requirements

There are six assignments and a blog required for the course. The course assignments will be weighted as follows: (1) blog –20%; (2) a bibliography–10%; 3) an outline–10%; 4) first & second drafts–(20%); 5) a final paper–20%; 6) two critiques–10%; 7) an oral presentation–10%; and 8) a self-evaluation (1 page, typed, single-spaced) assessing your performance in the course (not graded but required).

blog

You are required to make one post to your blog each week as well as one comment on another’s post each week. Those who make more than one comment will have their names writ in heaven, e.g. the gradebook. Guidelines for posting to your blog are available in the Writing section. Please remember to reference your comment by furnishing a text link (Comment on Steve's Post, #2: Primary Sources) in your own blog to the permalink of the post. Finally, if the blog post calls for uploading a document, include a paragraph describing the document or assignment. Simply putting “Download Bibliography" or “Here it is" are fairly boring and not likely to entice a reader.

bibliography

The bibliography for the purposes of this course should contain a minimum of eight books and sixteen articles that you have consulted for your essay. The course requires that you use primary sources. These may take the form of books and articles written during the time period under study or primary manuscript materials—letters, diaries, and journals, for example. Primary sources may also include images, maps, and government documents. Secondary materials should reflect the most current books or articles as well as some of the classics in the specialty. Where appropriate, you should also use the Internet, but the bulk of your sources should be traditional, print material. Turabian has more than enough information on the format for the bibliography.

outline

An outline can take many forms. It can be written with the aid of the outlining facility on a word processor, with a dedicated outlining software program, or on cocktail napkins. The point of an outline, no matter its form, is to provide the organizational structure for an extended piece of writing. It should list the main topics, subtopics, and references to the sources. It is also a good idea to include what you intend to use as quotations in the outline so that you are assured of their applicability and appropriateness. For the purposes of this course, the outline should take the form of a paragraph-by-paragraph outline of “what” the paragraph will do and “how” the paragraph will accomplish its goal. Think in terms of two paragraphs per page. An excerpt from a sample outline might look like this:

p. 1 para. 1–Anecdote—Jim Chee in PBS Skinwalkers—introducing one of the main themes in my argument about the portrayal of Indians in contemporary film. (primary source)
p. 1 para. 2–Transition to thesis by explaining relationship of scene to theme. Thesis: Thesis goes here.
p. 2, para. 1-This paragraph continues the discussion of Native Americans in the twentieth century and continues the argument that they have not “vanished.” This will be accomplished by summarizing the arguments made in Phil Deloria's, Indians in Unexpected Places in which he shows that Indians—far from disappearing from the historical landscape—played important roles in films, technology, and sports and the arguments in Alan Trachtenberg’s Shades of Hiawatha as well as Shari Huhndorf’s Going Native. This paragraph, in other words, articulates the basic argument and some of the debate. (secondary sources)
p. 2, para. 2–This paragraph makes the transition to Native Americans in twentieth-century film and my own thesis about the continuity and discontinuity in their cinematic presence.

By the time you’ve finished this exercise, you will have thought through the entire paper and possess a roadmap of your essay; you will also have a pretty good sense of its strengths and weaknesses—places that need additional evidence.

1st & 2nd drafts

A first draft is not the first version of the essay but the best of successive versions of the essay that you can manage working alone or with the help of another reader. This means that by the first draft, the essay should have gone through at least two edits or revisions. It should be in the best form possible with respect to organization, argument, grammar and mechanics, inclusion of quotations, and format. The first draft should also include a title and page numbers. The second draft cleans up all the missteps in mechanics and grammar and strengthens the argument, taking into account both the instructor’s and reader’s comments. The second draft also incorporates notes and bibliography.

critiques

Using the critiques guidelines (available for download from Basics), write a critique of your author’s first and second drafst. Critics will be assigned in class. The first critique should concentrate on the quality of research and argument. Although this first evaluation need not be a line edit, the critic should address the author’s writing style and offer suggestions for improvement. The second critique should be more formal and more detailed and weigh both the strengths and weaknesses of the essay.

oral presentation

Presentations (7 minutes maximum, 5 minutes minimum, 2–3 minutes for questions) may be supported by note cards, manuscript, or electronic media (PowerPoint or Keynote). An oral discussion of the essay should acquaint the audience with the thesis, the main argument, and the conclusions. In the past, presenters have been very creative with handouts, demonstrations, and other presentation aids. Be aware that a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation should make use of the media and not simply be a series of bullet points.

final essay

The overarching goal for the major project is the creation of a modest, reasonably sophisticated historical argument (10–12 pages excluding bibliography and notes) based on research in both primary and secondary sources. The essay should also be situated the historical debate. In addition, the essay should exhibit clear and error-free prose and include a bibliography and notes (footnotes or endnotes) following the Turabian or the Chicago style.