Name: USII Orleck

Junior Honors Research Project

Over the course of second and third term, you will be completing a cohesive thesis-
driven research project related to a topic of your choosing in Modern American
History (post Reconstruction-today). While we will spend time in class working on
related areas such as thesis development and research skills, most of the project will
be completed independently. This project is a requirement to pass Junior-level
history. If you fail the final product, you will not pass the course.

Necessary Products & Deadlines

Topic Selection January 10
Related Book Review February
Skeleton Outline March 1
Formal Outline March 18
Annotated Bibliography April 1
Final Paper & Completed Annotated Bib April 26

Guidelines:
 Product deadlines are firm. Absence from school is not an excuse for a late
product. Each day a product is late, I will detract 1 whole grade from your
paper. To receive credit, hard copies must be handed into me personally. I
will not accept emailed copies or allow you to print during class time.
 For the final paper/bibliography: a minimum of TEN sources are required.
o ONE encyclopedia entry is permitted
o You must use THREE books (according to the dictionary: a written
work or composition that has been published and printed on pages
bound together).
o You must use TWO primary sources
o Electronic resources should be online journals, books, articles, etc. If
you are going to use a website, make sure you use the website
evaluation form to analyze the sites’ authenticity.
o Remember all sources must appear paraphrased, quoted and citied in
your paper.
 You must communicate with me early and often if you are having trouble
with research. I am willing to spend the time that is necessary to help you
produce a quality product.
 Each student will have a different topic in class.
 All products must be typed, and in 12 point font.
 MLA style citations will be used.
 Grading will be based on the Duxbury School Wide Writing Rubric.
 I will be providing you with models and examples each step along the way.
 DHS Honor Code applies to this project. If there is a doubt in the integrity of
the paper, I have the right to use resources such as “Turnitin”.
 TOPICS 2010-2011

Jim Crow Laws/Black Refugee Crisis Boston Busing Crisis

Codes The Dust Bowl Freedom Riders
Early KKK Black Friday Muhammad Ali and the
Resettlement of Native Prohibition Draft
Americans Wilson’s 14 Points Assassination of JFK
Ghost Dance Socialism at turn of the Sargent Shriver and the
The Battle at Wounded Century Peace Corp
Knee History of Mormonism Bonus Army
Chinese Immigration Act Influenza Epidemic The New Deal
Frontier Farmers Harlem Renaissance Fireside Chats
Early Philanthropists The Jazz Age Red Summer/Red Scare
Public Education Satchel Paige & The 100 Days
Fredrick Jackson Turner Negro League Public Health AIDS
and Frontier theory The Marshall Plan epidemic in the 1980s
The Populist Party WWII Homefront Reagan and Central
The White City/Worlds’ MacArthur & Korea American ______________
Fair Martin Luther King American Intervention
The Origins of the Oil Malcolm X (or lack thereof )
Industry March to Selma -In the Rwandan
Cabot Lodge Immigration Birmingham Church Genocide
Restriction Act Riots -In the Holocaust
Rise of the Labor Race Riots= 1960’s Cuban Embargo
Movement Woodstock HUAC
The Eugenics Movement “Sundown Towns” The Rosenberg Spy case
Margaret Sanger & Fight Thurgood Marshall Rachel Carson & Silent
for Birth Control Vietnam & the Draft Spring
The Lynching of Leo Vietnam & African Watergate
Frank Americas Title IX
TR’s Square Deal Student Protests Media and Vietnam
Environmental The Weather RFK
Conservationism Underground 1968 Democratic
Triangle Shirtwaist Brown v.The Board of Convention
Factory Fire Education Integration of the Boston
American Imperialism Roe v. Wade Celtics
Spanish American War Gloria Steinem and the OPEC & Oil Crisis
TR and New Nationalism New Feminism Reagan & Cold War
TR and Rough Riders Stonewall Riots Reagan & Latin America
The Great Migration J. Edgar Hoover and the Iran Contra Affair
Levittown & the birth of FBI Persian Gulf War
the Suburb Jesse Owens and the Rodney King & LA Riots
The GI bill 1936 Berlin Olympics 1992
Specific WWII Battles 1980 Miracle on Ice 9/11 (Need a spin)
Women and WWII James Brown & Calming Matthew Shepard and
WWII on the Homefront of Race Riots xxxxxxx James Byrd, Jr. Hate
Japanese Internment Iran Hostage Crisis Crimes Prevention Act
Chinese Immigration Act Black Panther Party
 Topic Selection:

Please spend some time researching a handful of topics that are interesting to you.
Narrow down your choices to FOUR. I will assign your final topic based on your
topic information sheet.

