HIS 140 Women in American HistorySpring 2008 / Lai

Oral History Project Criteria & Evaluation (30% of final gradepoint)

Calendar

Week 3DUE 4/14: Proposed narrator and brief description of interview focus; sample questions; tentative date for interview

Week 5DUE 5/02: Working Bibliography using Chicago Style Citation Format

Completed Formal Interview (prepared questions, recorded, request

narrator’s permission for use of information)

Week 6DUE 5/09: Introductory Paragraph and Thesis

Week 8DUE 5/19-23: Arrange for peer Evaluation of Rough Draft (SAVE to turn

in with final copy)

Week 10DUE 6/06: Final draft (attach rough draft and peer evaluation for

POINTS)

Project Pointers

For a 8-10 page double-spaced word-processed essay, plan a minimum of one source per page. Keep in mind that if you use several artifacts (diary entries, photos, or memorabilia) you would need additional types of sources so that you don’t over-rely on one or two secondary sources. You might want to use a theme from Through Women’s Eyes to organize your interview questions. If you haven’t used Chicago Manual Style (CMS) citations, be sure to ask for help.

The final product of this oral history project is a research essay that interprets and contextualizes an aspect of your formal oral history interview. With Chicago Style Citations, you will choose either footnotes which appear at the bottom of each page OR endnotes which are listed on a separate page following the essay. The Bibliography is required, even if it repeats the information in footnotes/endnotes. Note that the bibliographic and footnote/endnote format is slightly different.

Primary Sources (firsthand account or from that time period)

  1. formal oral history interview

Secondary Sources (academic/scholarly/college level sources)

  • Evaluate credibility
  • Pay attention to copyright (scholarship may be too dated and lack recently available sources)
  • Deliberately seek a variety of types of sources (books, media, periodicals/academic journals, internet)

Evaluation: 100 Point Total Points

Appropriate number of sources 5

Variety in type of sources, Current10

Interview (questions, notes)10

Use of sources shown by footnotes/endnotes10

Citation format and Bibliography10

Thesis10

Development (Analysis/interpretation)15

Conclusion10

Mechanics10

Draft and Peer Evaluation 10