Research-Based Project: Guidelines and Requirements

(HIST 137)
This project will provide you with the opportunity to research a topic from the social,
cultural, and political movements of the 1960s 1980s that interests you and
present your research to your discussion group. You will select the movement your
project will focus on from the list below. Each person in your discussion group will
have a different movement.

Civil rights movement, 1960 - 1962

Civil rights movement, 1963 1965
Vietnam anti-war movement
Black power movement
Gay/lesbian rights movement
Women's rights/NOW
Women's liberation/radical feminism
STOP ERA
Native American activism
Student movement/counterculture
Environmentalism
Conservative movement

Once you have selected a movement you will do some preliminary research to
identify a specific issue or event within that movement - this will be you project
topic.

There are several specific requirements your project must meet:

It must be a research project and not simply a report. What this
means is you need to develop a narrowly focused question about your topic,
(for example, Why did Native Americans choose to participate in the
Wounded Knee occupation?), seek to answer that question with academic
research, and then draw conclusions of your own about your topic (rather
than simply summarizing and restating the conclusions of your sources).
You must use a minimum of 3 academic, college-level sources and 1
primary source document. General encyclopedias (including Wikipedia)
are not considered academic sources. You may use them as a starting place,
and you will need to include them in your Works Cited page, but they do not
count as one of your academic sources. .com sites are also not usually
considered academic sources. (You may use .com sites as sources for
photographs and other images, but they cannot be counted as one of your
three academic, college-level sources). One of your three academic, college-
level sources must be a book or article written by a historian. (This must be a
print source rather than an online source, with the exception of articles
originally published in academic journals.) Abstracts, summaries and book
reviews are not acceptable sources. Primary source documents can include
letters, government documents, newspaper articles, journals, etc. You may
not use either the textbook or other course materials to meet these
requirement.
 However you choose to present your research you must include
proper citation of your sources and a correctly formatted works cited
page (bibliography) that includes all of the sources used in your
project. If you are not familiar with college-level research and use of
systems of citation such as MLA, I strongly encourage you to arrange to work
with the Writing Center ASAP. Copying or paraphrasing from any materials
without correctly citing the original source is considered plagiarism and will
result in a 0 on the assignment. In addition, instances of academic
dishonesty will be reported to the Vice President of Student Services.
Your completed project must meet each of the criteria listed in the
Evaluation of the Research-Based Project (see below). Use this as your
checklist as you create your project.

Timeline for Completion of Research-Based Project

January 27 Select your movement in your groups discussion forum

Due Feb 12 Project Proposal (30 points out of the 200 project points)
The project proposal must be a minimum of 650 words
and include all of the following:
the narrowly focused question you seek to answer
through your research,
the main points you are addressing in your
research as you answer that question,
a description of how you will present your research,
an annotated bibliography that includes at least 2
academic college-level sources and 1 primary
source document.
To receive credit your proposal must be submitted by the
due date.

Due March 5 Research-based project - late projects will not

be accepted

Due March 6 12 Research Project Discussion Forum (70 points out of

the 200 project
points) Projects will be posted to a group discussion
forum and you will read and evaluate the projects of each
of your group members part of the purpose of this
project is to teach each other about the social, cultural,
and political movements of the 1960s 1980s.

Evaluation of the Research-Based Project

The following components must be included in your final project. Your project
will be assessed on the basis of how well you have addressed each of the
following:

States a narrowly focused question that you seek to answer through

your research.
Presents an original answer to the question based on your research.
This is what distinguishes your project from a report you are not
 simply restating the conclusions of your sources, but rather making
your own.
The components above are presented in a manner that is both
informative and interesting this is where you get to be creative.
Although you can choose to do a formal research paper, you are not
limited to that option. You might also choose to create a website, write
a play, create a photo essay, or write a fictional journal (presenting
your research from the perspective of a fictional participant in your
issue or event.
Research includes a minimum of 3 academic, college-level sources and
1 primary source document. General encyclopedias (including
Wikipedia) are not considered academic sources. You may use them as
a starting place, and you will need to include them in your Works Cited
page, but they do not count as one of your academic sources. .com
sites are also not usually considered academic sources. (You may
use .com sites as sources for photographs and other images, but they
cannot be counted as one of your three academic, college-level
sources). One of your three academic, college-level sources
must be a book or article written by an historian (print source).
Primary source documents can include letters, government documents,
newspaper articles, journals, etc. You may not use your textbook or
other course materials to meet these requirements.
Meets requirements for length previously determined by the instructor.
For those of you doing a formal research paper this will be a minimum
of 5 full pages of text, not including cover page or works cited (double-
spaced with 1 inch margins and 12 point Arial or Times New Roman
font). For those doing an alternative form of presentation, you will
need to negotiate length requirements with me.
Presentation is well organized and well written. This includes a
thorough proofreading. Errors in grammar, sentence structure, and
spelling will impact your grade.
Use of sources is properly cited in either footnotes or endnotes. You
must give credit to your sources for any material used in your project.
Failure to do so will be considered plagiarism and will result in grade of
0 for the project. You will need to use a standard citation form such as
MLA.
Includes a works cited (bibliography) page. This will include all sources
you have used in your research see the bullet above on research.
You will need to use a standard format such as MLA.