Advanced Placement U.S.
This year, you will be working on a research project
on a topic of your choosing about something in American history. For this paper, you must analyze primary and
secondary sources. The end result of this
project will be a 13 - 15 page, thesis-driven research paper.
q
Everything you
turn in to me MUST be typed. I will not accept work that is not typed.
q
Please keep
everything that you turn in and that I return to you. As you turn in new materials, please staple
each new addition on top of your older papers so that I can check to see
whether you’re paying attention to the comments I make.
q
If you neglect to
include previous work, your grade will go down 10 points.
You will be working
on the project in stages according to the following schedule although I reserve
the right to adjust the dates to fit better with our curriculum next semester:
Assignment
|
Due Date
|
|
Topic Selection (HW grade) * |
Thursday, Nov. 5 |
|
Preliminary
Bibliography (HW grade)* |
Wednesday, Nov. 18 |
|
Conference with me
(ungraded unless you forget) |
By Wednesday, Nov. 18 |
Discussion on Your Topic with proposed Thesis Statement (double HW grade) * |
Friday, Dec. 4 |
|
Primary Documents
Analysis (double HW grade)* |
Wednesday, Dec. 9 |
Outline (Test
Grade) **
|
Monday, Jan. 25 |
First Draft (Test grade)** |
Wednesday, Mar. 3 |
|
Final Draft (Test
grade)** |
Monday, Mar. 22 |
|
Oral Reports (Quiz Grade) |
Week of May 10 |
For the assignments marked
*, you can earn up to 5 points extra credit: one point per day that you hand it
in early.
For the assignments marked
**, you can earn up to 10 points extra credit: two points per day that you hand
it in early.
Topic Selection– Thursday, Nov. 5 (HW grade)
Choose your topic from the topic list or your own
research. You may want to choose an area
from the suggested list or some other area that has always interested you.
Explain your topic choice in a few sentences.
If you already know, you should try to suggest how you will narrow down
your research. I will return this to you
as soon as possible with either an OK or a request that you think of a
different topic. Everyone has to write
on a different topic, so first come first served on topic ideas. If you haven’t
already, I will ask you to narrow your subject down and resubmit it. For example, it is too broad to say that
you’re writing a paper on the Civil War, but you could say that you are writing
a paper on the presidential campaign of 1864 or the siege of
Conference with Mrs.
Newmark – by Wednesday, Nov. 18
q
Sometime in the period between when this paper is
assigned and the time you finish your preliminary bibliography, you need to
make an appointment to come talk with me about your ideas for your paper. This will be painless. I may even be able to help you. I also may have materials that I can loan you
for your paper.
q
Please email or make the appointment at least a day
ahead of time. This will be of added
benefit to you since it will give me a chance to check my sources at home.
q
I am available just about every day before school by
Preliminary Bibliography – Wednesday,
Nov. 18 (HW grade)
q
This bibliography
should include all the sources you have gathered thus far and should be in
correct
q Please summarize what you have found in each source
that you think will be of help to you.
q
On this list,
make two separate sections, one for primary sources, the
other for secondary sources.
q You should alphabetize within each list.
q You must have at least two primary sources and at
least four secondary sources. The more
primary documents you make use of, the better job you will do as a historian.
q
In searching for
sources, I recommend that you look at the bibliography at the end of the
appropriate chapter in your textbook.
You may need to access the NC State or another college library for this
project.
The Internet is not a sufficient source for a
high quality research paper.
Only one of your secondary sources for your
preliminary bibliography may be a website.
There are lots of primary documents on the web, but the quality of some
of the secondary sources are quite suspect.
If you are using the web, verify that you are using a reputable source
(e.g. a government or a university source) (If your primary document comes from a
website, that does not count in your website limit.)
For each item in your preliminary bibliography,
include a paragraph describing what you have found in that source and how you
think it will help you in your paper. Be
specific.
Discussion of Your
Topic plus proposed thesis statement – Friday,
Dec. 4 (double HW grade)
Write a page describing the focus and scope of your
topic.
In other words, based on the reading of both primary
and secondary sources, what will you be focusing on in
this paper?
You will want to narrow your topic by event, time
period, or perspective. Or you might
have a particular question that your thesis statement will eventually
answer.
Please let me know all that you have done to this
point and what more you need to do.
I
suggest you start the paragraph with “In this paper I will…” Also, for each topic that you plan to cover,
please indicate what sources you will be using to find that information.
Develop a thesis
statement based on your research. I will
return it with comments so that you can revise it if need be. You may be required to turn in a second draft
of your thesis statement. Remember, your
thesis may change as you do more research, but your goal is to try to nail down
your argument as early as possible. This
can be best accomplished by reading EARLY ON.
A good thesis
statement states something that can be argued on both sides with you taking a
position. You are stating what you will
prove in your paper. Don’t write
something namby-pamby like “The twenties were an important decade in American
history.” Blech! An acceptable statement would be “While
certainly a decade of exciting new trends in the culture, the twenties were
also marked by tensions beneath the surface for those who resisted these
cultural changes and desired a return to a more traditional religious
Primary Documents
Analysis – Wednesday, Dec. 9 (double HW
grade)
Turn in a copy of your two primary documents that
you plan to use for your paper. Talk to
me if your primary documents are too long to copy.
Include an analysis of why you have chosen these
documents and what you have learned from them that applies to your paper
topic.
