Your History Research Paper
by
Ethan M. Lewis
February,
2015 (revised April 2015)
I.
Introduction
During the Winter and Spring trimesters you will
have the opportunity to become an expert on a part of
20th century United States history. You will choose a
topic that interests you, research it, and develop a
thesis that you will then use to produce a report which
is between 7 and 11 pages long (double
spaced--Times font size 12). You will write
the paper and then revise it based on comments from me.
Before the end of the school year we will have a
symposium in class, during which you will be able to
share the fruits of your labors with your classmates.
The following are some details on all of the
component parts of this research paper, including due
dates. Please note that, since each part of the
project depends upon the preceding parts, the due
dates are fixed. If you are absent on the day
that something is due you are required to submit your
work by email. Failure to submit an assignment will
result in a zero for that assignment.
II.
Topic--Due Friday, February 6th at start of class.
Bring me a printed list of three (3) possible
topics. You should have a certain level of
specificity.
Your
final topic will be approved by me by Monday, February
9th. Once your topic is approved it CANNOT
change.
III.
Thesis--Due Friday, February 20th at start of
class--5% of total.
What's more important: a topic or a thesis? In my
opinion, the thesis is more important. Without a topic
there is no paper, but without a thesis, there might as
well not be a paper. The research project on which you
are embarking is a chance for you to learn a great deal
about a particular piece of United States History, and
then share your knowledge with others. The way that
historians do this (and you should all consider
yourselves historians, at least for the time being) is
by writing papers in which they argue specific points,
trying to convice the reader to believe their particular
interpretations of the events they are discussing.
Remember that we study history to make better sense of
the world in which we live. The number of potential
"facts" and "sources" that an historian can consult is
nearly infinite. Your job is to find a selection of
sources that help you make a persuasive case for your
thesis.
A thesis statement is a sentence (or sentences)
that clearly previews the main ideas that the body of
the paper will explore. In a history paper, a thesis
statement answers a question. The following are examples
of thesis statements in some papers I've written :
This is from
my Master's
Thesis on major league baseball in 1890. It is
wordy, but the paper was much longer than what you have
been assigned. Your thesis statements CAN be this long,
but they will probably be shorter:
The Players' National
League of 1890 represented the final significant
challenge to professional sports as we know them.
The Players' League was a case of skilled laborers
attempting to regain control over the sale of
their product (baseball games) from the profit
driven entrepreneurs who controlled the
established major leagues. The Players' League was
a conservative revolution, which looked back to
the earliest days of professional baseball as an
organizational model which enabled players to have
more rights and options than the established major
leagues permitted. Contrary to most historians'
treatment, the Players' League was not doomed from
the start; in fact, it was a highly viable product
which ultimately fell apart due to naivete, and
the victory of profit over principle on the part
of some of its members.
This is from a paper
I wrote about Jesse Bright, who was expelled from
the US Senate at the start of the Civil War:
During the 1860's, as the
sectional crises that had sundered Americans
politically for years exploded into a civil war
between North and South, many northern politicians
continued to practice politics as usual. Contrary
to calls for "the patriotic of all classes [to]
unite in invoking ...a spirit of [political]
harmony" in the union, partisanship continued to
flourish. This partisanship included efforts to
purge government of elected Democratic officials
who were deemed to be unsympathetic to the goals
and policies of the dominant Republican Party. A
common method of neutralizing opponents was to
label them disloyal, a charge which is naturally
highly serious during wartime.
The following links give some good tips for
generating and evaluating thesis statements in academic
writing:
- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/1/
-Purdue University: This page, from Purdue's On-line
Writing Laboratory (OWL) is a good jumping off
point. See especially the section on "Argumentative
Thesis Statements". You may also want to explore the
other hundreds of handouts at the OWL site, as they
are very useful and informative on all areas of
writing.
IV.
Annotated Working Bibliography--Due at the start of
class on Friday, March 20th--10% of total
You will utilize the annotation feature in
NoodleTools to explain to me HOW you plan to use
each source, WHY the source is a good one and to
give a brief summary of the source. This will
require you to get a head start creating citations in
NoodleTools. See me or one of the librarians with
questions. As a guideline, the following are the minimum
requirements
for your
sources:
- AT LEAST 10 articles from
the Historical
Newspapers database or equivalent
- AT LEAST 2 scholarly
journal articles from the History Study Center
database or equivalent
- AT
LEAST 1 reference
book
- AT
LEAST 1 circulating
book
You
will hand me a printed copy of the
annotated bibliography at the start of
class. Use the "Print/Export" feature of
NoodleTools to generate the
document. MAKE SURE TO PUT
YOUR NAME ON IT!!!
