Syllabus: HSTY2034

DOCUMENT PORTFOLIO ASSIGNMENT

Document Portfolio and Accompanying Essay (3,000 words including cover sheets)

• Choose a topic from the list below and read at least THREE secondary books that relate to this topic, either by looking at the "further reading" section on this syllabus or by doing library research. (n.b. if your bibliography lists three articles instead of three books then you will loose marks for insufficient research. I consider 2-3 articles equivalent to a book.)
  
• Find FIVE primary sources related to your topic by doing online research. These sources should be written between 1600-1865. Your primary sources are crucial to this assignment. They will provide support for your argument.   Indeed, you may choose to form your argument around a close reading of your primary sources.   Note also that a primary source can be virtually anything from the period we're studying, including speeches, newspaper articles, paintings, poems, songs, political cartoons, advertisements etc.
  
• Print out copies of the documents (just print the first page if they're long documents). Attach a "Document Portfolio Cover Sheet" to each document. Please fill out all the questions on your document portfolio coversheets.   Don't just write "see document" because I will not have time to read everyone's documents. What you write on your coversheets will form a crucial part of your grade for this assignment. It will help me to determine how appropriate your documents are and how carefully you've done your on-line research.)
  
• Write an essay using your FIVE primary sources and THREE or more secondary works.

LIST OF TOPICS:

1. Explain how and why white women's social position changed between the Revolution and the Civil War?
   
2. The concept of "equality" OR "liberty" has meant different things in different times and places. Explore two or more examples of such differences.
   
3. Assess the extent to which the institution of slavery changed over time and explain what difference these changes made to slave culture.
   
4. Discuss how the shifting relations of power between Native Americans helps to account for the timing and nature of Indian Removal.
   
5. How did gender shape relations between Native Americans and white settlers?
   
6. The nature of work changed dramatically after the advent of industrialization. Analyse the nature and significance of these changes for one group of Americans (You can be as specific as you like with this question.   For example, you might focus closely on a small group of people such as men or women in a particular trade - carpenters, seamen, seamstresses, mill workers, etc.   Or you might choose to look at a broader category such as middling white women or working class white men).  
   
7. Moral reformers were more interested in self-control than social control. Discuss.
   
8. Analyse how Anglo-American understandings of "race" changed over time
   
9. Evaluate the extent to which the Civil War was inevitable.
   
10. Create your own topic. Studying history should be enjoyable so choose a topic that really interests you.   If you're fascinated by educational reform, the transportation revolution, the history of sports, Irish immigration, popular culture, or any other topic in American history that's not covered by the above questions then feel free to come and see me for help in devising a topic.   Just make sure you do this at least a few weeks before the due date so you have enough time to get a response and complete your research and reading.
    

FINAL NOTES:

You can and should interpret the above questions in ways that suit your interests. For example, if you're looking at the changing nature of slavery (question 3) you can focus solely on a particular place and period, or only on a particular aspect of slave culture. Likewise, if you're discussing how relations of power between Native Americans and white settlers changed over time, you might concentrate on one native culture like the Cherokee or you might base your analysis around a particular type of source like successive Indian treaties or presidential addresses.

On the other hand, given that this assignment is specifically designed to improve your internet research skills and to make use of the stunning amount of online material in American history, please don't ask me if you can use printed sources from Fisher Library.  

There is a helpsheet to accompany this assignment which is available on the course website. This helpsheet lists dozens of links to fantastic sites where you can find primary sources.

In terms of the format for your assignment, just staple your essay together and clip it to your documents and their coversheets. Make sure your name is on everything you hand in. Please DO NOT put your assignment in a plastic folders or the SOPHI office will not accept your work.

Confused by all these instructions? Please get in contact with me.

Link to DOCUMENT PORTFOLIO COVERSHEET    

FOR A LIST OF WEBSITES THAT YOU CAN USE CLICK ON "LINKS" (UNDERNEATH THE HOME KEY TO YOUR LEFT)