History 300

Spring 2009

Professor Jonathan Rees

Instructions for Historiographic Research Paper

Your paper will be an examination of an issue of historical controversy. It should demonstrate familiarity with at least three scholarly secondary works (including at least one on two opposing sides of the question). Your task in the paper is to present all sides of the historical controversy, decide which side is correct and explain why you came to that conclusion (not necessarily in that order).

In order to do a good job on this paper, you will have to be able to review the strengths and weaknesses of particular historical works in depth. However, this is not intended to be a multiple book, book review. Your aim should be a search for the truth, however elusive that concept proves to be. Your grade will depend more on the presentation of your argument than how you evaluate the arguments of others.

Part of your prerogative for this paper is to choose the historical argument you wish to investigate. You must choose your topic from the following list:

  1. Christopher Columbus: Hero or villain?
  2. Why did English colonists consider themselves superior to Native Americans and Africans? 
  3. Why were some New Englanders accused of being witches? Christy Krobath
  4. What was the most important cause of the American Revolution?
  5. Was the American Revolution really revolutionary?
  6. Was the Constitution the product of the framers' material self-interest?
  7. Whose vision of the future of America was better: Hamilton's or Jefferson's? James Hamill
  8. Was Jacksonian Democracy really democratic?
  9. Is Frederick Jackson Turner's “Frontier Thesis” a useful concept?
  10. What caused the American Civil War? Carrie Canda
  11. Why did the North win the Civil War? 
  12. Was Reconstruction a failure or a noble experiment? Ryan Lemons
  13. Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron or Industrial Statesman?
  14. Why is there no socialism in the United States? Melissa Gonzales
  15. What sank the battleship Maine? Robert Bamber
  16. Why did America develop an internationalist foreign policy in the early-Twentieth Century?
  17. Was the Progressive Movement liberal or conservative?
  18. Were Woodrow Wilson's ideas about Post-World War I foreign policy good for America?
  19. What caused the Great Depression? Carle Tarnutzer
  20. How effective was the New Deal at fighting the Depression? Doug Arnold
  21. Was the New Deal good or bad for America? Marcus Hernandez
  22. Why didn't the Allies bomb the concentration camps? Jaclyn Baros
  23. Which side started the Cold War?
  24. Has history vindicated Senator Joe McCarthy? 
  25. Was Alger Hiss guilty?
  26. Were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg guilty?
  27. Was the Vietnam War winnable? 
  28. Were the 1960s good for America? Andrew Lasher
  29. How much responsibility should Richard Nixon bear for Watergate?
  30. What role did Ronald Reagan's policies play in the collapse of the Soviet Union? 

Only one person will be allowed to choose each particular topic for each section of the course. [Once a topic is taken, a name and the section will be listed above after the topic]  Your topic is due to me via e-mail on February 27, although it is in your best interests to choose a topic as early as possible. No topic is securely yours until you turn in a topic proposal. Your proposal should include a one paragraph summary of the controversy you plan to investigate, at least one source you plan to consult.

If you turn in your topic in the week preceding the deadline and the topic is already taken, you will have one more week to propose a new topic. Once you have a topic, you may vary the manner in which you phrase the question from what I have above, but you may not change the subject matter.

You must use a total of at least three sources in your paper. Only ONE of these sources can be from the Internet, and even then it needs to be respectable and trustworthy. If I have any doubts along this score, I will look for an explanation of its trustworthiness in the annotated bibliography (described below). If it's not there, your grade may suffer.

A progress report on the paper will be due on March 30th to me via e-mail. You will present that report orally to a group of three or four students on that same day. This written report should be no more than one-page long, single-spaced. It should include a brief synopsis of the historiographic argument you are writing on, as well as a summary of your argument.  This will be considered part of your class participation grade as you need to have done this before class in order to fully participate

A draft of this assignment is due April 6th. You must send me the draft as an E-mail attachment by the beginning of that class period. No paper drafts will be accepted unless I have trouble reading your draft on my computer. The draft should show substantial progress towards completing the assignment. If it does not show substantial progress or if you do not send me a draft at all, you will not get any comments from me before the assignment is due. Footnotes and a bibliography in proper Turabian format are required in the drafts because they are the surest sign of substantial progress. I reserve the right to lower your final grade for this assignment (maybe even fail you) on the basis of the draft.

The final paper should be from twelve to fifteen pages in length double-spaced. The final paper must be in the traditional paper (as opposed to electronic) format. Footnotes and bibliography are required. The format should be Turabian (aka Chicago style).  Going beyond Turabian, I want your bibliography to be annotated, which means I want you to briefly explain how you used each source and why that source is trustworthy.  This assignment is due at the beginning of your class's final exam period. There will be no extensions. Failure to meet any of the above deadlines may result in a failing grade for the entire assignment.

For more general advice on how to write a good paper and the format it should take, click here.

If you have any questions about these instructions or the content of this paper, come see me in my office hours or make an appointment.

 

Jonathan Rees
Associate Professor of History
Colorado State University - Pueblo
2200 Bonforte Boulevard
Pueblo, CO 81001
(719) 549-2541

E-Mail: Jonathan [dot] Rees [at] colostate-pueblo [dot] edu

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