Advanced Placement U.S. History - Research Project
This semester you will be working on a research project on a topic of your choosing about something in 20th Century American history. For this paper, you must analyze primary and secondary sources. The end result of this project will be a 9-10 page, thesis-driven research paper.
Everything you turn in to me MUST be typed.
Keep everything that you turn in and that I return to you.
Assignment / Due Date (tentative)Preliminary Topic Selection / Monday, November 18
Preliminary Bibliography / Monday, December2
Discussion on Your Topic with proposed Thesis / Thursday, January 7
Notes / Tuesday, January 21
Outline / Monday, January 27
First Draft / Thursday, February 13
Final Draft / Monday, March24
Preliminary Topic Selection
Choose TWO research topics.You may want to choose an area from the suggested list or some other area that has always interested you. Search through your textbook for possible topics. It may be more rewarding to do a new topic that is less known to you and your classmates than a topic you already know about.
Explain your two possible topic choice in a few sentences.What topic will you investigate? What questions will you be exploring? Topics must not be too broad (“The Great Depression” “The 1960’s”). A common problem is trying to tackle a topic that is too vast.
This assignment should be two brief 4-6 sentence paragraphs.
Preliminary Bibliography (30 points)
This bibliography should include all the sources you have gathered and should be in correct Chicago format.
For each item in your preliminary bibliography, include a paragraph describing what you have found in that source and how you think it will help you in your paper. Be specific.
On this list, make two separate sections, one for primary sources, the other for secondary sources.
You should alphabetize within each list.
You must have two-four primary sources and three-five secondary sources. The more primary documents you make use of, the better job you will do as a historian.
In searching for sources, I recommend that you look at the bibliography at the end of the appropriate chapter in your textbook. You may need to access the Public Library, NC State or other college library for the project.
The Internet is not a sufficient source for a high quality research paper. Only one of your secondary sources for your preliminary bibliography may be a website. There are lots of primary documents on the web, but the quality of some of the secondary sources are quite suspect. If you are using the web, verify that you are using a reputable source (e.g. a government or a university source). If your primary document comes from a website, that does not count in your website limit.)
Discussion of Your Topic plus proposed thesis statement (20 points)
Write a page describing the focus and scope of your topic,narrowed by event, time period, or perspective.In other words, based on reading both primary and secondary sources, what will you be focusing on in this paper?
I suggest you start the paragraph with “In this paper I will…” Also, for each topic that you plan to cover, please indicate what sources you will be using to find that information.
Please let me know all that you have done to this point and what more you need to do.
Develop a thesis statement based on your research. I will return it with comments so that you can revise it if need be. You may be required to turn in a second draft of your thesis statement. Remember, your thesis may change as you do more research, but your goal is to try to nail down your argument as early as possible.
A good thesis statement states something that can be argued on both sides with you taking a position. You are stating what you will prove in your paper. Don’t write something namby-pamby like “The twenties were a contentious decade in American history.” An acceptable statement would be “While certainly a decade of exciting new trends in the culture, the twenties were also marked by tensions beneath the surface for those who resisted these cultural changes and desired a return to a more traditional religious America.”
Notes (30 points)
Show me 100 notecards with information you have recorded that can be used in your research paper.
Notes can include secondary source information, facts, primary source ideas, your own insights you will include in the paper, or quotes.
Each note should indicate the source from your bibliography from which it came.
Each note must indicate the page it came from in that source.
Outline (20 points)
This outline should be a guide for your paper and should include all the sections needed to support your thesis.
Include your thesis statement at the top and then describe all the sections and major, as well as minor, points you will be making along the way to support your thesis.
Check the link on the Lesson Units section of Ms. Newmark’s web site that explains how to use Microsoft Word to make an outline.
The more detailed your outline is the better. A good outline is the most important step in writing your paper.
Your grade will reflect the amount of detail and thought that you have put into organizing the outline. I expect you to put time and care into this step.
The outline should be extensive (2-3 pages single spaced) It reflects the amount of effort you have put into researching and organizing your topic and will be graded accordingly.
First Draft (100 points)
This should be a complete draft including an intro, conclusion, footnotes and a bibliography.
The paper should be a minimum of 9 full pages and a maximum of 10 full pages. Number your pages.
Typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. TimesNewRoman font with reasonable margins(no more than 1 inchall around).
I will read this draft and return it to you with comments.
MUST BE SUBMITTED TO TURNITIN.COM
Final Draft (same 100 points as first draft)
With your final draft submit a final bibliography, footnotes, and your rough draft (with my comments on it)
Topic Ideas
Please feel free to meet with me for topic ideas. We have covered only half the course at this point so I know that you aren’t familiar with much of this content. Perhaps I can point you to a topic that you would find interesting. If a certain topic interests you, but you don’t have an idea of how to narrow it down, I’d be more than happy to talk to you.
