Choose one of the following topics. You are not writing a paper about a country, a biography of a person, or a narrative of an event. Rather you are explaining a turning point in history. What changed and why? In order to explain the changes, you will also need to give a brief historical background to the changes. What was the country like before the changes took place? What was the impact of events and leaders on a country or region during the historical period of the topic? You can expand or narrow your time period as necessary, but do not include information about the country or society today.Suggested Research Paper Topics:
Select a topic from the list provided by your instructor or one approved by your instructor.1. LENGTH: Your paper must be(text)(minimum of 1500 words), double-spaced, with one inch margins. Maps and illustrations are in addition to the 5 pages of text.2. RESEARCH: Your paper must have a works cited page with a Specialized historical encyclopedias or biographical dictionaries in the references section of the library are acceptable sources. If you have any doubt if a source is okay, check with your instructor.. The databases or electronic versions of books and articles that are available in the library will count as printed sources. If you need help finding appropriate sources, ask your instructor and/or a reference librarian for help.3. CITATIONS:in the body of your paper to indicate the source of all the information you used from your research sources.See Citation of Sources below for more detailed instructions on citations. If you do not understand these instructions, ask your instructor to explain it.Document the sources of the information you using in theDo not assume that the way you did a research paper in high school or another college or for another class is the right way. Ask your instructor if you have any doubts or questions about doing citations.4.Papers submitted 1-3 days late will be marked down 5 points. Papers submitted 4-7 days late will be marked down 10 points. Papers submitted a week or more after the due date will be marked down 20 points.1.Choose a country and a historical period that interests you. Start with your textbook. Look up some of topics using the index and read about them. Dont overlook the illustrations. You can also use an encyclopedia, Encarta, Wikipedia or other internet sources to help you decide if a topic interests you. Even though youuse your textbook or encyclopedias as sources in writing your paper, they are a good place to get started.2.such as a history of a civilization, people, region or country (e.g. Roman history, British history,Middle East), a period of history (e.g. Ancient history,MiddleAges, Renaissance, Reformation), or the history of a subject (e.g. science, art, a religion). Try to learn as much as you can about the country and century appropriate to your topic. Gradually narrow your research down until finally you focus on specific events and people. If you use a book that is specifically about your topic, youshouldnot have to read the whole book. You should already know enough about your subject to be able to look up specific facts, quotations, and events for more detailed information.Use a variety of sources (books, articles, internet,videos). Try to use a PRIMARY SOURCE. This is something written by someone who lived during the time you are writing about an eyewitness account, something written by one of the historical characters in your paper, or a history written at the time. You are not limited to the Trident Tech library (LearningResourceCenter). Try the libraries at theCollegeofCharlestonand The Citadel, as well as the public library downtown (onCalhoun Streetwith free parking for one hour).3.You need a PURPOSE to guide your research and organize your paper. Begin with a research question like, What was it like to live in this time and country?, What happened? Why and how did it happen this way? Who were the important people? How did they shape events? What made this person stand out in his/her time? Why was this event an important turning point in history? As you find answers to these questions, select a significant theme relating to the events, person, place, and time of your topic and put it into a statement that answers some of your research questions. This is your THESIS. Deciding on a thesis is the most important step in your research. It will tell you what is relevant and help you select the information that you will use in your paper.Your thesis should be limited to the time period of your paper. Dont try to connect or compare your topic to the present. This is a more demanding type of paper and beyond what you are expected to do in this course.4.You will probably enjoy doing the research and the tendency is to keep researching right up to the last minute, thinking that you are making progress. The research is the easiest part.SET YOURSELF A DEADLINE to stop researching and START WRITING at least a week before the paper is due.If you want me to look at a draft and give you suggestions, you must give me the draft no later than a week before the paper is due.: Your opening paragraph should briefly introduce your subject (person, place, and time), and, most importantly, state the thesis or purpose statement of your paper.: You have to put the events into a historical context. One way to begin your paper might be to describe a place and a period of time. To do this effectively, you may have to briefly describe the society, events, important institutions (e.g. society, government, religion, warfare, cities) and leaders of the period.: Rather than trying to tell everything about a place and time or a persons life, select formative influences, turning points, and greatest achievements or failures. Describe what happened, who the important characters and groups were in the events, why events happened as they did. The quality of your history (and your grade!) depends both on whichyou decide to include and yourof those facts. Be sure to adequately EXPLAIN the causes and significance of important events.: Discuss the immediate consequences of the events. What changed? What was the impact on the people involved, their country, maybe the world. DO NOT make judgments about how an event has affected the modern world or our lives today unless you are writing about a recent event (in the last 50 years). OTHER IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR CITATIONS:A. As a rule of thumb, most of the paragraphs in the body of your paper (except the introduction and conclusion) will have more than one citation per paragraph, and normally more than one citation. Do not put all your citations at the end of a paragraph, but put them immediately after the sentences ort sentences containing the information from that source.B. Avoid using direct quotations too much. It is usually better to put the information in your own words as long as you include a citation of its source.Quotations over four lines should be indented without quotation marks.YOU MUST USE A CITATION FOR ALL THE INFORMATION you use from your research sources, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT DIRECTLY QUOTE the authors words from the source.C. Make sure the information or opinion you include in your paper from one of your sources MAKES SENSE in your paper. You may have to explain people, events, or termsthat arementioned in the quotation or paraphrased segment you extracted from your source.D. The way that the MLA Handbook and most English courses suggest to do citations is to mention the author and/or book in your paper. For example, you would write:According to historian Robert Palmer in hisGreat Britainwas the superpower in the 19th century (118). [The number in parentheses indicated the page number in Palmers book on which that information is found.]but put it in the citation after the sentence. For example:Great Britainwas the superpower in the 19th century (Palmer 118)Citations are one of the most difficult parts of doing a good research paper. If you have not written a college research paper before or have not taken ENG 101, you may need help from your instructor or theWritingCenter(in theLearningCenterin building 920, room 211).To avoid confusion in which verb tense to use, I recommend writing in the past tense throughout your paper.. It is not necessary to mention your sources (historians and books) in the text of your paper. I dont want a paper about historians or histories, but about history. But be sure to use the MLA citation to credit the sources of your information… You are allowed to use a few quotations in your research paper, but use them sparingly. Most of your paper must be your own words and no portion of it can be written by someone else. Changing a few words of a passage does not make it your own wording. Copying any portion of your paper other than what is clearly identified as a direct quotation from another source or persons writing is a form of academic misconduct as defined in the Trident Technical College Student Handbook 2006-2007 (pages 75-76) and can result in a failing grade for that assignment as well as disciplinary action.[seewww.tridenttech.edu/06-07_Student_Handbook.pdf]Your most important resources are your instructor and the reference librariansThe Writing Center:http://www.tridenttech.edu/664_1399.htmLibrary History Linkshttp://www.tridenttech.edu/4730_3902.htmLibrary Tutorials for Researchhttp://www.tridenttech.edu/4730_1814.htmLibrary Online Databaseshttp://www.tridenttech.edu/4730_4791.htmA. Write your paper as Word document (.doc file) or an rtf file.B. Open the Research Paper folder in theDropbox.C. Click on thebutton at the bottom of the page.D. Once you have selected the file on your computer or disk using thebutton, click onE. Now click onbutton at the bottom right.F. Now click on button.Dont forget to upload and submit your file once you have added it to thedropboxor I wont get your paper. If you have trouble uploading your paper, send it to me attached to a D2L email.