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Name_________________________________ Class______ Date______________ U.S. History L2

American Cultural History Research Project Instructions

Overview:

This culminating historical research project will allow students to explore the relationship between American culture and history. Various aspects of culture have both reflected and influenced changes in American society. Research will allow for the discovery of overall cultural themes, as well as, connections to specific political, economic, and social events. Students will draw upon and apply previously learned social studies methods and literacy skills to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize modern historical content. Students will work individually and in groups to complete the requirements.

Each group will be assigned the culture of one decade to study. The group will divide the study of each decade into the following cultural topics: music/radio, art/architecture, literature, movies/television, sports/leisure, fads/fashion, theater/dance, consumer products/advertising, and other areas that may be relevant.

Requirements:

Research Paper (300 TEST points+300 QUIZ points): Each individual will write an original research paper that shall:

▪ address a set of guided research questions pertaining to various cultural topics of the assigned decade

▪ be 6-8 pages in length

▪ integrate at least 5 book sources, and at least 2 online databases/ebooks into the paper

▪ properly cite all researched sources, using both internal footnotes and a proper Works Cited page

▪ not use any website unless approved by the instructor

▪ not plagiarize in any form (see student handbook for consequences of plagiarism)

▪ use proper MLA/Chicago format Paper format will count as a quiz grade (100 points)

▪ be presented in a series of drafts:

Draft 1--quiz grade (100 points), Draft 2--quiz grade (100 points), Draft 3--test grade (100 points)

Draft 4--test grade (100 points), Draft 5—50% of final exam

Visual/Presentation (100 pts): Each group will present their decade to the class. Presentations shall:

▪ last about one hour (10-15 minutes each student) plus time for audience questions

▪ include one organized group Power Point/Prezi/Google presentation or combination of visuals including related images, audio/video samples (limited to short clips), art, artifacts/memorabilia and fashion from the decade

▪ provide the class with copies of an outline/handouts of the important historical content so that the class will be able to take organized information away from the presentation. (The outline can be fill-in-the-blank or straight notes)

In addition, there will be various project related assignments to complete.

Grading: See the rubrics for specific grading elements

Important dates:

Library/Computer Lab Days are on syllabus. Independent Research times/dates/places must be scheduled: ____________________________________________________________

Due Dates: see syllabus

Essential Question

Students must focus their research around the essential question, which will help establish a strong thesis:

How did the [aspect of culture] reflect or influence the overall theme(s) of the decade?

You must move beyond a summary of what happened and analyze the relationships between the aspects of culture and the underlying political, social, and economic themes of the decade. For example, if you were to study the 1950s and discover major themes of conformity or rebellion, then how would the music, art, literature, movies, etc. reflect or influence those themes? The culture changed between 1950 and 1959, therefore what accounted for these changes, and how did your topic(s) develop over the course of the decade?

Research Procedure

1. Use primary sources to immerse yourself into the culture of the time period. Listen to music, study works of art and fashion, read excerpts of literature, and watch movies, television shows, commercials and sporting events, in order to gain an understanding of life during the decade. Use youtube to find primary source audio/video clips from the decade. Search for your decade (i.e. #1950s) on instagram, twitter, or other social media sites and see what you can find. Search ebay or craigslist for original products. Do an internet search for primary sources and artifacts. Avoid re-creations and reproductions. Find material authentic to the time period.

2. Search the high school and town library catalogues for secondary sources, (to explore what others have written about the decade). Read the introduction, table of contents and search the index of each book. For each useful book, write the full bibliographic citation, and take notes about anything that may help you answer the essential question. Make sure to accurately quote information and always note page numbers. Keep your notes organized. Take notes on various subtopics in each source.

You can search for books in the library before you go there. They are a short ride away and offer many additional resources to help you complete your project.

