Historical Research Essay

Historical Research Assignment

Prompt: Choose a significant moment in American History from before 1990.  Describe the historical background leading up to that moment, explain the significance of the moment itself, and trace the cultural implications since then.

Process Checklist (steps to be completed as the first portion of the assessment)

q  The nature of the topic is one that has cultural significance and researchable impacts and roots.

q  Topic is narrow enough for a 5 page paper, but broad enough to find sources.

q  (Following preliminary research) A thesis statement focuses on both causes and effects.

q  Five or more reliable and credible sources have been identified on an annotated source list that includes sufficient information needed for later MLA formatting.  District electronic databases (Gale, ProQuest, eLibrary) are used when appropriate to topic

q  Notes show evidence of summarizing, paraphrasing and direct quotations.

q  Note taking preserves the intent of the original text.

q  Notes provide sufficient information for a 5 page paper.

q  Proposed organization of the paper appears on an outline, graphic organizer or other means.

q  All drafts must be word-processed.

q  Thorough revision in drafting is evident in preliminary versions.

Common Assignment Rubric

	4	3		2		1
Thesis Organization Support Conclusion Transitions	Thesis clearly establishes an insightful connection(s) between the moment and its roots and impact.	Thesis clearly establishes a connection(s) between the moment and its roots and impact.		Thesis states connection(s) to culture, but some may be redundant or faulty.		Thesis may be too general or too specific to control the essay.
	Organization pattern is clear and logical, without seeming mechanical. Paragraphs are well-constructed and may have varied placement of topic sentences.	Organization pattern is clear and logical. Topic sentences show the relationship between paragraphs and thesis.		Organization pattern may not be clear because some parts don’t fit. Topic sentences may be awkward, too general, or too specific.		Organization pattern requires reader inference. Some topic sentences may be missing or inappropriate for the paragraph.
	Thoughtful selection of information from multiple, reliable sources shows excellent depth and quality of research. Information from sources is skillfully integrated, including sufficient analysis to show relevance.	Relevant information from multiple, reliable sources shows depth and quality of research. Elaboration explains each connection. Source information is integrated with the writer’s ideas.		Information is relevant, but it may come from less credible or reliable sources. Depth of research may be insufficient. Source information is poorly integrated or doesn’t fit. Some paraphrasing is too close to the source.		Source material has little context and may be irrelevant. Sources may lack credibility or be unreliable. Information from research is scarce or superficial. Much paraphrasing is too close to the source.
	Conclusion shows the significance of the topic in its cultural context and summarizes the main ideas.	Conclusion summarizes connections to the culture and restates the significance of the topic.		Conclusion restates connections to the culture and repeats the significance of the topic.		Paper ends abruptly or restates only part of the thesis.
	Skillful transitions between paragraphs and among ideas within the paragraphs are present. Many are not obvious.	Transitions show relationships between paragraphs and among ideas within the paragraphs.		Transitions are stilted or sometimes missing.		Paper lacks appropriate transitions.

Style	Use of formal register and active voice are consistent. Word choice is specific, varied, and insightful.	Use of formal register and active voice are consistent. Word choice is specific and varied.	Use of formal register and active voice may be inconsistent. Word choice may be repetitive and/or lack variety.	Formal register may be absent.  Tenses may vary. Writer has little control over language.
Documentation	MLA format is correctly used for in-text citations and manuscript form, including works-cited page.	MLA format is used for in-text citations and manuscript form, including works-cited page. Format is mostly correct, with few errors.	MLA format is used for in-text citations and manuscript form, including works-cited page. Format may have many errors.	MLA format is poorly represented.
Conventions	Sentence structures are varied, correct, and effective. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are correct.	Sentences are varied and mostly correct (e.g., parallel and subordinate structures) Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are mostly correct.	Sentences have some variety, but some may be poorly constructed. Overuse of simple sentences may be distracting. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors do not distract reader.	Sentences are simple and repetitive.  Frequent errors in spelling, punctuation and capitalization interfere with meaning.

