World History Thesis Paper

Revised Fall 2017

STUDENT NAME: ______

World History Research Assignment

All students enrolled in a World History class are required to write aresearch paper and complete a creative component that followsthe theme, “The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies.”

Research Paper specifics are as follows:

Paper Length:College Prep:2--3 pages

College Prep Advanced:3--4 pages

Honors:4--5 pages

Sources: College Prep:2 minimum

College Prep Advanced:3 minimum

Honors:3minimum

Format: Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, Double-Spaced

Encyclopedias and Textbooks should be consulted for background information as you narrow the focus of your research. These MAY NOT be used to fulfill the above source requirements. Any online sources must have an author, and be affiliated with a reputable organization, i.e. a college or university website, and are subject to approval by your teacher.

Creative Component specifics are as follows:

Project: Individual Exhibit, Performance, Speech, Documentary, Historical Parody Song, Diorama, etc.(if you need help coming up with an idea please see your teacher)

Presentation:Must be something tangible that can be presented to peers.

Breakdown of Research Assignment:

COMPONENT: DUE:

A. Topic Chosen

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B. Bibliography (Chicago Turabian Format)

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C. First 10 notecards

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D. All notecards (CP-20, CPA-30, H-40 minimum)

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E. Outline/Rough Draft & Project Proposal

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F. Final Draft

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G. Project/Presentation

Late papers and/or projects will not be accepted.

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This assignment is required for the successful completion of World History and accounts for 10% of thefinal grade.

Before we begin . . . Noodletools and Turnitin.com

Noodletools.com

Once you set up your noodletools account, you can create your bibliography, complete your notecards and finalize your thesis—all online!

Step 1: Create Account and a Project

  1. Go to noodletools.com
  2. In the upper right hand corner and click on Current Users: Sign In
  3. Click Create Personal ID
  4. Select account linked to a school/library subscription or trial
  5. Click Register
  6. Fill in: School/Library Username: tantasqua

School/Library Password: warriors

  1. Select I am a student or library patron

fill in expected year of graduation, create your personal ID and complete retrieval information

  1. Fill out:Citation Style: Chicago Turabian

Citation Level: Advanced

  1. Create a new project and name it ______
  2. On your project dashboard you will need to go to Sharing: Share project with a teacher’s drop box
  3. My drop box is: ______

(This should appear in a drop-down menu as you begin to type.)

*Now you’re ready to get started!*

Turnitin.com

Sign up for a Turnitin account by doing the following:

  1. Go to
  2. If you DO NOT have an account already, follow these steps:
  3. Click on the link labeled “Create Account” in blue at the top right of the screen
  4. Go to the bottom half of the page to “Create a New User” and click on “Student”
  5. Then go to step #4
  6. If you HAVE an account already, then log in and follow the directions below:
  7. Click on the Tab at the top of the page that says, “Enroll in a Class”
  8. Enter the following info that it asks for:
  9. Class ID # - ______
  10. Class password -- ______
  11. Then follow the instructions below it to create an account, agree to the privacy text, and sign-up.
  12. Then you are all set! You should see the new course, ______, pop up in your account.

PART ONE: TOPIC CHOSEN

To select a topic you first must understand the theme for this assignment:

The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies

A combination of the right person at the right time in history has powerful outcomes which can be both inspiring and catastrophic as illustrated by the lives of such figures as Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, or Idi Amin Dada and Adolf Hitler. Inspirational individuals ask difficult questions of society and themselves and believe passionately in an issue. Examples of individuals who cared deeply about a cause and nudged history forward are Eleanor Roosevelt in her quest for human rights, John Peter Zenger and the fight for freedom of the press, and Walter Reed in his quest for a cure for yellow fever. The list can extend exponentially. Individuals who were activists, world leaders, scientists, or artists followed their fervor and focused their life’s work that eventually became a catalyst for events to unfold in history. In each case the decisions and the route that the individual followed ignited a change.

The individual you select may illustrate important values, such as courage in the face of great opposition or in striking out in a new direction; selflessness in helping others during a time of disaster; ingenuity in founding or building an institution; patriotism in time of national crisis; or leadership in a cooperative effort to protect human rights or improve the community.

