I. Introduction.
State in a quick, factual summary what your topic is and why it's significant to US History until 1877. This will probably be only a paragraph or two, but it should give the reader an overview of what you plan to discuss.
II. Research.
This section will be the longest one and the actual format may vary, depending on whether you are doing the research paper, book review or newspaper assignment. Regardless, you should state the sources you will consult for your project. This does not have to be in a formal bibliography listing, but rather simply stating your reason for consulting the book, journal or website, with the relevant information in parentheses. For example, if I am writing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II and I am consulting the course textbook *(which is a perfectly acceptable source, by the way)*, I would do so as follows:
Title, (Enduring Vision, 2005, p. ### ).
When you do this, make sure that you tell why you think this source will be useful to you. Does it have some new information that you are particularly interested in? Think of it as climbing a ladder: each source that you consult should be a step on the ladder and should bring you that much closer to the top of the heap, which in this case would be the conclusion. Most students tend to arrane their source chronologically, but depending on your project, you may find an alternative approach more practical. If you have any questions about the best avenue, please ask.
Remember that you must have two from Jstor if you are doing the research paper. Failure to do so will result in a 0 for the project, with no exceptions. Additionally, *everyone* must have all websites they want to include in their work approved by the instructor beforehand, particularly if those sites do not end with .edu or .gov!
III. Conclusion.
This should be a concise wrap up to your project. Like the introduction, this will probably be a paragraph or two. A possible beginning to this section might be, "From this project, I have learned . . ." and from there you can state what interesting or useful information you have learned, why the project is relevant to your larger career goals, if it turned out differently than you anticipated, or any other insights you want to share. This is your opportunity to state your opinions, so feel free to do so. Your opinion is *never* incorrect!
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Since each project is unique, none of them will follow this formula exactly and I fully expect that your final paper will deviate a little from this outline. But I hope this gives you an idea of how to organize your thoughts and locate the information you need to write a top quality paper.
Above all else, please remember you can contact me at any time for assistance. I'm here to help and want to do anything I can to make this a positive experience for you.