Submit your research project outline here.

For a paper of this length (2000 words), you should include a 2-3 paragraph introduction, 8-12 body paragraphs, and a 1-2 paragraph conclusion.

The outline should provide a roadmap for your paper. By this point, you should have a thesis statement, and you should use this assignment as an opportunity to organize your paper according to the logic of your thesis. The more detail the better. It is not expected that you have everything laid out in detail, but you should have transitions and claims that signal how your argument will move through the paper and should show what evidence you will use to provide evidence to support your claims. You should include any subclaims that you are making as part of your argument in your outline. Your outline at this point may not be comprehensive, and is subject to change as you begin writing, but it needs to be a workable framework for beginning.

There are a number of basic requirements for the final essay which inform your outline work:

1. The introduction (two to three paragraphs) introduces your topic (often featuring a topical hook, or short example of your topic) and states the thesis of the paper (underline your thesis statement so that it is clearly identifiable to Dr. Unangst).
2. The middle of the outline (which ultimately becomes the body of the paper) may either work forward or backwards in time, or perhaps be organized by geography or sub-topics. Regardless of your structural approach, it is paramount that you maintain a consistent historical orientation throughout.The conclusion should summarize your main points and explain how a historical understanding of your issue is critical to understanding it in the present.
   1. Your outline should include significant detail about how each paragraph supports your argument. It is not sufficient to just list paragraph topics. Each paragraph should support the argument in some way and not just provide a summary of events.
3. The conclusion restates the argument and points toward its larger significance.

Each paragraph should include footnotes denoting what sources you will use in that paragraph.

Your outline should include at minimum:

Your opening hook

Your thesis statement

Your subtheses

topic sentences for each paragraph

Annotated bibliography

Historians use primary and secondary sources in their attempts to reconstruct the past. Primary sources are sources (in forms as diverse as paintings, newspapers, memoirs, movies, novels, and much more) produced by witnesses to the period in question. Secondary sources are sources produced after the fact in which someone tries to construct meaning out of primary sources. Each type of source has its own set of strengths and weaknesses as historical evidence. When historians begin research projects, the first step is to survey the available sources and the previous literature on the topic.

This assignment asks you to demonstrate that you have acquired the sources that you need for your paper. You will use JU’s library catalog for books and JSTOR or Proquest Research Library from scholarly articles. There are a number of places to find primary sources: both of the above, as well as the open internet, or any of the periodicals databases to which JU subscribes.

The annotated bibliography should be a list of at least 2 scholarly monographs, 2 scholarly journal articles, and 2 primary sources you intend to use. Your secondary sources should be published in the last 25 years unless you have cleared them with Dr. Unangst beforehand (see this tutorial from the University of Illinois on differentiating between scholarly and non-scholarly sources). For each source, provide a citation according to the bibliography format according to the Chicago Manual of Style and a brief, one paragraph summary of the source and how it relates to your topic. Annotations for primary sources should include an explanation of the source (who, what, when, where, why, etc.) and how you plan on using it for your paper (what does it allow you to understand). Annotations for secondary sources should include the author’s thesis and what aspect of your topic the source will help you understand. For this assignment, you will find it useful read the introduction to each book and perhaps some reviews for each book (look at JSTOR for scholarly book reviews).

Your annotated bibliography should be in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names. (if any of your items do not have an author, use the title of the item to determine alphabetical order).

Final Project checklist

Use your outline to structure your essay. Make sure your final project includes the following:

1. An appropriate title.
2. A thesis paragraph that makes a historical argument.
3. 8-12 well developed body paragraphs that make use of primary and secondary source analysis. At least 2 primary sources and at least 4 scholarly, historical, secondary sources published since 1994 (more are certainly encouraged!).
4. Footnote/endnote citations throughout in Chicago Manual format.
5. A concluding paragraph that reasserts your thesis and makes a claim as to why it is important to understand this history.
6. At least 2000 words in length (excluding citations and headings).