This paper is designed to give you a chance to explore a topic of special interest to you in more depth than is possible in class. 

The first thing to do is choose a topic. Get started by checking the list of "Resources for Papers" included with the "Suggestions for Further Study" section of each lecture outline (available on the course web page). Choose a set of primary sources that interests you, read through them, and design a historical question that you can use these sources to answer.  For more information on primary sources, click here.  

You will, of course, have to read some of the books and articles that historians have written about your topic, but the heart of this assignment is for you to try your own hand at writing history. Your task, then, is to concentrate your reading on what historians call "primary" sources; that is, sources created at the time of the event or topic you are interested in or by people who were observers of or participants in that event or topic. 

Basically, you need to decide on a question that interests you, and give me your answer to or interpretation of it in a well-organized and clearly written paper that makes use of persuasive examples from primary sources.  

For this assignment, the historian whose opinion matters most is you.  When writing your paper, keep in mind that:

Your paper must be clearly organized, with a thesis at the very beginning of the paper and clear topic sentences at the beginning of each successive paragraph. Click here for more information on paper organization.

You'll get more credit for using primary sources than for using books written by historians ("secondary" sources) and more credit for giving me your own interpretations than for citing the opinions of other historians.  Click here for more information on secondary sources.

Although direct quotations from the sources are not the only kind of example that you may use in your paper, I'll expect to see at least a few quotations from primary sources.  Click here to see "Using Quotations" for suggestions and guidelines.

I will expect you to follow standard footnote form (click here for examples of footnotes) and to include a bibliography at the end of your paper (this need not be lengthy - click here for bibliography guidelines).

Your paper should be 8-10 pages long, double-spaced, typed or computer printed.

Handwritten papers will not be accepted.

For answers to frequently asked questions, click here to see FAQs.

Grades: This paper is worth 100 points: 50 for evidence (examples from primary sources), 25 for organization, 10 for posing and answering a interesting historical question, 10 points for footnote and bibliography form, and 5 points for the quality of your writing.

Warning: Academic Dishonesty of any sort (plagiarism, fabrication, or other forms of misconduct) is cause for severe sanction by the University of Oregon. For more information, and for useful definitions and discussion of what does and doesn't constitute Academic dishonesty, see the UO Policy on Academic Dishonesty.  If you've read this material, and still have any doubt about when and how to use citations, be sure to ask the professor before you submit your paper.

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