Department of History

OPTION ONE: FOR THOSE PREPARING FOR SENIOR THESIS SEMINAR

For those doing senior theses next semester or some future semester, your assignment will be to prepare the following. I hope this will prepare you to do all the preliminary work necessary for successful completion of your senior thesis in the future. (Note: for this exercise, you should consult in advance with your projected senior thesis instructor).

Click HERE for a model final paper.

2)     A one-paragraph THESIS STATEMENT PARAGRAPH  outlining a possible argument you may pursue in the course of your senior thesis research.

3)     A xeroxed copy of a primary source document that you will use (this could include visual materials, such as art work or cartoons, as well as written sources) for your paper, and a 2-3 pp. analysis of that document/source, in which you address the following questions:

---What is the main theme of the document?
---What is the historical context of your document?
---What is the main problem or question that arises from your document? (for example, who or what influenced its author(s)? Did other author(s) state similar ideas? To whom is the document directed? What was the author’s purpose in writing this document?)
---What is the title of another primary document that would help you answer the questions above?
---Name two secondary sources, one general and one specific, that will help you answer the question.

4)     An annotated bibliography of sources on your topic, divided into primary and secondary sources. An example of an annotated bibliography may be found on pp. 99–112 of Rampolla, Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 3^rd ed., that is required for this course. I have also posted sample annotated bibliographies onto the course website. Your bibliographic entries should be divided according to category––primary and secondary sources (and you may subdivide those categories if you wish)––and in form should follow exactly the models as outlined in Rampolla, pp. 84–95. Form matters.  

OTHER OPTIONS:

FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED (OR ARE NOW COMPLETING) SENIOR THESIS, OR THOSE NOT TAKING SENIOR THESIS IN HISTORY AT ALL:  

A) Prepare an extended (5-8 pp.) analysis of any historical issue/source/controversy that interests you. Write an essay analyzing your historical issue/source/controversy in the manner of one of the chapters of Lytle and Davidson's After the Fact. I will work with each of you individually on these papers, as they will vary considerably by individual. Use any of the chapters in After the Fact as your model.

B) Write an extended analysis of one primary source, on any topic of history, that interests you. The selection of the primary source is up to you, but it should be rich enough to withstand an extended analysis. One example might be the primary sources we looked at it in this class for the Salem witch trials. Your paper should investigate, probe, and analyze the origins, intents, meanings, and possible interpretations of that source from as many different angles as possible. Note: the primary source you select can be a visual source, such as a photograph, or a source from material history, i.e. an object, just as well as it can be a traditional printed source.

Note: Click HERE for a model primary source analysis

C) Research the life and writings of a particular great historian in the past who interests you –– come consult with me for some ideas on possible historians of interest. Prepare a 5–8 pp. paper presenting and interpreting the meaning of the life and work of this particular historian.

D) Write a paper analyzing the changing interpretations of a major event in history (such as the French Revolution, WWI, etc. etc.). In preparing this essay, you will read some major contending interpretations of the event, and then summarize and analyze the historiography that you have encountered.