The draft should demonstrate, at minimum, your thesis, the organizational strategy you have chosen to adopt, the line of reasoning you have settled on for your project as a whole and the range of materials you have utilized in support of your adopted perspective towards your topic. 

To that end, your preliminary draft must contain the following:

• an INTRODUCTION, clearly identifiable as such, containing a THESIS statement.  Double underline the thesis statement for ready identification.

  
• a series of paragraphs, constituting the BODY of your essay, illustrating and supporting the validity of your thesis .  In each paragraph, underline the TOPIC SENTENCE for easy identification.

  
NOTE: you should be able make sense of the entire essay merely by reading through the thesis statement and the topic sentences in each paragraph.  Furthermore, the other sentences in each paragraph should directly support your topic sentence -- if not, they don't belong and should be removed (perhaps to another paragraph).  A restatement of your thesis and a review of your topic sentences also can serve as a good conclusion to your essay as a whole. 
  
• a summary CONCLUSION restating your thesis and your findings in support of it.

  
• a BIBLIOGRAPHY of sources cited in the body of your essay.  Be sure these reflect the appropriate citation standards contained in the Department of History's STYLE SHEET FOR WRITTEN WORK.