After you have determined the year that you would like to research, focus on a particular date. Students often find this exercise much more enjoyable if they pick out a date of some import in their life, such as a birthdate, anniversary, or other day of significance. Regardles of what date you prefer, you must confirm this with your instructor. Failure to do so will result in a 0 for the project. The point of the assignment is to write about an average day in history.
In this paper, you need to describe life in the United States on the particular day of your assignment. What were people concerned about? How did they live? What were the pressing issues of the day? Try to include political, economic, foreign policy, social, cultural, and labor issues. Read the whole newspaper. Do not simply read one or two articles and write on them. Keep in mind that a newspaper is more than just its articules. What cn you learn from teh letters to the editor? What products are being advertised? What companies are hiring, and for what kind of jobs? Are there any personal ads? Political cartoons?
Relate what you read ot issues covered in the course. How are issues of race, ethnicity and gender treated? How do Americans view their position in the world? What are the popular or active social movements? What is the editorial stance of the newspaper? This listing is not all-inclusive. You will probably run across other topics that are worthy of comment. This assignment is purposely broad in order to allow you the freedom to approach it as you see fit. Try to have fun.
Your paper must ben an analysis of what you have read. Do not simply summarize a series of disconnected articles in the paper or summarize the newspaper in order ("Page one said . . ., page two said . . .") Also, don't discuss items that are not relevant to your thesis. If you want to discuss prices, remember that a price is meaningless without context. For example, a $1,000 home may be cheap or very expensive, depending on a host of variables. Make a real effort to understand how people felt in the past, why they acted the way they did and what they valued.
Writing Your Paper:
Your paper should be neat, grammatically correct, well written, and between 5-6 pages in length. You must have a thesis, which you support with evidence, reasoning and logical argument in the body of the paper, and a conclusion. Papers lacking these will be penalized. You should articulate yoru thesis in the first paragraph of your paper and your thesis and conclusion should agree. Parenthetical references are probably best for this assignment (New York Times, 14 August 1863). At the top of your first page, list the city, newspaper and date that you are writing about. You do not need a bibliography unless you use sources other than your newspaper and textbooks. All quotations, even if from these two sources, must be marked as such. It should adhere to the above structural guidelines and contain solid introductory and concluding paragraphs that are in agreement with one another. Papers lacking these will be penalized. Avoid using too many quotations, quoting only when absolutely necessary. Be sure to mention who you are quoting and cite your source, as well. Footnotes, endnotes, or MLA style parenthetical citations are all fine. Just choose one style and stick with it throughout your paper. Avoid contractions. Keep a copy of your paper. Organize your paper into distinct paragraphs. Avoid the passive voice. Write about the past in the past tense.