A300 is designed to allow students to explore the history of the American West on a personal level with an eye toward expanding their knowledge of various western themes, from exploration to the Indian Wars, to the impact of global capitalism and the emergence of the environmental movement. But students will also learn about the craft of history, including the tools used by practitioners, how to weigh competing evidence, and how to build a convincing argument about the past.
At the end of this course students should understand that history is socially interpreted, and that the past has always been used as an important means for understanding the present. Old family photos, a grandparent's memories, even family reunions allow people to understand their lives through an appreciation of the past. These events and artifacts remind us that history is a dynamic and interpretive field of study that requires far more than rote memorization. Historians balance their knowledge of primary sources (diaries, letters, artifacts, and other documents from the period under study) with later interpretations of these people, places, and events (in the form of scholarly monographs and articles) known as secondary sources. Through the evaluation and discussion of these different interpretations historians come to a socially negotiated understanding of historical figures and events.
Your papers should:
1). Empathize with the person, place, or event you are writing about. The goal here is to use your understanding of the primary and secondary sources you have read to "become" that person–i.e. to appreciate their perspectives on the time or event under study. In essence, students should demonstrate an appreciation of that time within its context.
2). Second, students should be able to present the past in terms of its relevance to contemporary issues. What do their individual projects tell us about the present? For example, what does the treatment of Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans in the West tell us about the problem of race in the United States today?
3). Third, in developing their individual and group projects, students
should demonstrate that they have researched and located primary
and secondary sources. Through this process they will develop the
skills of a historian, and present an interpretation of the past that is
credible to their peers and instructors.
This assignment, from an upper level history course at the University of Indiana at Bloomington, contains many of the features of both Davis and Shadle's research argument and Ballenger's inquiry-based research writing. Consider these quotes from the opening paragraph:
"A300 is designed to allow students to explore the history of the American West on a personal level with an eye toward expanding their knowledge of various western themes."
"Students will also learn about the craft of history, including the tools used by practitioners, how to weigh competing evidence, and how to build a convincing argument about the past."
In this research project, students do not play the role of detached, objective reporters. The goal is to "explore" the history of the American West on a "personal" level. Rather than students merely reporting what others have said, they are "expanding their knowledge of various western themes." Even though the emphasis is on making a personal connection, this assignment also initiates students to the discourse of the discipline of history. Students learn "the craft of history" and "the tools used by practitioners." Historians are not portrayed as mere reporters of facts in correct APA style: history is an argument, and the historian's goal is "to build a convincing argument about the past." As the instructor states in the second paragraph: "Through the evaluation and discussion of different interpretations historians come to a socially negotiated understanding of historical figures and events."
This emphasis on the student's connection to the research topic, as
well as initiation to the ways of writing and thinking in the discipline,
is seen again in the second research assignment I discuss.
Research Assignment #2: Introduction to Sociology
Research Assignment #3: Public Policy and International Economy
Relevance for First-Year Writing