David Wrobel
Handout 4: Guidelines for Second Paper
Your research paper (the second paper) topic is due in discussion section in Wk. 9, W/R/F, Mar 21/23. The assignment is worth 250 points—it is the most heavily weighted assignment of the semester (worth 50 more points than the final exam)—so invest time and effort in it. The abstract or introduction is worth 25 of the total points and the annotated bibliography is worth 25 points. The finished essay is worth 200 points. There is a 25-point per day deduction for late papers.
You may conduct research and write on any topic covered in the course from Reconstruction to the Vietnam War. However, your paper must be on a well-defined and tightly focused topic. Your section instructors will help guide you to an appropriate topic and I am also happy to meet with you to discuss paper topics.
As you start to develop your topic you need to use one of the primary sources databases along with a secondary work, or one of the primary source/secondary source pairings as a starting point. For the databases and the pairings go to explorehistory.ou.edu.
Your paper must include a significant body of primary sources and a minimum of two secondary works (articles, essays, book chapters, or books). Please work closely with your section instructor to ensure you have developed a sufficient primary source base.