This page is for those of you who are entering the Daughters of the American Revolution Essay Contest. The final essay is due Friday, December 5.

2008-2009 TOPIC: What message did Lincoln's Gettysburg Address communicate to our war-torn nation in 1863? How are the ideals articulated in the speech still relevant for our country today?

Judging & Awards: Judging will be based on historical accuracy, adherence to topic, organization of material, interest, originality, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and neatness. Pictures, maps, drawings, graphics, and other additions will not be considered in judging and should not be included.

The essay should be 600 - 1000 words long.

You need a title page and a bibliography. 

DAR_How_to-_Title_Page.doc (Our sponsoring DAR chapter is the Skokie Valley Chapter.) 

Bibliographic_Guide.doc It might not be a bad idea to register on EasyBib.com, and cite your sources as you go. If you register, the site will save your biblioraphy for you.

Here is a link to my del.icio.us account, which contains links to various sites about Lincoln, Gettysburg, and the Civil War.

Here is a document with suggested readings.

Here is a link to our LMC's list of databases. Here, you will find credible resources. For login and password information, see pages 7 & 8 of your student planners.

Here are some questions to guide your thinking. You don't have to write responses, but you may.

And to make the point that the Gettysburg Address is, in fact, relevant today, here is a transcript of Obama's victory speech, in which he references Lincoln's famous words.

I found an interesting site that gives some ideas for beginning and ending your essays. It offers strategies you might not have tried before! This site also offers some ideas for conclusions ... but read through them carefully; some are interesting; some are pretty tired. Here is another site that offers some ideas for conclusions with examples; it's good.

Are you tired of saving documents to your flash drive? Tired of having to email your work to yourself, so you can work at home and at school? Try creating a google doc. If you already have a google account, you can use your login information to start a document. Or just register by clicking the Get Started button. You'll be able to access your document from any computer with internet access.

Here is the evaluation form I will use to assess and grade your writing. Remember that it is scored as a percentage. Total points will vary based on which assignments your writing teacher excuses you from doing in class. Please fill out the "Student Score" section of the evaluation and hand it in with your final draft. You may type into the document or print and fill in by hand. 

Email the complete essay (with title page and bibliography) to me at rosenej@wilmette39.org. Or hand a hard copy to your writing teacher or me. These are due on Friday, December 5.