History 4C Research Paper Assignment

Prof. Helton
Foothill College
Fall 2015
Your term project for this is class is to produce a piece of original research relating to a topic in
Western Civilization after 1789. The research paper counts as 30% of your final grade.
Your goal in this paper is to provide an intelligent and well-researched interpretation of history.
You must use at least three primary sources and three secondary sources. The primary sources
could be documents already published (in books or on the Internet), or information you collect
yourself (by interviewing relatives or acquaintances, for example, or using old letters or other
documents from your family). You will need to supplement your primary sources with secondary
sources in order to provide context and support for your argument. Encyclopedias (either print
or online) are not acceptable secondary sources. This includes Wikipedia.
Your interpretation of the past is encapsulated in your thesis statement. Be sure that the thesis
statement is clear, succinct, and appears early in the paper. The goal of the paper is to prove to the
reader that the thesis is a reasonable interpretation of the past. You will do this by providing
evidence from primary and secondary sources, and organizing that evidence in a logical and
convincing way.
Remember that you want to express your interpretation of your topic. Your paper should not
simply summarize other people’s views, or blandly recite facts or quote sources without explaining
their significance. Nor should it be a boring narrative (“Alexander the Great was born. Then he
conquered a bunch of places. Then he died.”) Your job is to come up with a creative and accurate
interpretation of the past, and to support that interpretation with as much evidence as possible.
If at any point you get confused, exhausted, or frustrated, send me an email or talk to me during
office hours. I am here to help you (and to make sure you do your best work)!
Suggested Topics:
** Anything about Western Civilization after 1789 that you find interesting.
** Any unanswered questions you have about the material discussed in the class.
** Any perspective or issue that provoked a strong reaction in you during class. It’s always
better to write about things for which you have a passion.
** If you are stuck for ideas, please come see me or email me. It’s also a good idea to browse
through the course books and to talk to a reference librarian.
Sample topics (most of these would need to be narrowed down considerably):
• The French Revolution
• The British / Dutch / French / German
/ Spanish Empire in India, Africa, the
Middle East, Australia, the Americas, etc.
• The development of capitalism
• The idea of Equality
• The Slave Trade
• Origins of Democracy in the Modern
World
• Socialism / Communism
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• Free Trade
• The Industrial Revolution
• The History of Pollution since the
Industrial Revolution
• The Development of the Steam Engine
• European music (Classical music or folk
music)
• The Romantic Movement
• The Realist Movement
• Specific developments in Science &
Technology (electricity, steam engines, the
telephone, etc).
• Feminism & Women’s Rights in a
particular period or place
• Jewish Life in a particular period or place
• Nationalism in a particular place (Ireland,
Eastern Europe)
• The Potato Famine
• The Development of Trade Unions
• The Opium Wars
• World War I
• The British and French Mandates in the
Middle East
• The founding of the League of Nations
• The Bolshevik Revolution
• The rise of the Nazi Party
• Causes of World War II
• A particular battle of WWII
• The Founding of the UN
• The Holocaust
• The development of nuclear weapons
• The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Stalinism
• The Cold War (or a specific incident in
the Cold War)
• Nuclear Weapons & Deterrence
• Communism in Eastern Europe
• Decolonization in a particular place
• The Solidarity Movement
• The Fall of the Berlin Wall
• The Balkan War
• The Maastricht Treaty
A biography of a historical figure, for example:
• Beethoven
• Karl Marx
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Mary Shelley
• Charles Dickens
• Vladimir Lenin
• Josef Stalin
• Sigmund Freud
• Anastasia Romanov
• Adolph Hitler
• Winston Churchill
• Woodrow Wilson
• Franklin Delano
Roosevelt
• Mikhail Gorbachev
• Vaclav Havel
• Monet
• Picasso
• Charles Darwin
• Margaret Thatcher
Finding Sources
The best place to begin your research for this paper is obviously the Foothill library. Remember
that the texts and primary source readings from the class can also be used for your paper, as can the
class lectures. Here are some other resources that might prove useful:
• Online Databases, accessible from the
Foothill College Library Website
• The Internet Modern History
Sourcebook:
http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/
modsbook.asp
• The recommended reading lists in your
textbook
• Ask a reference librarian
• Ask your professor(s)
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Matters of Content and Form
Your research paper is a formal argumentative essay. It needs the following elements:
• Introduction The opening paragraph(s) of your essay should introduce the topic and state
your thesis. Your thesis should be a clear statement of what your opinion on your topic is.