Choice 1: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Possible angle_______________________________________________________________________
Potential thesis _____________________________________________________________________
Why this topic?______________________________________________________________________

Choice 2: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Possible angle_______________________________________________________________________
Potential thesis _____________________________________________________________________
Why this topic?______________________________________________________________________

Choice 3: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Possible angle_______________________________________________________________________
Potential thesis _____________________________________________________________________
Why this topic?______________________________________________________________________

Choice 4: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Possible angle_______________________________________________________________________
Potential thesis _____________________________________________________________________
Why this topic?______________________________________________________________________

Anything else I should know?

 Product: Critical Book Review

In order to get familiarized fast with your topic, you will be responsible for reading a
related book and writing a critical review. I will give you a few announced “reading
times” in school, but for the most part, you will be responsible for reading your
selection independently. Please choose your book wisely according to your own
interests and reading level and ability. Your choice must be non-fiction, however,
you may find that memoir or narrative journalistic style may be the most interesting
to you.

I think this is likely a book that you will want to purchase as marking it up will be
hugely helpful to you—check out amazon.com or half.com for cheap used selections.
You shouldn’t have to spend more than $12-15.

Also, the Library can assist you in ordering copies from other libraries. Just ask!

Your book review will be 2-4 pages, 12-point font and will be graded in accordance
with the DHS writing rubric

The distinction between a book report and a critical book review should be kept in
mind. A book report attempts to do little more than summarize the contents of the
book, while a critical book review is a description of a book with commentary on it.

The book review, on the other hand, is an attempt at a critical analysis of a book. The
most important point to remember about a book review is that it is an evaluation or
a commentary, and not a summary. Unless your teacher specifically requests that
you summarize the book’s contents, a book review should spend little time outlining
the material covered by the author. The bulk of your review should be an evaluation
of the way the author handled the subject and a commentary of the book’s
contribution to your understanding of the issues discussed. Your formal, critical
book review should discuss such things as:

THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE IN WRITING THE BOOK, OR WHAT THE BOOK WAS
DESIGNED TO DO;
Is the book intended as a general survey of a particular historical problem, or is its
purpose the in-depth, detailed analysis of a relatively narrowly defined subject? Is
the author distilling and summarizing accepted conventional wisdom (as found in
monographs, doctoral dissertations, and essay literature) about a subject, or is
he/she attempting to present entirely new material/information and/or
interpretation to the reader?
THE AUTHOR’S DOCUMENTATION AND RESEARCH;
On what evidence does the author base his/her work? Here the careful
reader/historian always consults closely in the footnotes... if any... bibliography, and
a Preface or Forward of the book. What sources, primary, secondary, and/or tertiary
does he/she cite as the underpinning for the work? Has the author published any
other books on similar subjects?
THE AUTHOR’S ORGANIZATION AND COHERENCE OF THE BOOK;
Does the author’s organization of material seem clear and logical? Does his/her
narrative and arguments hang together without “gaps or holes” on the one hand,
and tedious repetition on the other?
THE AUTHOR’S THESIS, INTERPRETATION, OR “POINT”;
What is the principal point(s) made by the author? i.e. is he/she arguing that
economic problems caused this or that revolution? Is the basic point of the book that
the North won the Civil War because of its greater industrial strength? Is the author
arguing that napoleon was the power-hungry and boundlessly ambitious because he
was very short and in general had an unsatisfactory childhood? What is the basic
point of the book?
THE AUTHOR’S CREDENTIALS AND BIAS ON THE SUBJECT;
If possible, try to determine who the author is. Is he/she a professional historian
(possessing a Ph.D. in History), a journalist? a participant in the events about which
he/she writes? Could you innocently pick up a book entitled Sirhan Sirhan: A
Patriotic Life by Leisa Sirhan (his mother) and use it as your basic reference source
for an understanding of Robert Kennedy’s assassin? What reservations might you
mentally make concerning a book about Nazi art written by an eminent art
historian, but one whose parents were executed at the Nazi concentration camp at
Dachau? These are only some of the more obvious demonstrations of the principles
that the perceptive reader/historian attempts to find out something about the
author of any book he/she reads because of the light such information may shed on
the particular prejudices or interests of the author.
THE INTENDED AUDIENCE OF THE BOOK;
For whom was the book written? Was it designed as a general survey for the
information of the average reader, perhaps even as an explicitly commercial,
moneymaking venture? Or was the book intended for a narrower, specialist
audience?
THE STYLE OR LITERARY MERIT OF THE BOOK;
Although history books are not usually written as literature in the narrow sense of
the term, many historians do argue that history is at least a specialized form of
literature (history as story). All historians agree, however, that anything less than
good literary style is unacceptable in historical prose. In your book review then, you
may want to comment at least briefly on the quality and characteristics of the
writing in the book you have read.

