HISTORY Signature Writing Assignment
HISTORY Signature Writing Assignment
Step 1: View the Power Point Lesson for the “Overview for Primary Source Documents” provided by the Library of Congress which describes primary and secondary sources. This step is VITAL!
Step 2: After viewing the lesson, pick out a primary source that you find interesting. For the purpose of this course, students are required to pick out a letter or diary entry. Speeches, for the purpose of this assignment, are not allowed. NO FAMOUS PRIMARY SOURCES ARE ALLOWED!! These are supposed to be letters or (a single) diary entries that most people have never seen or hear about.
Use one (1) single document rather than a collection of documents. The primary source must be something that is covered in this course. For HIST 1301, this can be anything from Christopher Columbus to the Civil War/Reconstruction. For HIST 1302, this can be anything after Reconstruction up to the last chapter that is covered in the book.
I recommend, in choosing your document, to find a historical figure that interests you and search for letters or correspondence associated with him or her. Try the Library of Congress or even historical societies. Sometimes these can be found with a simple Google search…(Ex: “Richard Nixon transcribed primary sources”).
In addition, students must use a secondary source that backs up or provides information to clarify information in the primary source. An example of this would be if a student chooses a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, a secondary source that gives information about who James Madison was and a little bit of background information about him would meet the requirements. One secondary source is required, but students can use more than one.
Secondary sources must be an academic source. A great source for these is Questia in MindTap. Journals are usually easier to navigate and analyze than books, but a book source is allowed as well. Do not use sources such as Biography.com, History.com, or Wikipedia.com. While there are some internet sources that are good, most are not. When in doubt, check with your professor.
Please see the information after the Power Point about Primary and Secondary sources to find out more information about finding a Primary Source. Primary sources can be found using the sources provided on the following page. (keep clicking the NEXT button at the bottom of the page)
Step 3: After a primary source and secondary source(s) is chosen, students can begin to write the paper by answering the 10 questions below. The finished product should be a formal paper that is 3 pages MINIMUM (750 words) written in essay style (minimal work will get a minimal grade). Three pages is defined as 3 FULL PAGES. Word count is only used when length is in doubt. Most A papers are closer to 5+ pages. Reviews are to be doubled-spaced in Microsoft Word format utilizing MLA format and must include in-page citations. Reviews should be composed in Times New Roman 12 point font, normal margins.
Following are some things to remember as you write your paper.
• Include a simple heading on your paper with Name, Course and Section, and Date. It may be helpful, but not required, to also include a heading which names the document. This could be hard, though, considering named speeches are no longer allowed in this assignment, and individuals typically do not name their letters.
• When writing beware of “Presentism.” Presentism is defined as “uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts.” You can find a good article on the subject at https://www.aei.org/society-and-culture/the-growing-threat-of-historical-presentism/. I am not looking for a commentary on modern society, although a brief discussion of a connection to today may be appropriate. It should not detract from your overall paper, however. Keep your focus on what the assignment is.
• As you write your paper, remember to include a Works Cited page and, as per MLA rules, in-text citation of the information that you pulled from your sources. Please use in-text/parenthetical citations for quotes, etc, pulled from the letter.
• Avoid “long quotes,” which are quotes that go longer than 5 lines of page space and are usually indented in toto, and you should limit your quoting in your paper to less than 10%. Remember, I want to see what you have to say about the document, and not a long copy/paste exercise drawing from your secondary sources.
• Do not use a paper that you have submitted to another class, even if that class was a previous attempt at HIS1301 and/or HIS1302. This is self-plagiarizing, and it will be viewed as plagiarism as well.
Taking into consideration the information presented in the Overview of Primary Source Documents lesson: Address the following points in your review:
1. Who wrote the document? Until you know this you know little about the document. Sometimes you can figure this out from the document itself. Was the author a political or private individual? Was he educated or not?
2. Who was the intended audience/who was the letter or speech written to? This will tell you about the author’s use of language and the knowledge that he assumed on the part of the reader.
3. What is the story line? What is going on in the document?
4. Why was the document written? Everything is written for a reason. Is it just a random note, or a scholarly thesis?
5. What type of document is this, or what is its purpose? A newspaper article is different than a diary. Thus, one can expect to extract different kinds of information from different kinds of documents. A private letter to a friend is very different from a political letter written to discuss governmental matters.
6. What are the basic assumptions made by the author? For example, did the author assume that the reader could understand certain foreign or engineering terms?
7. Can you believe this document? Is it reliable? Is it likely? This should be more than a yes or no answer. What makes it believable or not?
8. What can you learn about the society that produced this document? All documents reveal information about the people who produced them. It is embedded in the language and assumptions of the text. Your task is to learn how to “read,” or analyze, a document to extract information about a society. You might wish to analyze each document in terms of various aspects of a society (economic, political, religion, social structure, culture, etc.).
9. What is the importance of this document to history? Everything can be considered important even if it is not important for political or governmental purposes. Does it shed light on what life was like during the time period it was written? Does it demonstrate views of the world from a time long ago? Etc.
10. Finally, What does this document mean to you? If you answer nothing, you will lose a whole letter grade. You are the one picking out the sources, so pick something that you find interesting that means something to you. Tell me why it means something to you and why you picked it.
Step 4: Submit the assignment through Canvas. Do not send the assignment via email. Submit your Signature Assignment paper in MICROSOFT WORD format. Please understand that all papers WILL be checked for plagiarism before grading.
Please find any primary source that speaks to you. The primary source must be something that is covered in this course. Please do not pick anything that was written after the Civil War/Reconstruction Era. Make sure to pick something that is long enough to give you plenty of things to discuss in your paper. Very short primary sources sometimes make it difficult to write a long enough paper.
You can use the Questia App in your MindTap account to find primary sources. You can also use individual websites to find primary sources…An example would be going to www.monticello.org for Thomas Jefferson primary sources. My suggestion to you is to determine who you would like to write about and then go to the NC library and find primary sources there. You can also use The Library of Congress website or the Pearce Civil War Museum where there are museum staff who can help you.
THIS ASSIGNMENT WORKS BEST WITH A LETTER, DIARY ENTRY (one single entry, not the whole diary), OR SPEECH. Please pick one of these types of primary sources.
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