• Body The body of the paper should present both primary and secondary evidence to
support your thesis statement. Your goal in this part of the paper is to prove that your thesis
statement is a reasonable and accurate interpretation of history. You should also define
your terms in this portion of the paper – for example, if you are writing about gladiators, you
should define what a gladiator is.
• Conclusion Your conclusion should restate your thesis and summarize the evidence which
supports it, and generally wrap up your argument.
• Footnotes All the sources of the information in your paper must be cited using footnotes.
• Bibliography A list of all the sources you used in writing the paper.
The paper must be eight to ten pages in length: double-spaced, 12 point type, with 1 inch top and
bottom margins and 1.25 inch left and right margins. Each page should be numbered and have your
last name on it.
You are welcome (and encouraged) to include photos or other visual materials as part of your
report, but these materials will not substitute for text. In other words, you cannot give me six pages
of text and two pages of pictures.
In general, try to avoid the first person “I” in your paper. NEVER use “you” in your paper. I will
take points off for every time that you do.
Use either footnotes or endnotes for your citations. Do not use any other format. If you have
questions about how to do footnotes, see A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, come ask me, or get
help in the Teaching and Learning Center.
Requirements (these count towards your grade):
** Research Proposal (5 points)
DUE: October 5
Type a one page description of your topic, and include three interesting research questions
you would like to answer in your paper. Be specific as to the place and time period that you
want to research. For example, “Women in European History” is much too broad a topic.
“Women in 19th Century Industrial Britain” is much better. You do not need to give me a
thesis statement in the proposal – you shouldn’t have a thesis until you have done some
research. Just jot down some of your preliminary ideas and questions.
Before you write your proposal, you should do a little background research on your topic in
the library (encyclopedias are a good resource for this step). This will help you to develop
intelligent questions.
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** Proposed Bibliography (5 points)
DUE: October 19
Give me a typed list of all the primary and secondary sources you are using in your paper.
The sources must be listed using correct Chicago Style bibliographic form (see A Manual for
Writers if you need examples). You can add more sources later, if necessary. You will need
at least three primary sources and three secondary sources for this paper. At least one of
your secondary sources should be a journal article from a professional history journal. All of
your secondary sources must be scholarly – in other words, written by professional
scholars. Our librarian will show you how to search for journal articles.
Remember that both electronic and print encyclopedias are not acceptable sources for this
paper.
** Rough Draft (5 points)
DUE: November 18
Your rough draft can be very rough – don’t worry about grammar, spelling, etc (though it
must be typed). All I want to see in the rough draft is that you have a good thesis statement
and are working in the right direction. The draft should be at least four pages long. I will
not give extensive comments on the draft; I just want to check to that you are on track.
** Final Draft (85 points)
DUE: November 30
Be sure that your final draft contains footnotes and a bibliography. The final draft will be
graded on the following:
• Clear, Strong Thesis
• Adequate Primary and Secondary
Support (Evidence) for Thesis
• Historical and Factual Accuracy
• Organization, Clarity and Tone (Is
the paper clear and logical? Is the
tone of the paper academic and
professional?)
• Use of Primary & Secondary
Sources; List of Works Cited
• Footnotes
• Mechanics (Grammar, Spelling,
Format, General Neatness)
Just a reminder – if you turn in a final research paper which has been plagiarized, you will fail
the entire class. Don’t do it.