Deadlines:

o   On a note card:  Identify topic and five researchable questions                    /5    (Due 4/7/14)

o   Research Process #1:                    /10   (Due 4/14/14)

o    Find and print (or record on Evernote) 4-5 sources.

o   Evidence of note taking (highlighting, summarizing, paraphrasing, etc.)

o   Annotated bibliography (Due 4/22/14)

o   Research Process #2:                    /10   (Due 4/22/14)

o   Annotated bibliography (Due 4/22/14)

o   Define Cultural Significance of Topic (Why does this moment still matter? What are the long-range effects of the moment?)

o   Graphic Organizer of paper structure

o   Research Process #3:                     /10  (Due 4/28/14)

o   Formal Outline of Essay, including thesis statement (topic + cultural significance)

o   Work on Direct quotations or paraphrased information (with source designated) inserted into outline. (Due 5/4/14)

o   Research Process #4:               /10        (Due 5/4/14)

o   Direct quotations or paraphrased information (with source designated) inserted into outline.

o   Works Cited Page (also include as final page of essay)

o   First draft of paper (peer edited)  (Submitted to turnitin.com by class time 5/12/14)

o   Second draft of paper (teacher edited) (Submit to turnitin.com by 5/19/14)

o   Final draft of paper (Submitted to turnitin.com by 5/27/14)

Research Process 2:

Annotated Bibliography

For your essay, you must find at least five sources relating to your topic.  At least one of these must be a print source (book, magazine, newspaper, map, etc.).

Next you must create an annotated bibliography of your sources.  An annotated bibliography is a list of your sources (in MLA format, similar to a works cited page), but also includes a short description (2-3 sentences) of each source and its information.  In an essay where you must use multiple sources of information, the annotated bibliography is helpful in keeping track of your sources and the information they contain.

Your annotated bibliography (with at least five sources and annotations) is due

Tuesday, April 22.

                                           Annotated Bibliography Example

Colvin, Richard Lee and Martha Groves.  "Schools Learn Perils of Using a Single Test."

Los Angeles Times  25 September 1999:  A1. This article discusses the recent grading mistakes made by some of the top test-making companies in the United States.  The results supplied by CTB/McGraw-Hill sent over 8,600 students in New York to summer school, by mistake, due to faulty results.  This has also occurred with other publishers and in other states.  With so much at risk, such as high school graduation, it is imperative that results are given accurately.  It is also necessary to make sure standardized tests are not the only factor in getting a diploma or advancing to the next grade.

Herman, Joan L. and Jamal Abedi.  "Assessing the Effects of Standardized Testing on Schools." Educational and

Psychological Measurement  54  (Summer 1994):  471-482. This article gives statistical data collected

from upper elementary teachers in 48 different schools.  450 questionnaires were sent to the

teachers to get information on what they thought of standardized testing.  Questions included: how

much pressure is felt from the principal or school district, how much time is spent reviewing for

standardized tests, and to what extent changes in test scores are due to a change in instruction.  The

surveys were given out to all types of schools, poor and wealthy, and approximately 341 were

received back.

Research Process #2

Assignment for Tuesday, April 22

1.       On a piece of your own paper, answer these questions:  What effect does your topic have on today’s culture?  Why is it significant or important to the lives of Americans today?

In other words, how has the invention of the telephone or the popularity of Oprah affected the world we live in?  (Substitute your own topic here) 

You will use this statement to write your thesis statement on Monday.  Your thesis statement for this paper is essentially your topic + your opinion or position about why this is important.  Make sure you put this paper in your writing folder.

2.       If you have already found 4-5 useful sources, skip to step 3.  If not, continue to research sources online.  You need to have at least 5 sources that you will use for this paper.  In other words, all of your information cannot come from the same source—you must include, in the text of your paper, information from each one of your sources.

Evidence of note taking is required here.  Either highlight the important information in the text of your article or include another piece of paper where you take notes on the important info.

3.       If you have all of your sources, begin to organize the research into the sections you’ll use in your papers.  You could do this in a graphic organizer like the one on page 5 of the research paper packet. If another graphic organizer format works better for you, use that instead.

                    

Intro:  ½ page (include attention getter, thesis, and preview of main points)

Multiple Causes: 1 ½ pages (about ½ page per cause, show how all lead to the central moment)

Moment: 1 page (center point of the paper, explaining the central idea and its importance)

Multiple Effects: 1 ½ pages (about ½ page per effect, show how all come out of the central moment)

Conclusion: ½ page (include a restatement of thesis, recap of main points, and a final statement about importance of moment)

See also outline example for paper format.