YOUR OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE BOOK;

Although you may not be able to comment with confidence about all the categories
listed above, you should feel no hesitation about evaluating the book from your
perspective. That is, what use, interest, or value (or lack of the same) did the book
have for you? Did reading it serve any useful purpose for you? I would like you to
commit yourself as to whether you would recommend its reading/purchase to
anyone else?
Ensure that if you borrow an idea or use an exact quote form the book or another
critical book review that you cite your sources so as to avoid the implication of
plagiarism which is a direct violation of the honor code and can lead to serious
consequences.

You could approach your task in any one of a number of ways. To convince yourself
that this is true, scan either the New York Times or the Atlanta-Journal Constitution
Book Review sections. Read a few of the shorter reviews to get a feel for the way the
reviewer approaches his/her task. It should become quite clear that there is no
exact formula. It should become quite clear that there is no exact formula. It should
also be clear that the reviewer thinks and writes in accordance with what he/she
regards as logical. Admittedly, he/she is usually an authority in his/her field, and
that you are somewhat of a novice. Nevertheless, do not let yourself be intimidated
by this by this. For this requirement no outside reference sources are required but
may be used.

Skeleton Outline

After you have compiled and organized your preliminary research, you will create a
one page skeleton outline that will be handed in and graded. This is an essential step
in the process of writing your final paper. In addition, this will let me know how you
are doing and if you are off track.

Sample:

Topic: 19th Century British Colonization

Thesis Statement: British colonization was more detrimental than beneficial to world it
affected.

I. Background Info
a. Reasons for Colonization
i. Expansion of own territory
ii. Trade is easier to conduct within one owns borders
iii. New markets
iv. More resources
b. Problems with Colonization
i. Costs lots of money to keep colonies
ii. Cultures clash and causes the spread of disliking of colonizers in
colonies
c. English colonization
i. 50 Colonies by 1900
ii. Decolonized in 1945
iii. Income from colonies was less than 1/45 of Britain’s overall income.
II. Cultural effects.
a. European Dominance
i. Imposed ideals into other countries
ii. Encouraged defensive modernization that destroyed traditional
cutlrues
 iii. Made colonized inferior (racism)
iv. Colonized were educated in European fashion
b. Nationalism
i. Instigates a fervor of nationalism in colonized countries
ii. Very wide gaps in the socioeconomic stratification of the world
c. Very wide gaps in the socioeconomic stratification of the world.
i. Puts colonized countries in a state of disrepair.
ii. Once again makes colonized culture inferiorAlso forces differences
between those colonized and those colonizing.

III. Political Effects

a. European Dominance
i. Cripples colonized and leaves them with no power.
ii. When left colonized have no direction because they are not
supported by colonizers.
b. Discouragement of democracy
i. Because of European rule democracy was discouraged
ii. Colonies used to monarchies and dictatorships

IV. Economic Effects

a. Dependent on Britain
i. Economies were unable to develop after ties with Britain were
severed.
ii. Grew more and more dependent on Britain
b. Exploitation
i. Industrialization of colonies brought hardships for those who were
colonized
ii. Colonizers made more money for motherland than for the colony
itself.

V. Example countries/Case Studies

a. India
b. Sierra Leone
c. Ghana
d. South Africa

VI. Conclusion
a. Negative effects are still seen today
i. Example countries
b. Countries that were exploited are still trying to make a come back/and are
still developing
i. Example countries
c. important because globalization today is similar to a cultural imperialism
i. Both exploit weaker countries
ii. Both create stereotypes
iii. Both are much more beneficial to colonizer.
 Formal Outlines

The formal outline is a critical piece of the honors research process. This should
represent your best work and you will use it to help you write your paper. If done
correctly, writing the formal paper will be easy!

Guidelines:
 You are strictly limited to a maximum of four pages single spaced
 Cite ALL quotes, statistics, and any ideas that are not your own in endnote
citing format (we wil go over this in class).
 Use proper outline format
o Indent each subheading
o Alternate roman numerals and letter starting with a roman numeral
o No A without a B or 1 without a 2
 So, if you find you have a subheading, with only one category
under it, you shouldn’t have a subheading!
 When a line caries over, make sure to indent it to the previous line’s heading
so that it will look nice and neat.
  Put your topic and thesis statement as well as your name directly on the top
of the first page and put your name on each following page.
 Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Annotated Bibliography
Annotations tell your reader/evaluator (ME) about your sources. Accordingly, they not only
give your reader an idea of what the source is like, but also tell your reader how you used
the source and how closely you read it!

