I have an essay due for my HS senior English final. Don't have any friends so its available here [Imperialism, Vietnam, and Sacred Soldiers] if I could get some feedback. I changed the name of myself and the teacher for privacy; the prompt is "How do varying perspectives, points of view, and narrative techniques define the diverse experiences of a conflict?", "the conflict" being the Vietnam War. The "two sources out of ten" comment is referencing a project for this essay where we had to write notes on ten assigned sources for the final. Most sources are from my own research/reading. Unfortunately it does have to be 12 pt and double spaced even though that gives you like five words a page.
Edit: don't mind the "we are challenged with" bit at the beginning, it's been removed in the actual document
Okay I have to go live my life actually, so I'm going to leave you with some general critique:
•There is something here. You've got the potential for a high 90s essay, but it has some weaknesses to be worked out. I don't know how senior English teachers mark even where I live much less what the standards are there, but my guess (which isn't totally ignorant but I don't want to get into why) is that as this stands I'd expect you to get a high B on this, or maybe a low A, based on the standards I'm used to where I live.
•You sometimes add extra words that the sentence doesn't need. Print out the essay and get a red pen - go through and ask yourself if a sentence might not be just as clear, if not clearer, without it. Do the same thing with entire paragraphs. Less is more, unless you're trying to hit a word count. If you are, use the word count to flesh out or justify some of your more polemical claims (see the next point).
•Good writing is about empathy. If you want a good grade on this, I think you should ask yourself how convinced you would feel by this essay if you weren't already three tracts into Lenin. What claims would you need to be supported with a source before they convinced you? What terms would require some explanation or context? Being right doesn't matter - an essay is a path you're building for your reader to follow so they can get to where you are, but to get them to the end of the path they need to feel assured the path is going to take them somewhere they want to go. The length and nature of the path depends on how far you expect your audience to start from your initial position.
•If you have the time, I would suggest another draft. The grammar and spelling seem fine but this kind of reads like a well-edited first draft, mainly because the thread of your argument kind of wavers a bit.
Sorry I have to go - I hope I wasn't being too critical I genuinely think this is good I just kind of want a comrade to be great. You're probably cooler than all your classmates and your teacher. Keep up the good work and good luck!
You were too critical and now I am crying. Red pen is a good suggestion. Somewhat is definitely junk, I got into a habit of using it after reading On Authority.