Hello folks, and welcome to your course guide for Professor Hamblin's HIST 105: Modern American History! Here you will find relevant information to help guide you through research for the course.
Final Project Objectives
Conducting research and completing a research project is one of the main requirements of this course. One of the objectives of this research project is for the student to conduct research on a specific topic related to the course. Your topic may be thematic or topical (women’s suffrage, civil rights, holocaust, etc.) related to a specific time period or event (World War Two’ Cold War; Prohibition, etc.) or another topic connected with modern American history.
The second objective is to develop and analytical and interpretive argument surrounding your project’s topic. You must develop an original thesis and supporting argument, explaining your topic’s significance to modern American history. There are several steps associated with this objective, including choosing a topic; finding adequate source material; documenting your research reflections; constructing a process paper detailing and analyzing your topic; and developing a poster presentation connected to your topic.
The third objective of this project is to create a poster presentation highlighting your research. The poster presentation will introduce and summarize your topic, discuss your research methodology, highlight your conclusions, and include a visual element related to your topic. The template for the poster can be found on the ‘Final Project module in the course Brightspace page. Posters will be printed and displayed at the Campus Student Achievement and Research Day. Please see me if you need help choosing a research topic.
Sources
Your research and argument must be based on at least four sources not assigned as part of required course reading.
• At least one of these sources must be an academic journal article.
• At least one must be a historical monograph (book). The actual book must be used; no book reviews permitted.
• The other sources may be a website, a historically based film, periodicals, or newspaper articles.
• You may use your textbook and other sources assigned for class; however, these sources are considered additional resources and not part of the four required sources.
• No encyclopedias or anonymous sources.
