HIST 17B

This is your Research Paper assignment for the Semester. Below is a list of topics to choose from. This is not an exhaustive list. If there is another topic that is not on the list that you would like to do let me know via email to make sure that is acceptable.

1. African Americans after the Civil War: How were they affected by Reconstruction policies? How were they affected after the return of white supremacy? Discuss social, legal, and economic factors.

2. Wealthy industrialists in the late 1800s: “Robber Barons” or “Captains of Industry”?

3. Describe the subjugation of the Plains Indians in the latter half of the 19th Century. How did the U.S. deal with Native Americans? (You may want to focus on the Carlisle School as well)

4. Spanish-American War: What were the causes and/or effects?

5. Women’s suffrage movement: Who were the founders and what methods did they use? What were their successes and/or failures?

6. Harlem Renaissance: What were the causes? What were the effects?

7. Stock market crash of 1929: What economic factors caused it?

8. The New Deal: What was its impact on the United States (political, social and economic factors)? And was it effective in fighting the Great Depression?

9. How did WWII affect minority groups? Pick a group: Mexican-Americans (Bracero Program), Asian-Americans (Japanese Internment), or African-Americans (Double V Campaign).

10. Cold War: How and why did it originate? What were its effects on U.S. foreign policy? How have attitudes toward communism changed since it ended?

11. Brown v. Board of Education case: What was its impact?

12. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s: Evaluate the tactics and accomplishments.

13. Social protest in the 1960s: What forms did it take? What was its impact on American society?

14. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society: What were its successes? What were its failures? What was the impact of this program on the creation of a welfare system in the United States?

15. Vietnam War: Why did the United States lose? Evaluate goals, policies, decisions, and/or the role of geography and the nature of guerrilla warfare to analyze the failure.

16. American Indian Movement (AIM) and the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee: What motivated the takeover? What was its impact on relations between Native Americans and the government?

17. Watergate and Richard Nixon: What was Watergate and how did it impact Americans trust in the government?

The paper is to be 4-5 pages in length. Instead of a cover page, the first page should include the following information in the upper right hand corner: title, your name, your student ID#, the class and section number. The paper should be double spaced, size 12 Times New Roman font, standard margins. To cite your sources, you can use parenthetical citations with “GML” for Give Me Liberty, and “VOF” for Voices of Freedom, followed immediately by the page number where it was found in the source. Ex: (VOF: 123)

​Along with using Give Me Liberty and Voices of Freedom, you will also need to use 2-3 outside sources such as book or peer reviewed articles. You MUST use at least 3 Primary Source Documents from your VOF book in your paper. The Bakersfield College Website has a list of sites to help you find sources. JSTOR, EBSCO, and GALE are a few that might be helpful with this assignment.

Here is the link to the BC Library homepage: https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/library
Here is the link to the BC Writing Center: https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/writing-center

​Also, I require that you have the BC Writing Center assist you with your paper. This is worth 10 points and will help you with any grammar errors, help with your thesis and crafting your argument, as well as making sure you produce a cogent paper.

The goal of this assignment is to have you construct a complex thesis, supported by evidence from numerous textual citations. Again, make sure you use your GML and VOF books as well as 2-3 outside sources. Also include 3 Primary Sources from the VOF book.

Grading

You will be assessed on how effectively your paper does the following; receiving the maximum number of points only when your paper achieves the goal flawlessly.

1. Paper has a clear thesis statement that makes an argument.​​​​​10pts.
2. Every paragraph has a very clear connection to the thesis.​​​​​40pts.
3. Paper cites three primary sources and makes effective use of them.​​​​10pts.
4. Paper was revised with help from, the Writing Resource Center​​​​10pts.
5. The paper is formatted correctly. (margins, font, size, citations)​​​​10 pts.
6. The paper is free errors. (spelling, grammatical, etc.)​​​​​​20 pts.

Note: To get any points on #4 you must have verifiable proof as in the Writing Resource Center (CSS 193C) stamp. Since we are online they have other options for WC proof. Ask them about it.

All final papers will be submitted by the official start time of the class on the day the paper is due December 1st. All submissions will be made via turnitin.com per the instructions posted on Canvas. Please email me or come to office hours on Tuesday nights viz Zoom for any questions regarding your paper.

Start working on this sooner rather than later. This is a major portion of your grade in this class and you will want to have every shot at getting full points. Consider all the people and the events we have studied, and ask yourself, “What has interested me most?” Then adjust your focus to a more narrowly definable group and make an argument! Remember, you can always change your thesis as you think about different pieces of evidence and gain insight. The one thing you can never do is travel back in time and start your paper when it would have made things much easier.