Research Process 3 & 4: Historical Research Essay Outline (Hank Aaron example)

I.         Introduction

A.       Attention-getter.

B.       Thesis: (moment + cultural significance) Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715^th home run changed the ways people looked at African-Americans in professional baseball.

C.       Preview (three) main points: 

1.  Causes:  Negro Leagues/Jackie Robinson breaking into MLB. 

2.  Effects:  Future home-run records and subsequent steroid investigations

                a.  Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa

                b.  MLB drug controversy/changing policies

II.        Causes of moment

A.          First cause: Formation of the Negro Leagues

1.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research): In 1880s several professional Negro teams were formed.  Professional baseball mirrored the segregation in larger society (Negro League Baseball Players Association).

2.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research): Several players tried to integrate into the MLB prior to Jackie Robinson with little success (Negro League Baseball Players Association).

3.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research): “The first successful organized Negro League was established on February 13, 1920, at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri” (Society for American Baseball Research).

B.       Second cause: Jackie Robinson’s introduction to the major leagues (“About Jackie Robinson”).

           1.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):

           2.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):

C.       Third cause:

           1.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):         

2.  Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):

III. The Moment

A.       Background information necessary to understanding the moment (Source)

B.       Explanation of its importance (Source)

           1. Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):          

2. Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):

IV. Effects of Moment

A.          First Effect that came from moment

1.       Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):

Example, statistic, fact, quotation, etc (source from research):

B.          Second Effect that came from moment

1.       Example, statistic, fact, etc. (Source from research)

2.       Example, statistic, fact, etc. (Source from research)

C.           Third Effect

1.       Example, statistic, fact, etc. (Source from research)

2.       Example, statistic, fact, etc. (Source from research)

V.        Conclusion

A.       Restatement of thesis (in different words)

B.       Final statement on moment's enduring impact on culture or its importance as a turning point.

How to embed quotations into your essay

Non-embedded quotation:

"This image reinforces the idea that girls should mask their real selves and hide their true identity" (Sheridan 36).

Embedded quotation:

Noted author S. Sheridan also believes Ms. Wonder promotes the objectification of women, "This cardboard adventure queen sends messages to both girls and boys: a heroine can be both strong and sexy which reinforces the old myth of a perfect cook in the kitchen and whore in the bedroom" (26).

While traveling on a bus, the author is “Heart-filled, head-filled with glee” (2).   

Poor example:  This is shown by “And he was no whit bigger” (6).

Examples of proper quoting:

Samuel Johnson says, "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" (2394).

Samuel Johnson believes that only universal ideas please: "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" (2394).

Samuel Johnson believes that "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" (2394).

Give page numbers even if you paraphrase rather than quote directly:

Samuel Johnson believes that only the truest representations of universal human nature constitute great art (2394).

Imagist Poetry, Pound and Williams

Finish and hand in Robert Frost packet from yesterday.

Read Modern poetry intro in textbook (645-647).

Ezra Pound, "The River-Merchant's Wife: a Letter" and "The Garden" (650-2) 

• How is the third stanza of "The River-Merchant's Wife" the turning point in the poem? What does the wife mean in line 14?
• What hurts the young wife in line 25, and why? In the same line, why does she say, after only five months, that she grows "older"?
• In "The Garden" line 10, what does the speaker imagine the woman wants? What is she afraid of?
• "The Garden" is a poem about two individuals, the woman and the speaker, but it is also about something broader. What is Pound's larger subject?

William Carlos Williams, "The Red Wheelbarrow", "The Great Figure", and "This Is Just to Say" (667-9)

• In "The Red Wheelbarrow," Williams focuses on an ordinary workday object. Are the subjects of "The Great Figure" and "This Is Just to Say" equally ordinary? Explain.

Creative response:

Write a brief imagist poem describing an object from your everyday life. Connect it to an emotional response through your descriptions and word choices. (at least 10 lines; give it a title)

Robert Frost poetry

“The Death of the Hired Man” (805)

A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story—a series of related events with a beginning, a middle, and an end. A narrative poem also features characters and, frequently, dialogue. Most of this narrative poem consists of dialogue written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter).

