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Family History Research Project   For this assignment you will complete a research project exploring your own family history in the context of United States history since 1877

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Family History Research Project

 

For this assignment you will complete a research project exploring your own family history in the context of United States history since 1877.  In your paper you will need to make a direct connections between your family and a historical period covered in the class. You will also need to conduct at least one oral history interview for the paper.  

 

Step One—Topic/Historical Context

 The first part of the assignment is selecting a general topic area.  For this first step you need to think about what events or time period you want to connect with your family.  The textbooks, both Through Women’s Eyes and Give Me Liberty, are the best places to start. You may want to have informal conversations with family members as well.  Pleases feel free to come talk to me about possible topics if you are having trouble choosing.  This part is just a starting point.  As you conduct research and oral interviews you may want to change or refine the topic.  To complete this step you need to turn in a one-paragraph (typed) summary of a potential time period to study and how it connects to your family. 

Step Two—Oral Interview.

You will need to conduct at least one oral interview with a family member.  Your grandparents or other older members of the family can be some of the best sources of information.  They may be able to talk directly about events we are covering in the class.

Step Three—Annotated Bibliography.

You will need to find three different sources for information on your historical topic area or event.  The three required sources could include books, magazines or journals.  Please note. Your textbooks, Wikipedia, or any encyclopedias are all good sources for your paper but will not count as part of the required three sources.   On the due date you will submit a preliminary annotated bibliography with the three sources. This is the minimum number for the final bibliography, which does not have to be annotated. An “A” paper will need more sources.

Guidelines for an Annotated Bibliography

Below are the general guidelines for an annotated bibliography.  An annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources.  For this history 311 assignment be sure to evaluate whether the sources will be useful for your family history project.

• Summarize: What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say?

(For more help, see the Purdue Owl handout on paraphrasing (Links to an external site.) sources.)

• Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

(For more help, see the Purdue Owl handout on evaluating resources (Links to an external site.).)

• Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

For this paper you need a minimum of two sentences for each source.  A stronger annotation would be have a few sentences of general summary followed by a sentence or two of how you can fit the work into your larger paper.

Format

The bibliographic information: The bibliographic information of the source (the title, author, publisher, date, etc.) should be written in MLA format is preferred.  For more help with formatting, see the Purdue Owl MLA handout (Links to an external site.). 

 

Note:  For sample annotations and further information on annotated bibliographies see the Purdue Owl webpage, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/ (Links to an external site.). 

 

Step Three—Thesis Statement.

Before the paper is due you will turn in a preliminary draft of your thesis statement. The thesis statement is a one-sentence summary of your argument that appears in the first paragraph.  In this case, the thesis will make the connection between your family and the larger historical context.  Remember, a good thesis statement usually answers a “why” or “because” question. On the due date bring in the thesis statement typed twice on a piece of paper.  You will turn in one to me and use the other for peer evaluations.

 

Step 4—Group Presentations: “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!”

For this step of the project you will work in groups with students who have selected the same time period.  Using a large-size trifold board (48"x36")  each group will create a display of the time period and the "connection" to their families.

Each board should include the following:

 Title for the Time Period:

Identify the time period, and come up with a name for time period. Be creative. You do not need to have a unifying theme for the different family projects, just identify the period.

 Pictures:

This is the main part of the project.  You need to pick at least three pictures for your section. One of the time period, one for your family (interviewee) and one that links them together. This is the minimum.  You are free to include more pictures.

Captions: You should include captions for all of the pictures. This can be brief but you do need to identify the pictures.

Be creative! The pictures can be arranged however you want—even differently for each family section.  You can use video as well, if you can set up a laptop in front of the display. Video could include songs, speeches, etc.

On the day of the presentations you will all be evaluating each other’s displays.  One person must stay as the others go around. In the end you will assess both your own group and what you have learned. 

Step Five—The Paper (5 to 7 pages)

 Guidelines for Writing a History Research Paper

1. History papers must have an argument. It is not enough just to summarize information about your family.  An argument, or thesis, expresses your opinion about the topic.  The thesis may explain the connection between your family and the chosen time period, or how your family was impacted by the time period.   Your thesis could also be an assessment of the gender roles and ideals during the time period in relation to your family.                                                                                                                                                                   
2. Your paper must present evidence to support your argument. After stating your argument you need to convince the reader that there is evidence to support it.  For a research paper, the “evidence” will come from the print and web sources listed in your bibliography.  Summarize, paraphrase, or use direct quotes from these sources to back up your argument.  As you do your research take notes on any information you can use in your paper and note any pages that have particularly good passages you can use.  Direct quotes from sources can be strong evidence to support an argument. 
3. Your paper needs to put your family within its larger historical context.  You can include the gender roles in the time period, but you do not have to.  The paper will need to include general historical information on the period you have chosen.  For this part you can use information from the textbooks and the lectures in addition to your three outside sources.

Organization and Mechanics

1. You need to use citations for all information that is not common knowledge. All evidence (quotes, paraphrases, or summaries taken from other sources) must be cited with either parenthetical references or footnotes.  I will hand out guidelines for proper citations before the paper is due.
2. Evidence should be linked to your argument by the use of topic sentences for each paragraph. Topic sentences are general statements about the ideas within each paragraph and they are critical in the organization of the paper.  Usually topic sentences can be drawn directly from the major points in your outline.  (This is a hint that making an outline is important).
3. Strong papers have strong introductions and conclusions. The introduction should set up the content of the paper and include the thesis statement at the end of the paragraph.  A good conclusion summarizes your argument rather than just restating it.  A good conclusion can also take your argument to a higher level by suggesting the relevance to larger issues or possibly later time periods.  Just be careful that you do not make a new argument in the conclusion.
4. Integrate direct quotes into your prose and make sure you identify the speaker or source. Direct quotes cannot stand on their own and should be introduced with lead phrases.
5. Stick to the past tense, you are writing about history.
6. Whenever possible use active verbs and avoid any phrases which use forms of the verb “to be.” In your draft circle all forms of this verb (am, is, was, were, will be, etc.) and try and replace them with active verbs.
7. This is formal writing. Avoid phrases like “I think” or “I believe”—just make your argument.  Also, never use contractions (wasn’t, didn’t, it’s), slang or any texting language!
8. Spelling errors, grammar and punctuation mistakes do count against you. Please proofread your papers.  A spell check is not enough.  As you proofread check for all the errors listed above but also check for awkward sentences.  Try reading it aloud.  If something sounds funny it probably is.