You will be writing three
papers for Hist 335. Each one will take a different form. Short
descriptions follow, as do some general points on how they should be
written. Also, all papers will be turned in via Turnitin.com
Finding
a topic for your projects
Please consult with me to okay your topic for each paper. You
may do this via Zoom or just talking to me in person.
We will talk about choosing topics in class, but ultimately,
for the Bio and the Short Research Paper, you will have to be
proactive and find a good topic within our subject area of Europe,
1939-present. You must choose a topic that offers much in the way
of both primary and secondary source materials. This is CRUCIAL.
Hence, you will need to consult with me either by email or direct
discussion. To do this, use your own knowledge, look ahead in the
syllabus, chat with me after class etc.
The topic must be focused and narrow: NOT "Adenauer and Germany"
but rather a specific aspect, like "Adenauer and the
Herrenchiemsee Conference: Building the West German Constitution."
Journals you could check to see what kind of scope scholarly
History research articles cover: Central European History French Historical Studies
The English Historical Journal
The Historical Journal German History The Journal of Modern History The Journal of Contemporary History Austrian History Yearbook
JSTOR is your friend. Let me know if you need an introduction
to this source for scholarly journal articles.
The first paper will be a Documentary
Exercise.
This assignment is an exercise in choosing,
editing, and introducing a historical document. The assignment
requires you first to find a suitable primary document, that is, a
first-hand historical source, such as a letter, an eyewitness
account, an autobiography, a diplomatic document, a contemporary
pamphlet, etc. The document must pertain to European History
in the period we are studying. You must okay the document with
me before you try to do the assignment.
Next, you will want to study the document to make sure you know what
it means, to what events or matters it refers, what knowledge it
assumes, to whom or for whom it was written, and any other elements
which would assist you in drawing on the document for historical
knowledge.
You will then annotate the document, that is, get a clean copy and
choose a number of spots in the paper which require elucidation to
make sense to the average educated reader. This might be a
really archaic word (but look it up to make sure it is archaic. The
Oxford English Dictionary will tell you that). It could be a first
name (e.g.--"Freddie told me yesterday that the French were massing
troops in Alsace"--find out who Freddie was an add the note: Freddie
was Home Office official Archibald Frederick Portswaddle). It
could be a foreign word or sentence--translate it clearly however
you can. It could be an unusual or technical phrase: "We are all
working hard here at the stope-face"--explain this. Etc. Etc.
Choose a section with 15 or more such points. You
must annotate consecutively; that is, in the section of your
document you choose to annotate, don't skip anything that need
annotating. If you can’t find what something refers to, give
that a number and say, “I tried to find this and
couldn’t.”
On the copy, mark those spots with a superscript,
and write an endnote or footnote which supplies the information
necessary to make it intelligible. Don't just restate or explain.
Add information, enough to help the average reader make sense of the
document.
Each annotation should include the source or
sources which you used to write the footnote. These sources
must be solid sources, not of the anonymous internet type. You may
of course use Wikipedia to help you figure it out, but you must find
solid sources which confirm your Wikipedia info.
Finally, write a short (700-800-word) introduction which will serve
to introduce the document to the general reader, put it into its
historical context, and perhaps point out interesting or useful
points about the document. You should use at least three solid
sources as a basis for this Intro. No anonymous internet
sources may be among your three.
Put the whole package together: title page (no page
number--and the first page of text is page 1), introduction, the
annotated document (with numbered superscripts marked on the xerox),
and the corresponding explanatory notes, typed consecutively.
You should either choose a document which will require at least 15
notes or simply use an excerpt of some longer document. In
other words, don't just pick and choose the spots for
annotation: annotate everything that you think needs it.
You should create footnotes for the citations you used for the
Intro, then list the endnotes for the annotation separately.
In your introduction, DO NOT USE INTERNAL CITATION SUCH AS MLA
STYLE. All references should be in the footnote/endnote
style. Please see the following site for a complete
description of footnote style:
Annotated
Bibliography First, if you do not already use a digital bibliographic
program on your computer, look at the page for a bibliography
program called Zotero. https://www.zotero.org/
Download it for free. It can be used for any discipline, but it
was written by and for historians at George Mason
University. I recommend it highly. It is very flexible, and
it will make your life easier.
* * * * * *
This will be a full-fledged Annotated Bibliography. It should look
like this in outline:
Cover page
Introduction to the topic (two solid paragraphs)
Bibliography
Primary Documents
Secondary Documents
(divided by these headings)
Conclusion (short paragraph summing up the topic as shaped by
the sources you list)
Each entry in either category must include full bibliographical
information inTheChicago
Manual of Styleformat for "Notes and
Bibliography."The Chicago Manual of Styleis
reflected and explained in many sites on the internet, but the
simplest reference page is the one maintained byThe
Chicago Manual of Styleitself: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
Annotations: After each bibliographical entry, you
must write a short annotation of 3 or 4 lines in length,
explaining how this source supports the understanding of the topic
you have chosen. There is no set format for these annotations, but
after perusing (not necessarily reading thoroughly) all your
documents, you should be able to form some idea of how each might
help in telling the story and doing the analysis you intend to do.
In your Annotated Bibliography, you must tell me how your
primary sources make the study possible in the conclusion or in
the annotations themselves.
How many
sources? There is no one answer. For some topics you might
have a list of a dozen primary and a dozen secondary sources. For
some, you could write a paper based on many fewer.But one way or another,your
bibliographymust
containsome solid primarysources
andseveral
secondary sources. This does not count
encyclopedia entries (unless you are using one of the
specialized historical encyclopedias in the reference section
of Abell Library--those are good historical secondary sources,
usually). Internet sources MUST be taken from
legitimate, clearly acceptable sites. You MUST give full
information for internet sources, including author,
organization, URL, date, etc. If any of these items
is unavailable, then you may not use it as a source for your
paper.