1.      Identify the details in lines 103-110 that create a vivid image of the setting of this narrative poem. What does this passage tell you about Mary’s character?

2.      Do any of the main characters change in the course of the narrative? Give line numbers/specific examples to support your answer.

3.      Does the conclusion of this narrative poem strike you as inevitable, or unavoidable? Why or why not? What would your feelings have been if Warren, instead of answering “Dead” to Mary’s question, had answered “Asleep” or “Sharpening his scythe”?

4.      State in your own words the poem’s theme, or what it reveals to you about our lives. How could its theme apply to social issues faced in both rural and urban areas today?

5.      Frost says he aimed to give the speech of each character in his poetry a distinct sound, just as people’s voices sound different in real life. Does he successfully differentiate Warren’s and Mary’s dialogue? Give reasons for your opinion.

“Design”

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,

On a white heal-all, holding up a moth

Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --

Assorted characters of death and blight

Mixed ready to begin the morning right,

Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --

A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,

And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,

The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?

What brought the kindred spider to that height,

Then steered the white moth thither in the night?

What but design of darkness to appall?--

If design govern in a thing so small.

1.       Describe the scene set up in the first stanza. What are the three characters in the poem, and what is happening to each one?

2.       What color is each character? What justifies the poet’s description of them as “characters of death and blight”?

3.       Tone refers to the writer’s attitude toward a subject or toward life in general. Tone can be described as sarcastic, cynical, awed, tender, and so on. Tone is created by language. What similes are used in the poem’s first eight lines? How do they affect the tone of the poem?

4.       What questions does the speaker ask in the final six lines?

5.       What is the answer in the last two lines? Explain, in your own words, what the “design of darkness” is.

6.       Always look for ambiguity in Frost: his poems often suggest several meanings or contain contradictory details. In line 14, at the poem’s end, what reservation or doubt remains in his mind?

7.       How does this last line affect the whole tone and meaning of the poem?

“Mending Wall”

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,

But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father's saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

1.       Describe what is happening in lines 13-16. According to the speaker, why is rebuilding the wall merely a game (lines 23-26)?

2.       What questions does the speaker think should be settled before building a wall, according to lines 32-34?

3.       Why would the speaker say “Elves” (line 36)?

4.       From whom did the neighbor get his saying: “Good fences make good neighbors”?

5.       What do you think the word darkness means in line 41? What could the simile in line 40 have to do with darkness?

6.       What might the wall in the poem symbolize?

7.       This poem is ambiguous—it presents opposing views about the wall. Do you think Frost favors the view of the speaker r the neighbor? Which details from the poem lead you to this interpretation?

8.       Do you believe that “Good fences make good neighbors”? Do you think the generalization could apply in some situations but not all? Give your reasons.

The Great Gatsby, Introduction

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Introduction: What do you know about the 1920s? What else was going on historically at this time?

Reading schedule:

4/9       Chapters 1-3

            Presentations (assignment explained below)

4/10     QUIZ 1-3

4/15     Chapters 4-6

            Presentations

           

4/16     QUIZ Ch. 4-6

4/22     Chapter 7

            Presentation

4/23     Chapter 8

            Presentation

4/24     Chapter 9

            Presentation

            Review for test

4/25     Final Test!

Chapter Analysis Assignment

Select any three of the nine chapters to analyze; type your answers to the following.  Use your annotations to assist you in this assignment.

1.                  Title each entry with the chapter number, then add a more creative and descriptive title for the chapter.

2.         Write a brief summary of the chapter.

3.         For each chapter, choose a character on whom to focus (you may focus on the same character throughout the book):

a.         Name the character.

b.         Choose a quote from this chapter that you think best represents the

            character (include page number). Explain why you’ve made this choice.

c.         Describe his/her defining characteristics in this chapter.

d.         List symbols, descriptive imagery (description that appeals to our five senses), similes, metaphors, or symbols associated with this character.

4.          For each chapter, locate and explain the significance of two of the following symbols: colors (green, white, silver, gold, yellow), the eyes of T.J. Eckleberg, Gatsby's career/Nick's career, Dan Cody, East vs. West Egg, the weather (rain in chapter five, heat in chapter seven, etc.),  Wolfsheim's cufflinks, faded timetable (showing names of Gatsby's guests), cars/clothes, jazz, dogs/pets, conspicuous displays of wealth, parties/teas/dinners, alcohol consumption.  OTHER.

