WALLS AND FENCES...

Walls and Fences: (10%)

This is our first assignment and is due rather quickly, so do not dilly dally. You must choose an historical wall or fence. Here is a brief list of some possibilities:

Antonine Wall                                                                   Aurelian Walls

Berlin Wall                                                                                    Botswana-Zimbabwe Border

Ceuta and Melilla Borders (Spain-Morocco)             Dingo Fence

Emmitsburg Road Fence                                              Fence around Manzanar Camp

Fence at Buckingham Palace                                      Great Wall of China

Great Zimbabwe Walls                                                  Green Monster

Hadrian’s Wall                                                                 Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier

Intramuros                                                                                    Kremlin Wall

Kuwait-Iraq Barrier                                                          Long Wall of Quảng Ngãi  (Vietnam)

Red Snake (Iran)                                                             Sacsayhuaman (Peru)

San Diego Border Fence                                               The Atlantic Wall

The Communards' Wall                                                            The Korean Wall

The Lennon Wall (Prague)                                            The Peace Lines (Belfast)

The Walls of Constantinople                                        Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

Wall of Jericho                                                                 Walls of Ávila 

Walls of Babylon                                                             Walls of Dubrovnik

Walls of Troy                                                                    West Bank Separation Barrier

Western Wall

You will do some simple research on your wall/fence, using google, google scholar, and google books. You are allowed to go to the library for this but a library visit is not required. Your short essay will be 2 pages long (double-spaced) and will place the wall or fence into its historical context. How, when, and why did this wall/fence come about? Who does it separate from whom? Was it successful in creating a separation?

9/25  Thu         Walls and Fences Due

…TYPED AND AT THE START OF CLASS

…future assignments will be cited in Chicago Manual of Style and judged by exacting standards. For this assignment, you may use a common sense method of citation. FOLLOW ALL RULES OF ACADEMIC HONESTY. If it is a quote or idea you are using from someone else, leave it in quotes or cite it with a common sense method. What does that look like? Here is an example:

In TC Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, the character Kyra states, “Immigrants are the lifeblood of this country.” (page 74) IN the New York Times article “Pilgrim of Topanga Creek,” Scott Spencer writes that Mr. Boyle deftly portrays Los Angeles's Topanga Canyon, catching both its privileged society and its underlying geological and ecological instability…An undocumented Mexican couple struggle for survival in the interstices of society and in the canyon itself, even as an affluent Anglo couple live their fearful, selfish existence behind the dubious protection of a walled development called Arroyo Blanco Estates. (http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/08/home/boyle-tortilla.html)

WAYS TO FIND A HISTORY TOPIC:

Here is what we said in class:

--heard about  topic of interest in history class...want to know more.

--family history

--interests…care about

--writing is productive

Here is from a UNC website:
Procedures

If you are enrolled in a class that requires a research paper or an essay, you may complete this exercise by working on that assignment (make sure you have your professor’s permission).  Otherwise, you are free to chose a topic about which you would like to know more.

1. Begin by listing all the possible topics that occur to you. Put down anything, from topics you would personally like to know more about to topics you think you should know more about.2. Group your potential topics (put similar topics together, making perhaps a single topic that includes others); then rank them in order of importance; your preferred topic should be first.
3. Think about your preferred topic: List everything that you already know about it and the questions about it that you would like to have answered.  Consulting a standard reference work (not Wikipedia) is advisable.
4. Using both your knowledge and your questions, write a rough draft of your topic statement. Explain your subject clearly (including information regarding people, places, time frame, etc.) and list the questions (see Rampolla on historical questions, pp. 3-4) you want answered. Also explain why the topic is worth researching.
5. Go to the library or other resources (including the Internet) and find out if primary and secondary materials are available to get you started. You should find at least four or five items, including at least two primary sources and one article in a scholarly journal.  These items will make up your Preliminary Bibliography.
6. If adequate materials are available locally, then write a version of your topic statement and preliminary bibliography following the required format and turn it in to your instructor.
7. Using the suggestions from your instructor, prepare a revised Statement of Topic and an Annotated Bibliography at at least 10 items (see the handout on the Annotated Bibliography for complete instructions) following the required format and turn it in on the due date.

http://www2.uncp.edu/home/rwb/hst300t1.htm

DAILY WORK IN HISTORY 300...

Day Three History 300

SECRET LIFE WRITING:

You are from a wealthy merchant family living in a modern, well-developed, non-U.S. city around 1840.

You write for a local newspaper in your country and are tasked to write a short article about life in the United States. At the end of your piece, you must either recommend that your readers travel to the U.S. or warn them away.

You have requested information from a local adventurer, a man called Hans. The guide presents you with a packet of information to help you understand what the Americans were like at this time.

You must justify your decision one way or another with at least three specific references to evidence in the document you read. 

Prospectus Assignment: (10%)

DUE TO TURNITIN.COM BY MIDNIGHT OF OCTOBER 7TH

In essence, the prospectus is designed to persuade your reader that your project is worthwhile. The prospectus should contain a preliminary list of sources that you have surveyed, and a description of the key works in the field. As such, your prospectus will begin to place your topic within its historiographical context. This explanatory essay informs your reader that you are indeed working toward the research paper. This prospectus should be about 2-3 pages(typed, double-spaced) in length and should consider what at least three scholars have already found on the topic. As such, even in the historiography you will consider a basic level of historiography.

The proposal should consist of three numbered parts:

1) The description should be written in clear prose and headed by a working title. It should begin by setting up and clearly stating the paper’s main historical question (focus your topic as narrowly as possible). Then, you should briefly explain the historical context (background) of your topic, provide a preliminary answer (or thesis) to the question, and then list the main points you will discuss to support your thesis. You should also explain the significance of your topic (why anyone should care), placing it within the context of the current scholarship, that is, discussing the historiography on the topic. Which historians' explanations do you agree with and which do you not? This part of the proposal should be at least one full page (double-spaced), but no more than two pages.

2) The preliminary bibliography including a list of sources in Chicago Manual of Style format.

3) The justification for this project may be written in a less formal tone and will inform your reader why you are choosing this topic and how the topic will add to the historical narrative. It should reveal some level of excitement with your topic, and should provide justification for choosing the topic (first person is allowed).