V.
Note Taking--notes will be reviewed on NoodleTools on
three separate occasions--20% of total
Taking notes is a crucial skill when writing a
research paper. You take notes for the following
reasons:
-
to keep track of important information
- to
help you organize your thoughts
- to
protect you from plagiarism
When you are reading the sources
you consult for your paper, it is important for you to
take written notes. No matter what you are reading, it
is important for you to record it in writing, listing
the source, the author, the page number and the
copyright information (This will be a huge help when you
are writing your footnotes). Remember that you have to
cite sources when you quote directly, and also when you
paraphrase. In your notes, you should always copy the
exact quote.
Some people keep notes on index cards, others use
notebooks, and some use a computer to keep track of
their notes. In future, you will be able to develop your
own notetaking style, but for this project you will all
use a notetaking style taught to you by Mrs. Lewis, and
you will need to submit your notes through
NoodleTools. I will review your notes to keep
track of your progress. Note that I will be checking
your notes on the following days:
- February
23
- March
23
- March
30
You should demonstrate consistent research work.
Naturally you will have more notes to share on March
23rd than on February 23rd, but I will want to see notes
on each of the days listed above. Notetaking will
comprise 20% of your grade. It is very important that
your notes be thorough--otherwise they won't help you
write the paper. Therefore, half of each
notecard grade will be on the QUALITY of the notes.
We will spend time in class talking about this
very important topic.
VI.
Outline--Preliminary Outline will be due Friday,
April 10th Friday, April 17th--15% of total
On Friday, April 17th, you will be expected to
hand in an outline of your paper. This is 12 days before
the first draft is due, so the outline will be
preliminary at best. However, it is a good habit to
prepare an outline during the note taking process, as it
really helps you when it comes time to write. We will
spend time in class discussing outlining as we get
closer to the due date. You will turn in a PRINTED
version of the outline WITH YOUR NAME ON IT at the end of
class today.
VII.
Citation of Sources
For this project footnotes using the Chicago
style are required. Your paper will also include a
bibliography page listing every source you looked at.
Even if you do not quote from a source, even if you
don't think you "used" it, every source you
ever consulted for the project needs to be included.
If you have questions about proper citation
format, please ask me or a librarian. Remember that YOU
ARE EXPECTED TO USE NOODLETOOLS IN COMPILING YOUR
CITATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY.
You are more than welcome to use the Internet to
help you find sources, but every source that you use
should be of high quality, and you should be able to
assess the author's qualifications to write about the
topic. It is almost always easier to perform this
assessment on books, journal articles and periodicals than
on web pages. The librarians can help you find reputable
sources online--it is likely that with their help you
will find much better electronic sources than if you try
on your own. Don't waste time on Google--work
with the librarians to find high quality sources.
To summarize:
- Books are
often the best sources since they often have
indexes, footnotes and other useful features
- The
librarians can obtain almost any book for you via
InterLibrary Loan
- The
textbook is not an acceptable source for this
project.
- The
librarians can help you find many articles that are
published online. Make an appointment with Mrs.
Lewis or Mrs. Miller if you need help searching the
library databases. You can find excellent sources
there, but you will probably NOT
find good sources on your own, using Google, or
other similar search tools.
VIII.
First (not "rough"!) Draft--Due Wednesday,
April 22nd Wednesday, April 29th
Friday, May 1 at start of class--20% of total
On Wednesday,
April 29th Friday, May 1st I will expect a
first draft of your paper. It needs to be complete with
proper citation of sources, and should be between 7 and
11 pages long. You should seriously consider taking
advantage of the Peer Writing Lab to help you whip this
draft into shape. I will read the paper and mark it with
suggestions for revisions. I will also give it a grade
based on the term paper
grading rubric. After I return the paper to you,
you will have a week to make revisions before turning in
the final draft. You will submit the paper using
Turnitin.com. Make sure to meet with me or a
librarian in advance if you have questions about
Turnitin.com.
IX.
Final Draft--Due Friday, May 8th Friday,
May 15th Monday, May 18th at start of
class--25% of total
On Friday,
May 15th Monday, May 18th your final draft is
due on Turnitin.com by the start of class.
X.
Symposium--Due TBA.--5% of total.
At a date to be
determined we will have a symposium where you will make a
poster summarizing your research for your classmates.
Note: This might end up being replaced by a
self-evaluation essay. I will let you know in advance.
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