Whether the individual was a diplomat, a politician, or an everyday person, the plight of the individual affects us all. You need to consider how your individual changed history—and you need not focus on political history. For example:

  • Students might investigate not only the effect of an individual on scientific knowledge, technological development, and societal change, but also the impact of science and technology on the individual. In what way was Galileo’s discovery controversial? What impact did his discovery have? What were the consequences of his work? How did his work influence history?
  • Can art influence history? Students might examine the influence photography has had on history. How did Mathew Brady’s photographs of the Civil War inform and influence the nation’s perception of war between the north and south? Students might follow Lewis Hine’s photos of child labor leading to the Keating-Owen Act or Dorothea Lange’s famous photographs of the migrants during the Dust Bowl.

Adapted from National History Day Theme Description 2009

Where to begin:

Reflect on your study of World History so far. Which units have been your favorite? Which are you most looking forward to? Do you prefer to focus on the arts? The military? Political change? Social change? Consider your answers to these questions as you choose your topic.

Sample Topics

Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Second Crusade

Catherine the Great: Westernization

Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women

John Locke: The Social Contract Theory

Martin Luther: Religious Reformer

Mohandas Gandhi: Change through Peaceful Activism

Adam Smith: Free Trade

John Maynard Keynes: The World Economics Conference

Galileo Galilei: The Scientific Revolution

Albert Einstein: Theory of Relativity

Ponce de Leon: Transatlantic Travel and the Gulf Stream

Genghis Khan: Uniting the Confederation

Christopher Columbus: Charting New Territories

Emperor Meiji: Responding to Western Demands

Marco Polo: The Silk Road

Prince Henry the Navigator: The School of Navigation

Vincent Van Gogh: Developing Expressionism

Charles Dickens: Writing to Illuminate the Class System

Picasso: Defining Modern Art

Virginia Woolf: Bloomsbury Group

Joseph Stalin: The Lion at Yalta

Winston Churchill: Gifted Orator

Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin: Sharing the Nobel Peace Prize

William the Conqueror: The Normandy Conquest

Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub: Recapturing Palestine

Ayatollah Khomeini: The Islamic Revolution

Ho Chi Minh: National Liberation Front

Simon Bolivar: Latin American Independence

Jose Marti: Cuba’s War for Independence

Jonas Savimbi: The Angolan Revolutionary

William Wallace: Battle of Stirling Bridge

Nelson Mandela: Congress of the People

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz: Bay of Pigs

Charlemagne: Conquest and Impact

Mikhail Gorbechev: Leading Struggling Nation out of the Cold War

Yoga Bonita: How Brazil led a Soccer Revolution

Pancho Villa: Leading Northern Mexico

Nelson Mandela: Fight for Equality in South Africa

Olaudah Equiano: Exposing Horrors of Middle Passage

Vladimir Lenin: Leading Russian Revolution

Napoleon Bonaparte: Napoleonic Code

Marie Curie: Radiation

Isaac Newton: The Scientific Revolution

Charles Darwin: The Theory of Evolution

Henry VIII: Break with Catholic Church

John Locke: Right to Revolution

THIS LIST IS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED – YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO SELECT SOMETHING THAT INTERESTS YOU & THAT MAY NOT BE ON THIS LIST.

PART TWO: BIBLIOGRAPHY

To complete this part of the pre-writing process, you will need to locate the sources you plan to use to conduct your research and create a properly formatted bibliography (see sample).

Types of sources you need:

  1. At least one primary source
  2. This may be located online
  3. You may find excerpts from documents in print sources
  4. At least 2 print sources(book, journal article, newspaper article, magazine article, etc.)
  5. These sources may be located via internet
  6. These sources cannot be a website (see teacher if you are unsure)
  7. You may use a website if you have met the above requirements
  8. Reminder – Wikipedia and other similar sources are not valid sources
  9. Make sure you check the validity of the webpage you plan to use

Frequently Asked Question:

Q: Do I have to keep a source if it turns out I can not find anything in it?

A: No. If a source turns out not to be helpful to you, eliminate it and get a new source.

Q: Do I have to use every source on my bibliography?

