Step One: Choose a Topic and Draft a Thesis • Students must select a topic from the options listed in BlackBoard (see Research Paper tab). o Topics and draft thesis statements must be confirmed by professor before Week 3 Topics are confirmed by a “first come first serve” basis, so please email early. *Failure to confirm your topic will result in a ZERO on your research paper* Thesis Statements • A thesis is your argument/claim regarding your topic. o This assignment IS NOT a biography NOR an exercise in summarizing facts about your topic. o The goal of this paper is: To argue an aspect(s) regarding your topics’ historical significance and contributions. • Focus on the “How?” “Why?” “Because of this event, ___ occurred,” rather than simply the “What, Who, or When?” Research questions should focus on the importance of the event/person, or the changes that occurred due to the event/person. Beyond this, it is helpful to organize your paper around historical themes (politics, gender, race, immigration, religion, conflict, etc.). Feel free to email the professor with questions. Step Two: Research and Evidence • Students must use FIVE academic sources o ONE of the five sources MUST be an academic book (your textbook does not count) Academic sources ARE NOT History.com; Encyclopedia; Wikipedia; History.org; etc. Academic sources include university press produced, peer reviewed, field/discipline expert written materials. • Please see our class Research Video tutorial for more info on accessing databases. Step Three: Writing the Paper, Citations, and Formatting: 1. A cover page is required a. This must include an original title (DO NOT use HST 111-W65 Research Paper as a title) 2. All papers must be submitted in Times New Roman, 12pt font, Double Spaced, and 1” margins 3. All citations must follow the Chicago Manual of Style a. In text citations (footnotes) for all direct quotations and/or thorough summaries i. See Research Video tutorial in our Blackboard page for more help with citations ii. Purdue OWL website is also helpful for tutorials on Chicago Style citations 4. Your paper must include a Bibliography following the Chicago Manual of Style format
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