HIST. 111 - U.S. 19th Century History - Prof. Vecchio - Spring 2021: Home / Your Assignment

Welcome! This research guide was created for students in Prof. Vecchio's 19th Century U.S. History class.

You have been assigned a research project that requires locating sources about a topic of your choice.

This guide is a customized resource for this particular course and assignment.

The resources on these pages will help you:

• Find background information on your topic
• Develop a search strategy
• Find scholarly research articles using the library databases
• Find primary source material
• Evaluate sources
• Cite your sources using MLA 8 format
• Avoid plagiarism
• Get additional help
• Work from home

Your project requires you to write a 5-7 page paper about a document that you have selected from your textbook. You will need to answer the following questions about the document: 

• What is the subject and source (author) of the document?
• What are the problems being identified by the source?
• Does the subject of the document surprise you given what you know about the United States and American society of the source?

You will need to write a well-developed thesis statement about your topic that should be no less than two paragraphs.

• Consider raising a debatable question on the subject.
• Consider selecting a subtopic to write about.

You must use at least 15 sources from a variety of source types: books, journals, magazines, newspapers, online resources, film, or oral sources.