women in us history

The research paper is your opportunity to choose an historical question, search for the appropriate sources, examine these sources, and argue your findings. There are two options for the research paper; you may do one of the following:

Two Women in US History: Compare and contrast two women from American history, one from pre-1900 the other from post-1900. Examine in which ways their lives were similar and different, explore the differences of circumstances that affected their lives, and how they impacted their present and future.
Examples of Pre-1900 Women: Sacajawea, Anne Hutchinson, Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, Elizabeth Freeman, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Grimke sisters, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, etc…
Examples of Post-1900 Women: Harriet Stanton Blatch, Jane Addams, Margaret Sanger, Frances Perkins, Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, Dolores Huerta, Betty Friedan, Kate Millett, Gloria Steinam, Norma McCorvey AKA Jane Roe, Phyllis Schlafly, Sandra Day O’Connor, Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, etc…
Sample Title: Two Women in US History – Phillis Wheatley and Condoleezza Rice

A woman and a movement: Select a woman from US History and a movement from US History and examine ways in which they influenced each other, how they were impacted by the rules of their time, and how they changed their present and future.
Examples of Movements: Colonization, Witchcraft, Women and the American Revolution, Women and the Civil War, Women’s Suffrage, Women and Slavery, Women in the Workplace, Women and the Temperance Movement, Women and Education, etc…
Examples of Women: Sacajawea, Anne Hutchinson, Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, Elizabeth Freeman, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Grimke sisters, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, Annie Oakley, Jane Addams, etc…
Sample Title: A Woman and a Movement – Anne Hutchinson and Witchcraft

What are the rules of the assignment?

FORMAT:

2000-2500 words (you can see this count in the lower left of your Word document)
Name, title, bibliography do not count towards your word count.
Put your name, date and HST 208 in the upper left corner of the first page.
Put your name and page number in the upper right corner (use headers/footers)
Center your title in quotations (i.e. “A Woman and a Movement – Anne Hutchinson and Witchcraft”)
Times New Roman font
12-point font
1.5 spacing
1” margins on all sides
Bibliography should be in MLA format (Resource: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
(Links to an external site.)
)
Must use AT LEAST two primary sources AND two secondary sources other than your textbook. You may use more than two of each, but you may not use less than two primary sources AND two secondary sources.

I. THE INTRODUCTION: The introduction for this paper should be one short paragraph (3-5 sentences). Its purpose is to: (1) set out the problem to be discussed; (2) define the sources you will use to explore the problem (4) state your thesis (what you want to learn from these sources).

II. THE BODY: This constitutes the bulk of your paper. Here is where you provide a history of the women and their time period, contextualize them within the time frame, and then analyze them (in conjunction with each other or with the movement). Be sure to analyze the sources, and see how they substantiate (or fail to substantiate) your thesis.

III. CONCLUSION: This is usually one paragraph long, and briefly recapitulates your thesis, with a summary of your findings. The first sentence of the concluding paragraph is a clear, specific re-statement of thesis. The conclusion should do more than simply re-state the argument. It also suggests why the argument is important in the bigger scheme of things, or suggests avenues for further research, or raises a bigger question.

On a separate page at the end, include the bibliography in MLA Format:

Bibliography:

Davis, Devotion. “Untitled Advertisement.” State Gazette of North Carolina [New Bern], 1785-1790 13 Feb. 1790. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/RAS/id/1670/rec/1>.

Unknown. “Letter to John Foster – August 17, 1692.” Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. The University of Virginia, 17 Aug. 1692. Web. 1 Jan. 2010. <http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/letters/to_foster.html>.

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