410: Research Project
Research proposal, Fall 2023
“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” --Zora Neale Hurston
Primary learning goals:
1) To frame a research question.
2) To write a preliminary research proposal with a literature (ie, historiographical) review.
Secondary goals. To learn about and/or practice:
3) Using Biblion (the library's software for looking things up)
2) Using library reference sources.
3) Finding three different types of secondary sources (reference, overview, monograph) and understanding the difference.
4) Matchmaking. Using one source to find another.
5) Citation formatting, that is, how to write footnotes (including annotation), and a bibliography, using Chicago/Turabian style (see the attached document, below).
6) Following directions and doing your job and meeting deadlines without excuses.
7) Meeting deadlines. (Auto-extension not in effect. Late projects will be graded down)
BONUS: Locating primary documents on US History on floors 2 and 2M.
The final product: A brief (250-word) research proposal with annotated footnotes and a bibliography.
Research should begin with your homework on the night before the first meeting in the library and continue every other evening before class. Familiarize yourself with the “libguides” on the library web page:
http://libguides.exeter.edu/content.php?pid=117013
https://libguides.exeter.edu/history410-civilwar
YOU MUST USE LIBRARY, RATHER THAN INTERNET SOURCES.
You'll find a lot of the relevant books among the print holdings on floors 2 and 2m. Most US history books, including collections for primary documents, are found in the call numbers 973.2 to 973.48 on Floor 2; documents on drafting and ratifying the Constitution can be found on 2M in the vicinity of 342.73).
Final product. A one page essay, 250-words, with annotated footnotes and a bibliography on any topic in US History between 1815 and 1850.
The Essay: The brief essay will begin with a sentence that starts with "I am proposing to study," and also includes the phrases "so I can find out" and "so whoever reads the essay will have a better understanding of."
After that, you will discuss what you learned about the topic and its historiography and what you hope your research could contribute to the discussion. Use the footnote annotations to elaborate so that you can stick to the 250-word limit.
Heading. Include your name, a brief informative title, class format, and A WORD COUNT. Also, make sure you number your pages from the first page to the end of the bibliography.
Formatting. Use Times New Roman 12 point. Double space the essay, single space the citations. Do not use quotes in the essay. Put things into your own words.
Citation. Properly cite your sources, in both footnotes and a bibliography. Download the word document at the bottom of this page for guidelines on how to format citations and write a bibliography. Your paper will be graded for both proper style and on whether you have gathered the kinds and number of sources required. You can access a more thorough citation style guide from the "citing sources" tab of every libguide.
You must use Turabian/Chicago style for this project which means footnotes and bibliography are done differently.
PLEASE DO NOT CHECK ITEMS OUT OF THE LIBRARY FOR THIS. SEVERAL SECTIONS ARE DOING OVERLAPPING PROJECTS AND THESE RESOURCES NEED TO BE AVAILABLE FOR ALL. SO SOME ITEMS WILL END UP ON RESERVE BEHIND THE CHECK-0UT DESK.
Sources needed. You are required to use and cite the following number and types of sources in your paper and bibliography.
NEED 1: Reference source. There’s a list of these in the libguides.
NEED 2: Overviews/surveys: A broad overview or survey of the historical period or a broader theme it fits under. This will help you think about the larger context of your topic and help you answer the last part of the "I am studying" sentence. That you are studying. Find thematic overviews here; chronological overviews in the libguides under the books tab.
NEED 2: Monograph: A narrowly focused book or article on your topic or something closely related to it. Use Matchmaking and Biblion to find these.
BONUS: Primary sources.