Objectives

Critical Thinking

This assignment will engage you in critical thinking by requiring you to explain your thought process, reasoning, and research when selecting an historical issue and developing and explaining your thesis statement.

Written Communication

You will demonstrate a mastery of written communication skills by authoring an academic paper comprised of reliable sources and evidence. Your final paper will be free of mechanical and technical errors and demonstrate careful revision. Your final paper will demonstrate mastery of MLA Formatting.

Personal Responsibility

You will demonstrate your mastery of personal responsibility as this assignment will require you to present a specific historical issue and thesis and explore the ethical issues relating to the events. You will support your analysis with facts.

Social Responsibility

You will demonstrate social responsibility as this assignment will require that you consider cultural competency when establishing and presenting your historical thesis statement. You will discuss the effect on the community in relation to your historical thesis statement.

Visual Communication

You will demonstrate a mastery of visual communication by using an image, graph, photograph, political cartoon or collage to frame and describe the historical issues discussed in your paper in a visual way.
 

Details

Format

You must use MLA format for the paper.  A sample paper in MLA format, MLA template and MLA tips are available on the History Library Page.  You need to use In-Line citations in the text.

Sources

You will need to find and use three reliable, primary or secondary sources (note that Wikipedia and Google are not reliable sources). Note: the type of sources you choose will be ranked … use of at least 1 Primary source will count for more points and for the secondary source/sources, a book earning most points.

Font and Spacing

You need to use 12-point Times New Roman Font (like this font) and it should be Double-spaced

Length

Three full pages of writing. In text citations must be used within the body of your paper.

Visual Medium

You must use at least one chart, graph, photo, political cartoon, collage or other visual representation to interpret, explain or comment on your paper. This visual representation is required and is not part of the three full pages of writing.

Works Cited Page

Using MLA format, you must include a Works Cited Page at the end.
 

eCampus/Blackboard

Papers must be turn in on BlackBoard. This assignment is part of the assessment criteria for the History Department and the department must have access to the papers on Blackboard.
 
Research Paper Topic Suggestions:

Research Paper Topic Suggestions

Below is a list of suggested research project topics. If you wish to write on a topic not appearing on this list, you must get permission from your professor first. The questions below are not thesis statements. Your thesis statement is your answer to the question you chose.
Transcontinental railroad: What was its impact on westward expansion?
United States and Native American policy: What was the impact of the Dawes Act and/or other pieces of legislation? What was the impact of the reservation policy?
Inventors/inventions of the 19th Century: Choose a significant inventor or invention and examine the challenges of developing the item or the impact of the invention on the American society/economy.
Wealthy industrialists in the late 1800s: “Robber Barons” or “Captains of Industry”?
The Gilded Age: Discuss the origin of the term and why it is an appropriate metaphor for the United States in the late 1800s.
Labor unions in the 1800s: What economic, social, and philosophical factors contributed to their formation?
Immigration in the late 1800s: What were the difficulties faced by immigrants, and how did they adjust to life in America?
Immigration in the late 1800s: Discuss the “melting pot” vs. “salad bowl” metaphors.
Chinese immigrants: Why did they come to the U.S.? What discrimination did they face? (Chinese Exclusion Act)
Settlement house movement of the late 1800s: What prompted the development of the movement? What was its impact on urban neighborhoods? Specify area (e.g.: Chicago’s Hull House)
Child labor in the late 1800s/ early 1900s: What was the impact on society? How were reforms made?
Galveston hurricane of 1900: What were the effects on the city? How did city government change after the hurricane?
World War I: What were the reasons for U.S. involvement?
Red Scare of the 1920s: What were the causes? What was the impact on immigrants and/or radicals? What was the role of A. Mitchell Palmer and/or J. Edgar Hoover?
Sacco-Vanzetti case: What role did discrimination play in the trial and verdict?
Prohibition: What were the causes? What was its impact on the development of organized crime?
Tuskegee Airmen: What obstacles did they face? How did they influence the struggle for African American rights?
World War II: What contributions were made by Americans on the home front?
Japanese Internment: Why did it occur? How did it affect Japanese-Americans?
World War II: What were the contributions of women? How did it affect women’s employment?
World War II: What were the contributions of African Americans?
Bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki: Was it necessary? Argue one side.
Brown v. Board of Education case: What was its impact?
My Lai Massacre: What were the causes? Who was responsible?
American Indian Movement (AIM) and the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee: What motivated the takeover? What was its impact on relations between Native Americans and the government?