You should all now be well into the ‘idea’ stage of your ...



History 110

Winter Research Paper, 2013

Due date: 1 February (research proposal); 15 March (final draft with portfolio)

For the research paper in this course, I intend you to use the interview you did over the holiday break to develop a research idea that you will then work into a research question to be addressed in a term-paper length study. Almost any question can work, if we okay it together, first.

1. Develop general research ideas (more than one)

This is the part of your research that you began over the holiday break. You should all by now have your ethics form – filled out – and either a taped interview or notes from your research.

Think about your interview, and write a roughly half page paragraph in which you tell me about the interview process. How did you get the idea to interview the person you did? Was it difficult or easy? How did you decide what questions to ask your subject (i.e. is your great grandpa having been a driver in the WWII a story you’ve always heard about as family lore?) How did the interview go? What was either confirmed for you in the interview, or was there anything that was surprising? Why/why not?

Develop three research ideas that spring out of the interview, that you think you might like to research. The questions I suggested on the syllabus might help you come up with some ideas, but I am also totally happy to look at your interview or talk to you and help you think about some potential ideas to explore further, if you find sufficient secondary material

2. Find a selection of good scholarly secondary sources (reference and refereed) to refine your ideas.

• Use electronic resources (i.e. in JSTOR) I would be happy if I don’t see even one monograph on one paper in this class. The first thing I look at is your bibliography. My assessment of its quality shades my reading of the rest of your work, and this assessment is worth roughly 1/3 of your grade [7-10 sources is ideal; I want to see 6 for your proposal]

• Use the suggested readings in chapters of our text for the names of respected authors in the field

• Use keywords, dates, geographic locations to search

• Once you get even one good article, mine its bibliography to get more good material

• Do not use poor quality [non-refereed/non-referenced] information off the internet. Even if you do and do not reference such material, your professor can often tell – because the information is incorrect, because the language is ‘off’ and because the argument is either standard, familiar or has been refuted. Take the time to do this right – otherwise what is the point? i.e.1. England vs. Britain; i.e.2.

• include an annotated bibliography of six (6) sources that are properly formatted. The annotation is a short paragraph of three (good) sentences (for each citation) that tells me the argument of the article and how it will contribute to your essay. You must show that you have read and understood the articles.

The reality may be that you cannot get an article you need for a couple of days, or when you read a number of articles that leads you to develop your argument in a direction that requires more research – or whatever. Don’t leave this to the last minute. I want to assess what you can do, not what you couldn’t get to.

3. Develop a thesis that reflects both your interests, and those ideas as they fit into arguments considered relevant in the field, and for which there is evidence.

Given the arguments in the articles you have found, go from your general idea: ‘something about who got chosen to be a driver in WWII’ to a specific argument: ‘the men who were chosen to be trained as drivers and who worked in those positions during the war were offered education and the opportunity to work in positions that meant their employment opportunities were enhanced upon deployment. Depending on the position earned during the war, Canadian soldiers could be much better or worse off when the war ended.’

Hand all the above in on 1 February: your research notes and comments including your proposed research questions, your annotated bibliography, and your proposed thesis. After you receive back that research proposal, use my comments to help you write your final research paper. On the due date, hand in the entire portfolio – of your interview and proposal (the original, with my comments) and your final, polished paper. [due 15 March]

THEN:

4. Create a good outline – I know it can be like pulling teeth but one does help.

5. Stick to your good outline, include references as you go along

• Fill it in, to keep yourself on track – this is easy, given word processing

• Reference specific quote, arguments and ideas, and ALWAYS comment on, tell me the significance, of anything you see fit to reference – and fill in the references as you go, properly citing them

6. In editing your work:

• Does your opening paragraph tell me what you want to argue, how you will do so? Could you underline a good, meaty sentence that gives me your thesis statement?

• Does each paragraph have a topic sentence; do sentences lead from one to another and do paragraphs link using linking words, phrases or ideas?

• Does your conclusion sum up what you have done, and perhaps explain what you have not done but is still of interest in the field?

7. Peer review process

• if you like, I can also set up a peer-editing process as outlined below in which you will read each others’ papers and comment on them. If you do it, I will assess your work out of 10% and the grade can replace your lowest 10% in the class so far. In the past, students who go through peer-review tend to achieve a full grade higher than those who don’t.

• even if you don’t do the edit for marks, go to the writing center or get a friend to proof your work

8. Edit for polish

• Include a cover page, number your (10-12) pages, 12 point font (no fancy style), properly formatted bib.

• There should be no spelling mistakes and very few grammatical errors in your paper. Be especially careful in the bibliography which many students forget to spell check. Also watch format, capitalization etc. throughout, but particularly in the bibliography. And, hand it in on time.

(Optional) Peer-editing Process

On [ ], bring your paper ready to hand in, double spaced, and as complete as possible. Include a word count of the text only. DO NOT identify yourself on the paper; I will assign your reviewer and this will be a blind-review process. There are no extensions possible for this project- hand in what you have done. Please bring your reviewed paper to class on [ ]. I will return them to the author 23 March. Final papers due [with notes and drafts] [ ].

I will take into account the quality of the draft you receive, assess your effort in reviewing it, and then in turn whether or not you responded to constructive comments. While I am not expecting you to re-write someone else’s work, if you do not note incomplete sentences or an argument that makes no sense or needs evidence that is not helpful. Also, comment fully enough that the writer can respond to your comments. If the paper is incomplete, don’t be afraid to say so – i.e. you have not completed enough for me to assess if your argument is sound or not.

You will be asked to comment on these categories of analysis: [so aim to cover each are well]

Bibliography

Quantity/quality of sources; each used in a footnote? [are they fully referenced and refereed sources?]

formatted in bibliography correctly/in footnotes correctly [including short forms]; enough/number of footnotes; adequate/correct material footnoted?

Opening Paragraph

Does it: introduce the paper adequately – tell the reader why the argument it makes matters; have a thesis statement [can you underline it? If so, do so]; tell the reader how that argument will be proven?

Concluding paragraph

Does it: tell the reader what the paper did; remind the reader what evidence was introduced to support that argument; tell the reader why this matters; if there is more to be argued

Body and evidence

Assess the evidence offered to support the thesis statement. Is there enough, does it do what the opening paragraph promises it will do? Are there enough, and good enough sources from which to draw the evidence? Is it clear the writer and used and critiqued those sources, not just copied pieces from them.

Overall comments

Writing: grammar, spelling punctuations – you don’t have to fix it – but tell them both where it looks good; where it needs work. If you have to work to understand the sense of a sentence of paragraph, then it needs editing. Do sentences flow one into the other; is language varied? Are sentences of varied length? Do paragraph have an opening and concluding sentence that both introduces the paragraph and connects its argument to the overall argument of the paper? Does it have a concluding sentence that sums up the argument in the paragraph and points towards the next paragraph?

Technicalities: length?; double spaced: font/margins right/page numbers there/one sided

did they include the word count as requested?

Does it begin with an interesting title that tells the reader what you will argue [ie not “History Paper”]

Did the person spell your professor’s name correctly? (

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