North Haven:  Hamden:  New Haven: 

North Branford:  Wallingford: 

3. Search the internet for high quality online primary and secondary sources. The internet is useful for expanding your research beyond the local sources. Remember that the instructor must approve all websites. Websites must be academic and of high quality, with expert writers and historians providing the source material. Be critical of your sources. High quality sources lead to high quality papers. For each useful website, write the full bibliographic citation, and take notes about anything that may help you answer the essential question. Make sure to accurately quote and note page numbers, URLs, dates of access, dates of updates, authors, titles, etc.

4. Organize and outline your essay. After substantial research, you will become more comfortable with the various ideas and information related to the essential question. You should see patterns and relationships develop within your research. Each paragraph should have a purpose. Integrate information from multiple sources into each paragraph. Organize and present your ideas in a way that makes the most sense: chronological, thematic, or a combination of the two. List the various categories present in your research. For example, if you were studying 1950s art you would need to figure out how to address the following: popular/dominant artists that drove the culture, various types of art (i.e. drawings, paintings, sculpture/3-dimensional, architecture, photography, graphic arts, etc.), famous works of art that best represented the decade, changes in art throughout the period, various purposes and uses of art (communicative, interpretative, expressive, commercial, entertaining, personal, political, social, psychological, etc.), and how all of these elements relate to the overall culture of the time period.

To use the school library’s American Decades e-book:

1. go to the library home page: 

2. click on: North Haven High School

3. click on: Visual tab (upper right)

4. click on: SOCIAL STUDIES

5. click on: e-books (this will take you to the Gale Virtual Reference Library) login is: s1011 if prompted

6. click on: History

7. click on: American Decades

8. click on: eTable of Contents

9. Select your decade from the tab, click go: Choose a volume: 7 1960-1969 8 1970-1979 9 1980-1989 10 1990-1999

10. You may then click on various chapters and parts of the book.

11. You can download mp3s of the book: ReadSpeaker: Listen

12. There are chronologies, overviews, topics, headline makers, and more.

13. At the bottom of each webpage is the full source citation. You will also need to cite page numbers, which are not part of the full source citation.

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bellbottoms e-book

1. Go to

2. Click on: Free E-books

3. Click on: In iCONN - E-Reference Books (144 titles) (requires CT public library card)

4. brings you to GVRL

5. Click on: History

6. Find Bowling, Beatniks, and Bellbottoms E-book

POP Culture sites—internet requires lots of digging























msu.edu/~tjpc/



































A note on notes

Make sure that you record all necessary citation information about any source that you use. This includes author, titles (article and source title), date, location and company of publication, date accessed, website URL and RELEVANT PAGE NUMBERS. Many articles on  and e-books give you the “source citation” already. You must use FOOTNOTES WITHIN the essay and a WORKS CITED page at the end of the essay.

Sample Research Questions

Besides the essential question, you will want to gather information to analyze. Asking good questions in the research phase will lead you to good answers, and sufficient material to write the paper. You will probably want to answer more specific questions; which will be acceptable, after consulting with your instructor. Here are some basic questions to guide your research of each aspect of culture.

Music/Radio

What genres of music seemed to dominate the airwaves? Which artists/bands “ruled” the decade?

What were the most popular songs? What famous concerts/festivals took place? What did the lyrics say?

Art and Architecture

Who were some famous artists? What were some well-known works of art/architecture?

Literature

Which genres of books were popular? Who were the bestselling authors and books? Magazines?

Movies/Television

What types of movies were made during this decade? Give examples of the most successful movies.

What shows, channels, and types of shows were popular? What were people watching?

Sports

What sporting events drew national attention? Which teams dominated? What were the popular sports?

Fads/Fashion

What types of clothing/brands were popular? What styles were “in?”

Consumer Products

Advertising

What were some famous commercials/ads? Which products/brands did everyone buy?

Technology

What new gadgets came onto the market? Which video games systems and games were popular?

Automobiles

What were the best selling makes and models?

How did the types of cars reflect the price of gasoline or other environmental factors?

Food

What foods and brands were popular? What was nutrition like? What were some popular restaurants?

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