When writing a research paper, you want a “small” topic, you want a niche you can explore and become an expert in. For example, if you want to explore the Civil Rights Movement, instead of writing on the Civil Rights Movement, write about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. If you want to write about the Vietnam War, instead write about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
US Protectorate in Cuba and the Platte Amend.
US acquisition of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico's role in US History'
Filipino resistance to US occupation
Causes/Effects of the Spanish-American War
US annexation of Hawaii
The birth of the automobile in the US
The impact of the oil industry in US History
The US debates entering World War I
The US role in World War One
Effects of the US in World War One
The Flu Pandemic of 1919
The First Red Scare
Anti-immigration in the 1920's
The Scopes Monkey Trial
The rise of the American Socialist Party
Eugene Debs’ role in US History
Restricting Free Speech in WWI-Sedition Acts
The Palmer Raids
J Edgar Hoover's influence on US History
Edith B. Galt Wilson's role in the White House
Sacco and Vanzetti's role in US History
the Lindbergh baby kidnapping
Jazz in 1920's America
the Harlem Renaissance and its impact
WEB Dubois and his role in US history
A New Deal program(WPA,CCC)and its impact
The building of the Blue Ridge parkway
Focus on the importance of a National Park
John Muir and the conservation movement
the rise of Hollywood's importance
silent films
the first talking films
Prohibition's effects
Dorothea Lange/Depression era photography
Importance of John Steinbeck and his novels
the Dust Bowl
US submarine warfare in World War One
the US attempt to counter the Russian Rev
Pearl Harbor
The DDay landings at Normandy
The role of Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt attacks the Supreme Court
Depression era mavericks: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, or Francis Townsend
Roe v Wade
Bakke v California
Brown vs Board of Ed Topeka
Truman's desegregation of the armed forces
The US occupation of Japan
The Marshall Plan aids western Europe
WACS and WAVES: Women in World War Two
World War One propaganda and George Creel
McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare
the Hollywood blacklist
the Alger Hiss spy case
theManhattan project
the execution of the Rosenbergs
the Berlin Airlift
the building of the Panama Canal
US military presence in Caribbean 1910’s/20's
Francis Powers U2 Spy Plane incident
the US meddles in Guatemala, 1954
the USmeddles in Iran, 1953
the US meddles in Chile, 1973
the US role in the Suez Canal Crisis
the Bay of Pigs invasion
the Cuban Missile Crisis
the Kennedy "Camelot" image
the assassination of John F Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War
the origins of US involvement in Vietnam
the US in the Korean War
the origins of the Civil Rights Movement
Martin LutherKing and Malcolm X disagree
the emergence of the Black Panthers
the Weather Underground
the Montgomery Bus Boycott
the Freedom Riders
the Greensboro Lunch Counter sit-ins
the modern feminist movement
Betty Freidan and the Feminine Mystique
Gloria Steinham and NOW
Red Power and AIM
Brown Power and Chicano Rights movement
Caesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the UFW
the occupation of Alcatraz by AIM
the occupation at Wounded Knee, 1973
Watergate
Nixon's resignation
the Iranian hostages
Economic and industrial woes of the 1970's
Three Mile Island
the emergence of modern Environmentalism
Immigration from _____ in the 20th Century
Mayaguez incident with Cambodia, 1975
USS Pueblo attacked by N. Korea, 1968
Ronald Reagan and modern conservatism
Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority
emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the US
the Watts, Detroit, or Newark riots, 1965-66
the LA Riots of 1992
the Persian Gulf War
the Clinton impeachment trial
Hippies and the Counterculture
the New Left
the Free Speech Movement
Reaganomics
analyze a critical US election
the 1980 and 84 Olympic boycotts
Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative
the US invades Grenada, 1983
the US invades Panama, 1989
NAFTA
Reagan and Gorbachev
the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings
Contract for America
Republican Congressional victories of 1994
the US air campaign in Serbia, 1995
Apple and the rise of the personal computer
the Camp David Accords
gas lines and the 1970’s gas crunch
Nixon goes to China
Nixon expands the Vietnam War in Cambodia
KentState
the building of the Interstate Highway system
Levittown: America's stereotypical suburb
the role of the Peace Corps
Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party
The 1968 Democratic Convention erupts
The Little Rock Nine
Marcus Garvey and the Black Star Line
The Building of the Hoover Dam
History of a 20th Century Amendment
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
My Lai Massacre
Iran Hostage Crisis
The Yalta Conference
The Bretton Woods Conference
The Interstate Highway Act
Construction of the Golden GateBridge
Construction of Dodger Stadium
Construction of Boston’s Quabbin Reservoir
The Alaskan Pipeline
Oil spill of the Exxon Valdez
Attack of the USS Cole
Bombings of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanz.
Oklahoma City Bombings
The storming of the Branch Davidians, WacoTX
Cuban controversy over Elian Gonzalez