Early Women’s History

Objective

You will need to pick a women’s social group (see below for ideas) and a year or period between 1500 and 1900 in which to study that group. You will organize your paper around this date, which should be a turning point for your group. PLEASE choose a group in which you have a particular interest; for example, if your family included refugees from the Irish potato famine, by all means consider choosing Irish immigrants in 1845. PLEASE run your group by me early on. Big groups (slaves, women) must be broken down (house slaves, field slaves, male slaves with skills, female slaves, rice-growing slaves, or child slaves.)

Topics, to get you thinking

Here are just some ideas female abolitionists, African-American abolitionists, underground RR users and conductors and safe harbors, slaveholders in various states, especially Maryland and the deep south, parenting and childrearing in colonial US school teaching in colonial and 19th century US–grammar school, women who went to college early on, pre 1865, immigrants, midwives, white women in South during Civil War, white women in North during Civil War, Civil War Nurses north and south, ordinary soldiers in Civil War, Oregon Trail, and Gold Rush. Look in the book if you are stuck on a group. It has tons of different topics.

Requirements

If these requirements are not met the paper will receive a failing grade at the outset:

·1,500 or more words. I count, and 1,500 is a minimum. (Please don’t turn in a paper with 1,799 words, and don’t count your name/header OR Works Cited List as part of your word count, please.)

·Typed, double-spaced, essay format.

·At least four sources should be cited; two sources must be primary sources, one can come from the book we are using. All other can be a mixture of books, journals, and interview sources. Using children’s books, your textbooks (not research), Wikipedia, encyclopedias, and children’s or students’ websites, it will be down-graded accordingly. You may use no more than 2/4 Internet sources (unless you use more than four total sources); sources will be subject to basic verification for accuracy. Rely on primary sources, books, and some journal articles. The Internet should be a last resort and used sparingly.

·Basic MLA style will be required. In other words, there will be citations that look like this (Salazar 345) throughout the text, and the full Salazar citation will be found at the end.

·Works Cited list (It is not called a Bibliography, but simply Works Cited). Check out the Gavilan Library website for MLA help.

·You will turn in a paper copy and an electronic copy at Turnitin.com; I won’t grade until/unless you do.

Grading criteria

For social group research project: On the paper, 1/3 quality of thought and writing, 1/3 thorough coverage of three questions, 1/3 proper use of citations and MLA end-note styles.

Structure

Your paper will answer three large questions about your social group as it relates to your turning point date. You may answer the questions in mostly chronological order. Use them to organize both your research and your writing, and don’t use lots of filler.

Model Outline Social Group Research Paper

If questions do not fit your group then we might need to talk about if this group is a group to look into.

I. What is the group, and why was it chosen? (no more than five percent of paper)

A. My group

B. My interest in this group

II. What is the history of this social group? (At least 85 percent of paper)

A. What situation, activities, traits, interests, and/or habits characterized this group before the turning point, and why? (You may not have all; some is usually enough)

1. Situation/s of group members before turning point/why

2. Activities of group members before turning point/why

3. Traits of group members before turning point/why

4. Interests of group members before turning point/why

5. Habits of group members before turning point/why

B. What was a turning point–a year or short period of time–that brought significant change to this group, and how, and why?

1. Explanation of why turning point came about as and when it did

2. Explanation of how turning point came about

C. What situation, activities, traits, interests, and/or habits characterized this group after the turning point, and why? (note parallel structure to the above) (You may not have all; some is usually enough)

1. Situation/s of group members after turning point

2. Activities of group members after turning point

3. Traits of group members after turning point

4. Interests of group members after turning point

5. Habits of group members after turning point

III. Where is this group today and what is its situation? (no more than 10 percent of paper)

A. Long term effects of turning point

B. Situation, activities, traits, interests, and/or habits of this group that have evolved since period dealt with in this research