Research Paper Directions

1. Directions

Each student must write a research paper, anywhere from ten to fifteen pages, double-spaced, analyzing a topic relevant to World History Since 1945. For example, a student may choose a topic relevant to the Cold War, such as the Korean War. Or a student may study how globalization has shaped economics, popular culture, or political relations in a particular region (South America) and/or time period (the 1980s). A last approach would be take a current event or issue of global significance, such as the Rio Olympics or conflict in Syria, and use their research to look at this phenomenon from the vantage of a longer historical lens.
Sources: For the research paper, the student must demonstrate use of a variety of primary (at least eight) and secondary (at least five)Primary sources are documents, artifacts, visuals, maps, diaries, speeches, photographs, monuments, buildings, and other sources created in the period being researched and by the people being researched. Secondary sources are accounts of the past written by scholars or observers. Your goal is to find scholarship that is peer-reviewed, academic, and/or influential on the world’s understanding of this topic.

In the essay, the student must devise a thesis that answers a central research question about their topic and explain how it relates to one of the macro-themes (such as the Cold War or Globalization) explored as part of the course. The thesis should be located at the end of the first paragraph, and the paper should include an introduction stating the historical significance of their topic. The introduction should be followed by a section reviewing the major ideas and debates about this topic found in the secondary sources. The remainder of the body paragraphs should analyze the student’s chosen primary sources to support their thesis before a conclusion section re-states the thesis with its main supporting points from the paper.

2. To generate analysis, the student should answer the following questions:

Students should consider some of the questions posed in the handout material Interpreting Primary Sources concerning the source’s creation, form, function, audience, influence, and bias.

In addition, ask yourself:

1. How can this source enhance our understanding of the past, and, what are the limitations of this source?

2. What information is missing from this source, and is this a result of the author’s background or bias?

Secondary Sources

1. What is the scope of the author’s research? What method and sources does the author use to approach this topic?

1. What is the author’s argument about this topic? Is the argument convincing and credible? How does it contrast with the ideas of other experts on this topic or conventional wisdom?

· Is there use of evidence exhaustive, sufficient, or faulty in some way? Do they make any assumptions or leaps in logic that are questionable?

1. What information is missing from this source, and is this a result of the author’s background or bias?

2. Technical Content:

Each paragraph should be indented, the font for the body of the paper should be 12-point font, and the footnotes should use 10-point font. The essay should follow a traditional format, with an introduction section followed by body paragraphs providing a historical background on their sources and developing their analysis before summing up their thesis and key points of evidence in the concluding paragraphs. Please use the standard margin settings provided by Microsoft Word. All citations should be made using Chicago Style footnotes or endnotes. There is no need for a title page or works cited page, but the student should include their name, student identification number, and a title for the essay at the top of their paper. Any questions about citations should be directed to the professor or checked according to the Purdue OWL site here:https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/(Links to an external site.). Students are also greatly encouraged to make use of the Hamilton Campus Tutoring Services: http://miamioh.edu/regionals/academics/academic-support-services/learning-assistance/tutoring/hamilton/index.html.