Write about why the the people Christopher Columbus had on his ship as well as him did not view the land the land like the Indians who had already lived there did.

On your papers, remember to think about your audience. This is something I make a point of saying when I assign papers to a 101 or 102 class, but I didn’t do it this time. I’m not your audience, even if I’m likely the only person who will read the paper. Imagine all the college students all over the country who are taking Early American lit this summer are having a convention, and you have to present your paper or publish it in a journal they will read. They might not have read the same selections you read, but they have a similar knowledge of the historical period and dominating literary styles of the time. What would interest them? What details do you have to include to make sure they always know what you are talking about and don’t get lost or confused? What do YOU know about that brings some unique insight to your topic?

Your body paragraphs may have quotes or summary from the texts you are analyzing, but MOST of the paragraph should be your analysis. There should be more analysis than summary. Each body paragraph should have a PIE structure (or you might have learned a different acronym).

P is for point. That is the main idea you are discussing in this paragraph, and it should be related to something you mention in your thesis statement.

I is for illustration. You illustrate your point by citing evidence from the text.

E is for explanation. You follow your illustration with a detailed explanation of HOW or WHY it proves your point from the beginning of the paragraph. Sometimes it might seem self-evident, and you might have to pretend your audience is from Mars or something to get past that.