Annotations should be placed DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH the bibliographical entry. AVOID

using 1st or 2nd person perspective when writing annotations!

When writing annotations, consider the following questions:

• How helpful is the source in explaining information and ideas?
• Does the source provide more background information or more evidence?
How did this help you in your research?
• How much useful information did you get from the source?
 • How easy is the source to read?
• Are they any helpful graphics (pictures, maps, graphs, etc.)? If so, how many
of them?
• How long is the article?
• Did you learn any information about the author?

Annotated Bibliography – AN EXAMPLE

NOTE: These entries are in ALPHABETICAL ORDER by author and 1st/2nd person is NOT
used.

Goulart, R. The Great Comic Book Artists, Volume 2. New York: St Martin's Press, 1989.
The alphabetically arranged entries include one page each for the artist biography
and black-and-white reprinted art. The subjective choices for inclusion reflect a
pronounced American, corporate bias. This slant and the blurry comic-book reproductions
render the title a cut below Goulart's usual high standards.

Larkin, C. (Ed.). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London: Guinness, 1992
Very comprehensive reference book of 3,296 pages (more than 10,000 entries)
encompassing all styles of popular music, including jazz. Primarily biographical, but does
contain record label histories. Entries from 150 to 3,000 words, though some important
artists have longer entries. Most artists from UK and US, though additionally many reggae,
Latin, and Afro-pop artists from outside these countries. Most entries include discography.

Schroeder, Susan. Indian Women of Early Mexico. Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1997.
Schroeder’s book was useful to help tell the story of gender relations in early
Mesoamerica and after the invasion. Most information in the paper on gender is from this
book. It gave useful information that said women were vital contributors in early
Mesoamerica and declined after the invasion. Stated that women were particularly vocal in
the courts. The paper connected this to the rebuttal of certain Chicana authors that say she
was just overcoming her gender roles set by patriarchal Aztec belief.

Remember everything you list in your bibliography should be used and cited in your
paper!

Sources: http://www.sip.uiuc.edu/rromero/latinalit/annotatedbib.htm,
http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/annotated.html

DIRECTIONS: Using the questions below, assess the websites you use in
researching your paper. You MUST assess any website (that is NOT a journal) from
which you obtain information. Answer all the questions for each website, using the
worksheet provided.

Fact: Anyone can put anything on the web for pennies in just a few minutes.
Your task: To distinguish between reliable and questionable websites, and research
accordingly.

"THREE As" in Evaluating Websites:

AUTHENTICITY
AUTHORSHIP
ACCURACY

I. AUTHENTICITY: How authentic (genuine) is the website?

Ask yourself:
1. Is it somebody's personal page? (i.e., personal name in URL, or words
"users," "members," or
"people.")
* Personal pages are not necessarily "bad," but you need to investigate the
author very carefully.

2. What type of domain does it come from? What kind of information source do
you think is most
reliable for your topic? (educational, nonprofit, commercial, government, etc.)
* Government sites: look for .gov, .mil, .us, or other country code
* Educational sites: look for .edu
* Nonprofit organizations: look for .org
* If from a foreign country, look at the country code and read the page to be
sure who published
it.

3. Who "published" the page?

* The server (who is usually also the publisher) is usually named in first
portion of the URL
(between http:// and the first /)

II. AUTHORSHIP

Ask yourself:
1. Who wrote the page?
* Web pages are all created with a purpose in mind by some person or
agency or entity.

2. Is the page dated? Is it current enough?

* In some cases, the importance of the date is to tell you whether the page
author is still
maintaining an interest in the page, or has abandoned it.
* Is it "stale" or "dusty" information on a time-sensitive or evolving topic?

3. What are the author's credentials on this subject? Is she qualified? Is the
page merely an
opinion? Is there any reason you should believe its content more than any other
page?
 * You should hold the author to the same degree of credentials, authority, and
documentation
that you would expect from something published in a reputable print
resource (book, journal
article, good newspaper).

III. ACCURACY: Where did the author get the information? Is this information
backed up by other
websites, or by documentation that suggests that it is true?

Ask yourself:
1. Are sources documented with footnotes or links?
* As in published scholarly/academic journals and books, you should expect
documentation.

