Note: Before beginning this assignment, read through information contained in the Scholastic Honesty link in the course menu to the left.
The core assignment of this course is a documented research paper (6-8 pages double-spaced (title page and bibliography do not count towards the page count, Times New Roman 12-point font).
· The paper should support a thesis statement with information gained from research or investigation.
· The paper will not be just a report presenting information but will be a paper that carefully examines and presents your own historical interpretation of the topic you have chosen and your interpretation of the information you have gathered.
· The paper may include consideration of problems and solutions, define key terms, or refute arguments against your thesis statement.
It will be important to choose a topic of interest to you.
· Approach this assignment with an open and skeptical mind, then form an opinion based on what you have discovered.
· You must suspend belief while you are investigating and let the discoveries shape your opinion. (This is a thesis-finding approach.)
· Once you have found your thesis, write the paper to support it.
You will use some of the following critical thinking skills in this process:
1. Choosing an appropriate topic, limiting the topic
2. Gathering information, summarizing sources
3. Analyzing and evaluating sources
4. Defining key terms
5. Synthesizing information, comparing and contrasting sources
6. Testing a thesis, making a historical argument, using refutation
7. Amassing support for a position
8. Documenting sources
Because this may be a longer paper than you have written before and a complex process is involved, it is recommended that you complete this paper using the following steps:
1. Choose a topic related to U.S. History after 1877 (Chapters 16-28) that you would truly like to explore and that you are willing to spend some time on. Your chosen topic should be focused. Pose a question that you really want to answer. You may want to begin with more than one topic in mind.
2. Do some preliminary reading on the topic(s). You may begin with the textbook, then further explore the information available. Refine your topic. Summarize your topic, your interest in the topic, the questions you want to answer, and a hypothesis you want to test.
3. Gather information from a variety of sources. Use a minimum of four sources for your paper, and at least one must be a primary source. Websites are not acceptable sources.
o Examples of primary sources are ones that are used in our discussion forums 2-8.
o They are sources that are contemporary to the times under investigation.
o An example of a secondary source is our textbook, though the textbook also contains excerpts of primary sources, which you may use as a source in your paper.
4. Outline the results of your research and the plan for your paper (you are not required to submit the outline).
5. Write the final draft and be sure to include a Works Cited List, and use the correct MLA documentation style.
choose from following topic
Chapter 16: America’s Gilded Age, 1870-1890
Chapter 17: Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad, 1890-1900
Chapter 18: The Progressive Era, 1900-1916
Chapter 19: Safe for Democracy: The United States and World War I, 1916-1920
Chapter 20: From Business Culture to Great Depression: The Twenties, 1920-1932
Chapter 21: The New Deal, 1932-1940
Chapter 22: Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941-1945
Chapter 23: The United States and the Cold War, 1945-1953
Chapter 24: An Affluent Society, 1953-1960
Chapter 25: The Sixties, 1960-1968
Chapter 26: The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969-1988
Chapter 27: From Triumph to Tragedy, 1989-2001
Chapter 28: A New Century and New Crises