The culminating assignment for this course is to prepare a research essay of significant scholarly value. The final paper should be at least 2500 words with an effective argument and scholarly sources.
The culminating assignment for this course is to prepare a research essay of significant scholarly value. The final paper should be at least 2500 words with an effective argument and scholarly sources.
We will work on this project throughout the entire semester, beginning with the written assignment in Module 2. All of the written assignments that you complete in Modules 2-5 will become part of your research essay, so it is incumbent that you treat each assignment as a component of a greater whole. To that end, you will be asked to come up with a potential research topic no later than the end of Week 3, and to begin gathering materials for the topic with the written assignment that you submit in Module 2.
Here are some guidelines that I recommend you follow to ensure success:
Start your research based on topics you may be familiar with, or by reviewing the chapter outlines in the textbook, which will give you a good overview of what will be covered in the course. Selection of the documents for your first assignment should focus on a topic of interest to you, and will serve as an introduction to your research in preparation for the final assignment. You can also “try out” a broad theme and do a search in the library to see what you can find out there for sources, which is an integral part of the research project. Some broad themes might be “women in American history,” “immigration,” or “the war in Vietnam.” Finding effective sources will be crucial to your ability to write the paper, and is the purpose of the annotated bibliography which you will provide as part of the research paper in Module 5. The selection of a topic is personal, and the research done finding an appropriate topic will help as you develop your thesis and write your paper.
Empire State College Assignment Calculatoropens in a new window. This tool helps you to plan your time and find resources for writing assignments.
All good papers have a strong thesis statement. This rule applies not only to the final research essay but to all of the component parts. Your thesis statements on the shorter assignments will help fine-tune your topic, and will allow you to develop the thesis statement for the major research essay as you find and read sources. The thesis statement for the research essay will be a cause/effect statement that can produce a coherent historical argument about a topic in Modern American History. As you develop a thesis statement, try to formulate something that you can prove given the sources you have. Use the word “because” somewhere in the thesis statement.
Empire State College’s Online Writing Centeropens in a new window offers writing tips and assistance.
Research Writing: Elements and Stepsopens in a new window offers recommended online research resources
You will be expected to read at least two books and write two types of book reviews, again, focusing on the topic you have chosen to focus on for the research essay. The second of these two book reviews will be a modified version of a review essay, and will form a crucial part of the body of your final research essay. You should find interesting sources that will lead you to a topic you are interested in researching and writing about.
Magazines vs. Scholarly Journalsopens in a new window Helps you understand the difference between scholarly and popular articles.
Anatomy of a Scholarly Articleopens in a new window This interactive resource allows you to click along and and explore the different aspects of a scholarly article.
Peer Review in 3 Minutesopens in a new window How do articles get peer reviewed? What role does peer review play in scholarly research and publication. Watch this short 3 minute video to find out.
As you move forward with the required library tutorial, I suggest that you take advantage of the library resources available to you at Empire. These may help clarify the research process for you.
Empire State College’s Library and Research Resourcesopens in a new window takes you to the online Library’s home page with links to many database resources and other library services.
History Subject Guideopens in a new window Helps you find journal articles, web sites, images, audio, as well as primary sources. Use this as a place to start your research.
Information Skills Tutorialopens in a new window On this page you will find information and tips about all of the library resources and services available at Empire State College.
The paper will be written using the Chicago Style, incorporating footnotes and a bibliography with at least five academic sources, in addition to the two books you will review prior to writing the final research essay.
Chicago Manual of Styleopens in a new window Contains information from the Purdue Online Writing Lab on The Chicago Manual of Style method of document formatting and citation.
Research skills are vital to advanced level college work. Through research, you will develop higher level skills including techniques of historical research, developing and sustaining cohesive arguments, and integrating historical facts into comprehensive assertions about what they have learned. By synthesizing various perspectives and developing conclusions, the advanced level student will be able to identify and apply complex theoretical constructs.
URL endings offer a clue to the publisher:
.edu, the site is published by an educational institution that is responsible for its content. You will usually find reliable information there.
.org, the site is usually published by an organization. The information will reflect the values of the organization. For example, History.org is published by the historians at Colonial Williamsburg and is an excellent source for information about early America. Websites like democrat.org or gop.org are less objective sources. Information from sources like these will most likely have an obvious bias.
.gov, it is the site of a United States or a State government organization or agency.
.com, most sites end like this so you will have to do some investigation. The New York Times, like most news publications are .coms. If you or I started a website, it would also be a .com. You can find the publisher of most .coms through a site called easywhois.com. If you haven’t heard of the publisher, you can search them and found out who they are. Can’t find out much about them? Perhaps it’s because they are not reputable sources. Think carefully before using them for your research.
The author of the article is another vital piece of information in determining credibility.
Use your search engine to find out about the author(s). See if they have expertise and knowledge in the field. You should also read the work critically. Are the authors presenting their own ideas or paraphrasing other authors? Do they cite sources in their writings? All authors write from a unique perspective (a.k.a., “bias”); what is the author’s perspective? Do the authors position their viewpoints within a larger discussion on the topic? Authors with expertise will be able to describe how their own ideas are in agreement with or contradiction to other experts in the field.
What if the article has no author and it’s not in a reputable publication? Do you accept information from unnamed sources? Information from unnamed sources leads to essay conclusions that cannot be supported – or accepted – in this class.
Final Project:
Please submit your final paper no later than the last day of the semester.
Evaluation Criteria
Before submitting an assignment for this course please read the SUNY Empire State College statement on Academic Integrityopens in a new window. Please use the Chicago Style for citations, and take care to ensure that the citations are completed properly. In addition, please use Rampolla’s A Pocket Guide to Writing in History to help ensure that your work is of historical quality.
For assistance in completing your assignment utilize the resources available to you in the Research Assignment Guidelines page of the Course Information documents.
Your Assignment will be assessed on the strength of the historical question you ask as well the extent to which you develop your argument based on the selected documents along with the Historical Writing Guidelines.
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