Chapter Analysis assignment will be submitted to turnitin.com

Friday, April 25 by 7:40am.

Chapter Experts Presentation

Assignments

You will serve as Gatsby experts for one chapter, as assigned below.  Experts will lead a 10 minute class presentation/discussion about the chapter.  It is your job to keep the discussion moving and keep the focus on the text.  You must be prepared for your discussion and knowledgeable about your chapter.  Though you may discuss anything of note from your chapter, you must be prepared to discuss whatever you classmates would like to discuss from your chapter. 

Plan your Presentation!  Phone, e-mail, or meet at Caribou!  No standing in front of  class, fumbling about!  No saying, “We did Chapter 4.” Do something fun and interesting!  How about a game?  A quiz?  Acting out a portion of the chapter?  How about prizes? All group members must participate!

Plan to include a discussion of the following:

·         author’s style and rhetorical techniques

·         important quotations

·         characterization/character development

·         symbols

·         themes

Note:  Do not discuss any information for the chapters that follow your chapter, but you may discuss events leading up to your chapters.  For example, if you are assigned a discussion of Chapter Six, you may discuss anything leading up to Chapter Six, but avoid mentioning anything from Chapter Seven.

            On the day of your discussion, you will each show your preparation by turning in a written copy of a minimum of ten questions you had planned to use during your discussion.  Your questions should be thought provoking and open ended.  Do not ask any questions that would elicit monosyllabic responses.  Your partners will also turn in the questions they have prepared. 

Each chapter expert must turn in the following:

·         two specific questions about the author’s style and rhetorical techniques (effect, intent, etc.)

·         two questions about meaningful direct quotations (significance, purpose, effect, etc.)

·         two questions about characterization (technique, effect, development/change, etc.)

·         two questions about symbols (weather, the ash heap, eyes of T.J. Eckleberg, green light etc.)

·         two questions about themes (cynicism, idealism, decline of American dream, materialism, hollowness of upper class, etc.)

Note:  The suggestions in parentheses are just that - suggestions.  It would be beneficial to you, as a chapter expert, to have more questions prepared and to delve more deeply into the text to find the keys to understanding your chapter.

Grading

            You will be graded on the following:

• individual preparation for discussion of assigned chapter (written questions)
• individual role in leading an engaging and knowledgeable discussion (15 minutes)
• individual participation in all chapter discussions

Note:  There may be other in-class assignments related to the novel, but these are the planned activities at this point.

Schedule and Groups

            Experts must be prepared to present and all students must be prepared to contribute to discussions according to the following schedule:

·         Chapter One                Thursday, 4/9                                     

·         Chapter Two               Thursday, 4/9                         

·         Chapter Three             Thursday, 4/9                         

·         Chapter Four               Tuesday, 4/15

·         Chapter Five               Tuesday, 4/15             

·         Chapter Six                 Tuesday, 4/15 

·         Chapter Seven             Tuesday, 4/22 

·         Chapter Eight              Wednesday, 4/23                   

·         Chapter Nine/final      Thursday, 4/24                       

Note:  The final group will be expected to cover Chapter Nine briefly, but they should also plan for a final discussion of the novel as a whole.  They should be prepared to look at themes and symbols that appear throughout the novel, and to look at how characters are developed throughout the novel.

Other Fun Stuff

• Explore, if only briefly, the historical context of the novel.  As you look for themes and the importance of symbols throughout Gatsby, an understanding of the time period in which Fitzgerald was living and writing will be helpful. 
• Consider the narrator of the novel – what he knows and when he knows it (How reliable is he?).
• Think about how readers of today might view the novel in a different light due to what is known about the historical events that followed the time period in which this novel is set.  How might the audiences of Fitzgerald’s day have reacted differently to the novel? 
• Examine some of the other working titles for the novel – “Among the Ash Heaps and the Millionaires,” “Trimalchio in West Egg,” and “Gold-hatted Gatsby.”  How fitting is Fitzgerald’s final choice?  

Hemingway Literary Analysis essay

Typing time on lit analysis essay.

Final essay is due 11:59:59 pm on Tuesday, April 8. Submit to turnitin.com.