Essay Assignment
Essay Assignment
Introduction
This assignment invites you to engage in some historical detective work. You will start with a primary source (Primary Source is the Irish Republic) — this may be a newspaper report, a letter, an entry in a diary or autobiography, a government report, or even a poem or visual source. These are all examples of the kinds of sources historians rely upon to construct a picture of past events and responses to those events. Some of these sources will be anonymous; others will have a particular author. All of the sources are dated.
Your mission: to reconstruct the events or controversy which relate to your particular source and to analyze this source in relation to this context. The source you will be starting with is only one piece of evidence in a much bigger story. What does the reader need to know in order to fully understand the significance of your piece of evidence? The main emphasis of your essay will be an analysis of the primary source(s).
BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE ESSAY
▸ The essay should be approximately 2000 words in length (8 typewritten pages, double-spaced – not including bibliography or footnotes).
▸ You must use at least four secondary sources(not including your textbook or encyclopedia articles)
- At least one scholarly book
- At least one scholarly journal article.
- You are limited to one scholarly website (i.e., not Wikipedia).
- Your essay must demonstrate that you have read and used these sources–listing them in a bibliography is not sufficient. Ensure the sources you find are actually useful to you.
▸ You are required to find & use one additional primary source that relates to your
topic.
- The Times Digital Archive
- English Historical Documents
- Empire Online: database of primary sources and scholarly essays
- Defining Gender, 1450-1910: database of primary sources and scholarly essays.
Many archives, libraries and museums have online exhibitions with selected primary sources available for you to use. For examples see:
The Times Digital Archive
British Library: https://www.bl.uk/#
(Click on “Discover & Learn” for resources; see also “Online Exhibitions”) British
National Archives online exhibitions https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/online-exhibitions/
Museum of Londonhttps://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover#/
Imperial War Museumhttps://www.iwm.org.uk/ (explore sections under “IWM from Home”)
Tate Gallery: https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain(Click on “Art & Artists”)
Victorian and Albert Museum (V&A) https://www.vam.ac.uk (search under “Collections”)
▸ Any ideas, arguments or evidence derived from your books, articles, websites and primary sources must be properly cited in a footnote or endnote, whether or not you have used direct quotes.
▸ All citations (footnotes and bibliographies) must conform to the accepted models as provided in Citing Sources in History available on Moodle.
▸ Please ensure that you make an extra back-up copy of your essay, on the off chance that your prof falls prey to a marauding band of hackers with a passion for British History.
▸ Please keep all notes and rough drafts from your essay. (Do not hand them in with your essay)
INTERROGATING YOUR SOURCE
Keep the questions from Interrogating a Sourceat the forefront of your investigation. ▸ author’s purpose
▸author’s/ participants’ points of view
▸context
▸ key concepts
▸ evidence
▸ assumptions
▸ conclusions
Also keep the following questions in mind as you investigate the broader context of your topic:
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WHATis being described in your source? It may refer to a particular event, or it may be part of a larger ongoing controversy or public debate. If it does refer to a particular event, this event also needs to be placed within a larger context. What led up to this event or controversy? What were the consequences or aftermath? Why is it significant? |
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WHO is the author / creator of your source? This is important to keep in mind even if the author is anonymous. No piece of evidence provides a completely objective account of the past. From whose point of view is your source written?
Was the author a participant in the events? Who else is named in the document? |
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WHEREare these events taking place? Where is the author? Is their location significant? |
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WHENare these events or debates occurring? Again, start with the source as a home base but then move out into the bigger picture. What led up to this event or debate? What could the author have known about this event or debate at the time at which the document was written? What happened before or after? Provide some follow up to the debate–did it result in any new legislation, developments? Similarly, with a particular event–what were the after-effects, both immediate and long-term? |
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WHY did this event take place? Why was this controversy so important to people at that time? How do we account for the author’s particular point of view? What kinds of assumptions does this source reveal? |
| ☞ | REMEMBER: Each of these sources offers a window onto the past but none of them provides us with a panoramic view. It is important that you consider the factors shaping the particular point of view presented in your source. Consider as well other possible opinions that would have been expressed at the time. What were the views of the other participants in the event or debate? |
Refer back to the source as you research and write the essay; use it as evidence to support your argument. All of the information should contribute to a fuller understanding of the particular source you have chosen.
RESEARCH CHECKLIST
Make your life easier – really!For best results follow these steps in order
Initially you will need to identify what your source is about. This may be more obvious in some than others.
- Look for clues in the source–names, places, dates.
- Begin with your textbook or another general history book in the library (DA 30 section of library). Look up the names or identify key events in that year. Sometimes an unusual name or term will be your best clue–look it up in an index.
- Useful starting points for learning about your topic are the historical encyclopedia in the Reference section of the library: e.g.Victorian Britain, Sally Mitchell or TwentiethCentury Britain: An Encyclopedia. Articles are followed by useful reading lists. Note: encyclopedia articles will not count as one of your four secondary sources (but they are
useful!).
- Check the suggested reading listsat the end of relevant chapters in your textbook or reference article for a current list of helpful books and articles.
- Once you have identified what your source is about, you will need to begin a brainstorming session. Write down as many related topics or contexts as you can come up with. There is likely more than one approach or context for understanding your evidence. Use this list when doing keyword & subject searches in the library or article searches using electronic databases. The databaseHistorical Abstracts is the most useful for locating journal articles on British & European history topics.
- If you are still having difficulties locating sources (especially journal articles) check the footnotes and bibliographies in any books you have located (especially the most recent) for related books and articles. Hint: This can be one of the most efficient (& low-tech) methods for finding relevant journal articles.
- Do not limit yourself to ebooks just because they are convenient. There may be much more useful sources available in hardcopy.
- Take the primary source apart. Read each line as a piece of evidence. Are there any unfamiliar terms or names? Try to identify them using the resources you have uncovered in the library. You may need to do some further library research.
- One broader context to consider is the primary source itself. If the document is from an autobiography or newspaper or government report, try to find this source and read more of it. (NOTE: this will not be possible with all of the sources).
If you have checked off each of these steps and you are still facing difficulties locating research material for your essay, please make an appointment to see me and I will be happy to help.