The Short
Research Paper
The paper
should have have a clear introduction, including a
"Fragestellung," as we will be discussing in class. There
should also be a clear, summary conclusion. The audience is
History students and scholars. The paper should be in the
range of 2700 words of text.
Think of the
framework this way:
Introduction
Body
Section I
Section II
Section III Conclusion Bibliography
The paper
should focus on a narrow, enclosed topic that allows you to dig in
and analyze a trend, event, person, episode, etc. Beware of a topic that is too broad. If
you can envision a book on the library shelf about the topic you
are thinking of, then you should narrow it down drastically.
Consult with me before you go too far with a topic. I can help you
avoid projects that are too broad or otherwise too difficult.
As for the
writing itself, we will discuss systems for writing larger
research papers, and you must discuss with me what system you will
be using.
The Finished Paper
The paper
should have title page and bibliography, but not an annotated
one. The bibliography must be worksyou actually usedin the footnotes of
your paper.
Please note:
you must write footnotes or endnotes in correct form for the
evidence in your paper. We will look at examples in class.
Please note
that the actual form of the bibliography entries is different from
footnote references.
Don't Forget to
Number Your Pages. The first page of
your paper is thefirst
page of text, NOT the title page.
You should run
spell check. And you should proofread several times.
Mechanical and writing matters will be factored into the grade,
for good and bad.
You must turn
in it in via Turnitin.com.
DO NOT USE AN INTERNAL CITATION SYSTEM SUCH
AS MLA STYLE. All
references should be in the footnote/endnote style. Apart
from The Chicago Manual of Style page given above, you can also
look at the following sites for a complete description of footnote
and bibliography style:
Please NOTE: bibliography entries are not arranged
in the same order and with the same punctuation as footnote
references. Plagiarism is so easy with
electronic sources, that I want to make clear my stance on it. If
you simply rewrite slightly some source you found on the internet
(or in print for that matter), that constitutes plagiarism.
If I discover this, you will receive an F for this course, and I
will report the case to the Dean and the appropriate conduct
committees. But whatever the conduct committee decides, you
will still receive the F. I may not catch all cases of
plagiarism, but I promise to give immediate and full attention to
those I do. Give full credit for an idea, for any
information that goes beyond common knowledge, for someone's
words, for someone's brainchild, etc. Otherwise you are
being dishonest.
Other Important Issues: --ALWAYS number your
pages. Don't turn in anything to anybody that looks
half-baked. --In quoting, remember to TAG
or attribute your quotations in the text: don't just rely
on the footnote to give that information to the reader. --You can make your writing
strongly immediately by revising out all the verbs in the
passive voice and most of the uses of the verb to be. --Please see the"Exam
and Evaluation Sheet"which I use to
help me mark papers and tests a bit faster and give you an idea
of what kinds of issues might come up. This will give you
some idea of what sorts of things to look for --when you do your
own revising.
FINALLY...
With both
papers, after you have gotten your paper back with comments
and a grade, you may choose to edit the paper and turn it in
again. If so, I will average the edited version grade
with the research paper grade.
The second paper will be a Research Bibliography.
This a
detailed bibliography on a specific topic.
Choose the topic in
consultation with me.
The only real text will be a paragraph of introduction. The
bibliography must include both primary and secondary sources. It
must be fairly extensive: let's say at least 4 primary
and 10 secondary sources. Choose the topic in consultation with
me. You must divide the sources into primary and secondary.
You should annotate each entry by saying something about how this
source contributes to your study of the topic--just a sentence or
two, right after the citation.
The third paper will be a Research Essay
of at least 2400 words. [Instructions coming]
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL PAPERS
You may not use Wikipedia or any other internet source whose author
and date we don't know. I would certainly use Wikipedia as a
launching point, but your sources must be published sources, either
hard copy or firm, vouched-for journal articles (such as those you
find on JSTOR), or clearly solid academic sites which publish
material whose authors and dates are given.
ALWAYS double-space your whole paper.
All papers should be turned in via Turnitin.com
All papers should have a cover sheet, but the cover sheet is NOT
page one. Page one (which should not have a number actually on
it) is the first page of text.
You must use proper English and complete sentences. DO NOT USE INTERNAL CITATION SUCH AS MLA STYLE.
All references, if you use any for this assignment, should be in the
footnote/endnote style. Please see the following site for a
complete description of footnote style:
(NOTE ON PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism is so easy with electronic
sources, that I want to make clear my stance on it. If you simply
rewrite slightly some source you found on the internet (or in print
for that matter), that constitutes plagiarism. If I discover
this, you will receive an F for this course, and I will report the
case to the Dean and the appropriate conduct organs. I
may not catch all cases of plagiarism, but I promise to give
immediate and full attention to those I do. Give full credit
for an idea, for any information that goes beyond common knowledge,
for someone's words, for someone's brainchild, etc. Otherwise
you are being dishonest. )
Other Important Issues:
ALWAYS number your pages. Don't turn in
anything to anybody that looks half-baked.
In quoting, remember to TAG or attribute your
quotations in the text: don't just rely on the footnote to
give that information to the reader.
You can make your writing strongly immediately by
revising out all the verbs in the passive voice and most of the uses
of the verb to be.
For some detailed ideas about what sort of level I am looking at for
your writing, please take a look at my