Discuss how you plan to use the documents in your
paper. Connect this these documents to
your proposed thesis
Outline – Monday, Jan. 25 (Test grade)**
q This outline should be a guide for your paper and it
should include all the sections needed to support your thesis.
q Include your thesis statement at the top and then
describe all the sections and major, as well as minor, points you will be
making along the way to support your thesis.
q I have put a link on the Lesson Units section of the
web site to explain how to use Microsoft Word to make an outline.
q The more detailed your outline is the better. A good outline is the most important step in
writing your paper.
q Your grade will reflect the amount of detail and
thought that you have put into organizing the outline. I expect you to put time
and care into this step.
q Typically, the outline is about as long as the final
paper will be, if not longer. It
reflects the amount of effort you have put into researching and organizing your
topic and will be graded accordingly.
q Don’t lose this when I return it. I expect it to be turned in with the first
draft.
q I will be checking to see that you make the changes I
recommended.
q Failure to do so without any explanation or without
discussing it with me will reflect poorly on your efforts.
First Draft – Wednesday, Mar. 3**(Test grade)
q This should be a complete draft including an
introduction and a conclusion.
q The paper should be about twelve typed, double-spaced
pages.
q The paper should be typed and double-spaced in 12 pt.
Times New Roman font with reasonable margins (no more than 1 inch all around) .
q Please number your pages.
q Also, include footnotes and a bibliography.
q I will read this draft and return it to you with
comments.
q Make sure to staple the returned outline (with my
comments on it) behind your first draft when you turn it in.
q You will lose 15 points from your grade if you don’t
have that outline.
Final Draft – Monday, March 22**(Test grade)
q With your final draft submit a final bibliography,
footnotes, and your rough draft (the
copy I commented on – don’t you dare lose it).
q Include a list of what you changed from the first
draft
q Your will lose 15 points if you are missing the rough
draft with my comments.
Report to Class –
Week of May 10 (Quiz Grade)
q Prepare a report to your classmates on your research topic.
q Introduce them to your thesis and how you’ve proven
it.
q Tell them the most interesting things you have
discovered and what you have found particularly interesting.
q This should last about 5 – 8 minutes.
q We hope that we will not only learn about your paper,
but also about some area of history that we didn’t know much about.
q This should be an informal presentation based upon
your paper. I do not want you to read
from your paper, but to teach the class about your subject.
You will lose 10 points per day that any of these
assignments are late. If you are absent
the day the outlines, first or final drafts are due, I expect you to make
arrangements to get the work to me that day by fifth period.
Topic Ideas
Please, please feel
free to meet with me for topic ideas. We
have covered only half the course at this point so I know that you aren’t
familiar with some of these eras.
Perhaps I can point you to a topic that you would find interesting. If a certain topic interests you, but you don’t
have an idea of how to narrow it down, I’d be more than happy to talk to
you. That’s my job. Your job is to do all the work.
Political History
|
Social History |
A
specific election campaign, e.g. 1800, 1824, 1840, 1860, 1864, 1876, 1896,
1912, 1948, 1960, or 1968
|
Issues involving women’s
rights |
|
The history of a third
party, e.g. Populists or Dixiecrats |
Issues involving Black
History |
|
A particular politician’s
tactics in achieving power or working with Congress, e.g. LBJ or Clinton |
Treatment of Native Americans |
Choose
a president and evaluate the successes and/or failures of his presidency
|
The labor movement |
Foreign Policy
|
Immigration to the |
|
The history of the
negotiating of a particular treaty, e.g. |
Cultural History |
|
American diplomatic
relations with a specific country, e.g. |
A particular artist or
writer and his/her relationship to history |
|
A study of a particular
Sect. of State, e.g. JQA, John Hays, or Henry Kissinger |
The Beat Generation |
Diplomacy during WWII
|
The Roaring 20s |
Aspects of the Cold War
|
The |
Legal History
|
The effect of TV or rock
‘n roll on history |
|
The history of a
particular amendment, e.g. 14th, 18th, or 19th |
Journalism during a
particular period |
|
A study of a particular
Supreme Court case, e.g. Dred Scott, Brown v. BOE, Bakke, or a more
modern case |
Pop culture during the
1950s, 60s, or 70s |
|
History of a particular
law, e.g. Clean Air Act or Civil Rights Act |
Religious History |
|
Impeachment of Samuel
Chase, Andrew Johnson, or Bill Clinton |
History of a particular
religion or religious culture |
|
History of civil rights |
Issues involving the First
Amendment |
|
Civil liberties during
wartime, e.g. Civil War, WWI, or WWII |
Various religious sects in
American history |
|
Anti-communism during the
Cold War |
The Puritans , or the
First or Second Great Awakening |
|
Military
History |
Clashes between religion
and secularism in history |
|
A particular battle or
military campaign |
A particular religious
leader |
|
The impact of a new weapon |
Science and Technology |
|
The Homefront during
wartime |
The importance of a
particular invention, e.g. telegraph, car, or computer |
|
Women in wartime |
The space race |
|
Prisoner of War camps |
An important inventor or
scientist and his/her impact on history |
|
Medicine during wartime |
Historiography |
|
A particular military
leader |
Pick an event, person, or
period in American history and then evaluate how historians and/or textbooks
over the years have changed their attitudes towards that event, person, period. Analyze how
biases towards a moment in history change with the times, e.g. the Civil War,
the Puritans, Andrew Jackson, Reconstruction, woman’s movement, etc. |
|
|