2. If there are links to other sources or pages, are they to reliable sources? Do the
links work?

IV: FINAL EVALUATION

Step back and think about all you have learned about the page. Listen to your gut
reaction. Think about why the page was created, the intentions of its author(s).

Ask yourself:
1. Why was the page put on the web? How can you tell?
* Inform, give facts, give data?
* Explain, persuade?
* Sell, entice?
* Share?
* Disclose?
These are some of the reasons to think of. The web is a public place, open to
all. You need to be
aware of the entire range of human possibilities of intentions behind web
pages.

2. Is this as good as resources you could find if you used the library, or some of
the web-based
indexes available through the library, or other print resources?

3. Are you requiring the same degree of "proof" of factual information you would
from a print
publication?

4. Is the site good for some things and not for others? Which ones?

5. Are your hopes of finding a good website biasing your interpretation?

In general, published information is considered more reliable than what is on the
web. But many, many reputable agencies and publishers make great stuff available
by "publishing" it on the web. This applies to most governments, most institutions
and societies, many publishing houses and news sources. Take the time to check it
out.
Name:
DIRECTIONS: Fill out the worksheet below using the questions from the web page analysis handout.
If you get any information from a website (NOT an online journal) that is NOT associated with the
DHS library, you MUST complete this worksheet for that site.

Website URL:

I. AUTHENTICITY: How authentic (genuine) is the website?

1.

2.

3.

II. AUTHORSHIP
1.

2.

3.

III. ACCURACY: Where did the author get the information? Is this information backed up by other
websites,
or by documentation that suggests that it is true?

1.

2.

IV: FINAL EVALUATION

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
 Parenthetical Citations
In your paper, you are required to have 4-6 parenthetical citations. These are
references within the text of your paper that indicate the source from which you
obtained either a direct quote, an original idea or argument, uncommon
information or statistics. You include parenthetical citations in order to give
credit to authors and researchers whose work helped you complete your work,
and to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s words,
ideas/arguments and research as your own. Does this mean that
everything in your paper needs to be cited? No. But here are a few clues as to
what you should cite…

I. Direct quotes: Obviously, these need reference.

Example of a parenthetical citation with a quotation of less than

three lines:
Henry set out to regain royal authority, which had been weakened
by England’s twenty years of civil war. Again, with Eleanor’s help, he
proceeded to centralize the government and “established a simple, strong
one, suitable to all his lands yet not seriously interfering with the
peculiarities of each” (Oggins, 445). Henry also laid the modern form of
justice. During all this time, Eleanor was by his side, suggesting and
influencing.

Example of a parenthetical citation with a quotation of more

than three lines:
The Church was not the only group, however, that persecuted
witches for the wrong reasons. Many of the accusers were actually seeking
better political positions for themselves. Harbor offers the following:
It was very simple to remove a political rival and claim his worldly
goods by accusing him of practicing witchcraft or of harboring a
wife who did. Fourteen French men accused the wives of their
more powerful neighbors in the space of three months in 1672.
(Harbor, 144)

II. Ideas/arguments: The original ideas/views/arguments about the topic

that you have studied should also be referenced. This is to protect and give
credit to the person who came up with the idea or argument.
 Example of a parenthetical citation of someone’s argument:
While many argue that Genghis Khan’s accomplishments were
essential to the success of the Mongol Empire, it has been argued that
these same accomplishments were just one of many reasons for the
Mongols’ success, and were not the most important or crucial to the
stability of the Empire (Mongol, 45).

III. Uncommon information/statistics: The compiling of statistics to

support an argument takes considerable time and research and requires
your citation to give credit to the researcher. Likewise, specific
information found in fewer than three sources is considered
‘uncommon’ and require reference.

Example of a citation for uncommon information:

The Tang Dynasty was responsible for the invention of moveable type,
creating 4,123 printers capable of such work in the year 892 (Turner,
469).

Example of a citation for statistics from an Internet cite:

A recent study has shown that 72% of DHS students prefer peanut butter
and fluff, while 25% prefer peanut butter and jelly. 3% of DHS students
will not chose either, but will bring peanut butter and bananas instead
(PB&J Online).*

*Citations for Internet sites are the same as for any other source. Include
author’s last name of, if no author is found (and you know the site is
reliable) include a short title for the site.

You do not need to include anything other than author last name or website title
in your parenthetical citations. You will include all of the pertinent information
about the source in your annotated bibliography.

Use the space below to record any information from your note cards that you
might use in your paper with citations.

Source Information to be cited, including

reason for citation (uncommon info,
statistic, quote, etc)