History Paper Writing Tips

The guide to writing history papers published on the web by Patrick Rael at Bowdoin College is an exceptional resource to use as you engage in the process of writing your paper.  Here is the link to the guide.  The sections that I think are most helpful are (although there is a lot of additional useful information-take the time to browse around):

• Preparing History Papers-The short version.
• Avoid Common Mistakes
• Analyzing Arguments
• Structuring Your Essay
• The Three Parts of a History Paper
• The Thesis***
• History and Rhetoric
• Grammar for Historians
• A Style Sheet for history writers.

Getting to Know Jim Crow

As a result of the end of Reconstruction and ultimately the Plessy ruling by the Supreme Court, new laws were passed in many parts of the United States called Jim Crow laws.

"Jim Crow was not a person, yet affected the lives of millions of people. Named after a popular 19th-century minstrel song that stereotyped African Americans, "Jim Crow" came to personify the system of government-sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the United States."
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2002. Web. 26 November 2012. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/index.html

Today, you will work to explore that system.  Please follow the instructions to the attached webquest.  This will be submitted as an entry in your portfolio for this unit.
Jim Crow Webquest

Reconstruction Webquest

While it can be said that the Civil War ended with the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse or the passage of the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments, the reunification of the country was a far more complicated story.  Both Lincoln (in his Second Inaugural Address) and Grant (in the terms of surrender) laid the foundation for the reintegration of the Southern states into the Union.  That foundation, however, does not tell the whole story.  What came to be known as “Reconstruction” would prove to be a much more complicated era, sometimes called “the second civil war.”   

To examine all of that complexity, we will study the website America’s Reconstruction. You should read the text carefully and study the images.  Please note: these images reveal the era’s dark depths, making them important for careful historical study.  We expect you to approach the images with seriousness and respect.

 

In order to guide you through the website, please go to Ms. Crowley's Website and click on the link for the Reconstruction Webquest under her US History section.  Then follow the instructions on the Word Doc that opens.  You will be turning it in on turnitin.com and thus need to complete it in word (hence the need to use Ms. Crowley's version rather than google docs).

This is a graded assignment.  You will be given time in class and will have several days to do this at home.  The final assignment is due by class time on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 via turnitin.com.

Working With Maps

As we move our study of United States History towards the Civil War, geography becomes a significant topic for us to explore.  North, South, Mason-Dixon Line, rivers, hills, fields-all will be part of our vocabulary as we become immersed in this significant event.  In order to prepare, it's important to pause and see what we know and what we can learn from American geography at this time.  To do so, today we will look at a series of maps that help to provide information about the United States from its outset through the Antebellum Era.  Click on the links below for today's work.

Antebellum Maps Worksheet (To edit this, copy it into a new google doc and save it to your drive).

Antebellum Maps

Election Season Day Two

Open this document and then WITH A PARTNER follow its instructions.  You should save it to your own google docs and share it with your partner.  As you gather information, you both can add to the chart as you work.  You should add information about President Obama's positions in blue and information on Governor Romney's positions in red.

It's Election Season!

It's election season and it's time for you to begin to act on your responsibilities as members of American society and become informed about the upcoming election.  Last night you read some articles that introduced you to the candidates, the issues, some political vocabulary, and the electoral process.  Today you will continue to build on that knowledge.
Instructions:

• First, one of you should create a Google Document and then "share" it with me (kkramer@dist113.org) and your partner. You will do all of your responses for today on this shared document.  You should be reading what you're both writing as you work.  Look at your responses more as a discussion or dialogue between you and your partner rather than an individual response.
• Next, begin the main tasks for today.  Go to the Upfront Magazine  
• Read the article
• Then with your partner, click on Games and Quizzes tab, select the “Electoral Challenge” game and then go ahead and play.
• Discuss the outcome.  Who won?  Why?  What was the strategy used for victory? 
• Next, read pages 12-13 in the magazine on polling. 
•  On your Google Doc, respond to “Discuss this article" questions
• Then, go to the Web Links tab which will take you to Gallup, Real Clear Politics, and NYTimes swing state polls.
• Respond on the google doc.  What polls did you look at?  What do these latest polls show?  What pieces of data are most interesting and why?  Do you think this data will have an impact on the election?  Why?
• Finally today,  it is incumbent upon you to be as informed as you can be about the candidates and the issues. Please begin to browse the links below and continue to gather information as we get closer to the election (Note: The blogs and the newspapers do have political bias-important to work to identify that as you assess the information that each is providing).

The Huffington Post (Political Blog)

The National Review (Political Blog)

Talking Points Memo (Political Blog)

Real Clear Politics (Political Blog)

The Wall Street Journal

The New York Times

The Chicago Tribune

Fact Checking Blog

Mitt Romney's Website       Barack Obama's Website

• Do one last response on the document.  What information/article from the sources above was most interesting?  Why?  What stories or issues do you want to continue to follow as the election gets closer?  What additional information do you still want to know about the candidates?
• Print two copies of the document and make sure that both you and your partner keep it in your notebooks for this class.