happenings from the text . I just want a report about the book:Horatio Alger: Gender and Success in the Gilded Age, I will write about any info regarding my text book, so any info given in the following about how it correlated with the text I will add. I just need a 3 page book reprt about the book.

This is the instructions I was given for the report.

Each book review will be in the following format. It must be written in a Times Roman 12 point font, double-spaced, left-justified, with one-inch margins all around. The student's name will be in the top right corner of the first page only. There will be page numbers in the bottom center of each page. It must be at least three full pages but not more than four. Any material over four pages will be discarded. Any deviation from these instructions will cost ten points per deviation.

For each book, the first paragraph (not more than half a page in length) will summarize the book and give the author's thesis and themes. The next paragraphs will relate specific parts of the book to the material in the text, showing how the novel helped the student understand that era.The era is the time period during the happenings of the book.( That is what I need.) The last paragraph will tell how/if this book was useful and whether it should be used again to teach US history.

THe report will be graded on how well you understand and communicate the ideas of both the novel and the text book, so both content and writing skill count.Please do not worry about the text book material, I will add this if needed. Please read and follow all the grammar rules below. Every time you violate one of these rules, you will lose one point.

1. Use third person only. No I, we, me, you, yours, ours, or us. Even if you are asked your opinion, phrase it in third person. Do not say, “I think this book is well-written.” Say instead, “This book was well-written.”

2. Use past tense at all times. This may be a new skill, but you need to know how to write in past tense.

3. Write in complete sentences. Each sentence must have a subject (noun) and a verb.

4. The subject and the verb should match. Coordinate ideas should be expressed in the same form.

5. Use written numbers, not numerals, for all numbers under one hundred and any number that can be written in two words, like one thousand. Exceptions are that if you have to write one numeral, all numbers in that sentence should be numerals. “There were 365 days that year, and 7 in each week.” Do not begin a sentence with a numeral. If you write a percentage, write 73 percent.

6. Write all words completely. Do not use any abbreviations or contractions. Exceptions are that for names commonly referred to by initials, once you write out something completely, you can abbreviate it, following this form. “Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was elected four times.” After this sentence, you may use FDR. The United States can be abbreviated US after it is written fully once, without the need for parenthesis.

7. Write all names completely the first time, including title if any, then just use last names. “John Smith, Secretary of State, died. Smith was a member of the Baptist Church.” Do not use Mr., Ms., or Mrs.

8. Do not use italics, bold, or exclamation points for emphasis. Do not use colons, semi-colons, or ellipsis unless you are absolutely sure you are using them correctly. Do not put quotation marks around phrases or clichés. Use parentheses as little as possible.

9. Do not use slang, colloquialisms, or vulgar language. Do not use clichés.

10. Do not use an apostrophe to indicate a plural. That is incorrect. “Comanches” are Indians; “Comanche’s” means something that belongs to a particular Indian. Do not use apostrophes with decades. The 1960s is correct, 1960’s is not.

11. Do use an apostrophe to indicate a possessive. Use 's after words ending in s.

12. Underline or italicize titles of books; use quotation marks around titles of articles.

13. Short sentences are usually better than long ones, but make sure that you vary your sentence structure so your writing is not choppy. If a sentence is more than three lines long on your paper, it is too long. Break it into shorter sentences.

14. Use active voice as much as possible. Passive voice, using variations of the verb to be, should be avoided. Write “The car hit him” instead of “He was hit by a car.”

15. Use a comma after the first and second items in a string of three, as red, white, and blue.

16. Phrase things positively, not negatively.

17. Use “who,” not “that” or “which,” after a person. “The man who drove the car went fast.”

18. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. It should be indented, with no spaces between paragraphs.

19. After you have written your paper, have a friend, or the writing lab in the Classroom Center, proofread it for you, or read it aloud. Often, what you thought sounded good as you wrote it sounds clumsy to other readers.

20. Use the spell-checker and grammar-checker on your computer, but do not trust them. PROOFREAD your paper before turning it in!