A: Yes. If it shows up in your bibliography then you should have used it in your paper, therefore you need to give that source credit for the information you used.

Q: Can I use one source for most of my citations?

A: NO! You want to have a balanced approach to your research and demonstrate that you considered several sources to reach your conclusion.

Create Bibliography Using Noodletools

Once you have one you have found a source, you will use Noodletools to create your bibliography.

1.Once you’ve logged in to Noodletools, click on Projects at the top of the page.

2.Under “My Projects” you should now see “______.” Click on it.

3.At the top of the page, click on Bibliography.

4.Choose the correct citation type for your source, and follow the prompts!

Repeat this process until you have your minimum number of sources. You can always add and delete sources as needed throughout the research process.

PART THREE: THESIS AND NOTECARDS

Thesis Statement:

Your thesis is a sentence that clearly defines what you will prove in your research paper. This statement must directly address the theme.

Example:

  1. Although some condemn Harry Truman for dropping atomic bombs on Japan during World War II, his decision to do so saved American lives, ended World War II, and ushered in the Nuclear Era that has impacted the global community since 1945.

Notecards

Noodletools will guide you through gathering and organizing your information (details to be discussed in class). Remember, minimum notecard requirements are as follows:

College Prep = 20College Prep Advanced = 30Honors = 40

*Most of you will need more than the minimum required number of note cards!

Create Notecards using Noodletools

Once you’re ready to begin gathering information from a source, see the instructions below to begin your notecards:

  1. Be sure you have clicked on “______” in your project list.
  2. Click on Bibliography at the top of the page.
  3. Locate the source you plan to use (you should have already created the citation—see step 2 if necessary!)
  4. Beneath the “Notecards” column on the right, click on new.
  5. Use the “Title” box for your subtitle—this can be completed later if necessary.
  6. Notice the source is already complete for you! Decide if you are going to copy a direct quote or paraphrase information and use the appropriate box for your info. You may also use the “My Ideas” box to record thoughts/reflections as they occur to you.
  7. Once all of your info is complete, click save.
  8. You’re back to your Bibliography—repeat as needed!

Ignore the URL, “My Tags, “Tags, “ and “Pile” boxes . . . unless you want to experiment!

You WILL be able to print out and/or organize your notecards online when it comes time to write—we’ll look at that later on in the process.

PART FOUR: ROUGH DRAFT OR OUTLINE

ROUGH DRAFT or OUTLINE:

You will be required to create either a rough draft or detailed outline (per teacher instructions) before beginning your final draft.

Requirements for your Rough Draft or outline:

  1. The page requirement outlined for you level is met (rough draft only).
  2. Clean copy of Bibliography included.
  3. Chicago Turabian formatted paper (size 12 Times New Roman font, 1” margins all around, cover page)
  4. Footnote/Endnote citations (size 10 font) are properly formatted throughout your essay/outline as you include information from your notecards.
  5. Keep an eye on your originality report—it should NOT be above 25%!
  6. At least 1 quote from your primary source, in addition to properly cited references from a variety of other sources.

CITATION GUIDE

What do I cite????

  • Direct quotes
  • Facts or statistics that are not common knowledge (esp. numbers, dates, etc.)
  • Everyone knows that Roosevelt was president during World War II and that the earth orbits the sun (Right?). But does everyone know the percentage of women under 35 who vote? The number of sea turtle nests observed on North Carolina beaches in 1987?
  • Paraphrases
  • A paraphrase is a restatement of another person’s thoughts or ideas in your own words, using your own sentence structure. A paraphrase is normally about the same length as the original. Although you don’t need to use quotation marks when you paraphrase, you absolutely do need to cite the source.

How do I cite???

Students of history are expected to use the Chicago/Turabian for citation of footnotes and bibliography. (Noodletools will do most of this for you).

Footnotes:

  • You will use the “first note” form the first time the work is cited in your paper.

EX:

1. M. A. R. Habib, A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the Present (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008), 201.

  • *You may use “Ibid.” IF you are citing from the same source repeatedly. If you are citing from a different page in the same source, add a page number:

EX:

2. Ibid., 68.

  • Use an abbreviated form for the same source later in your paper citations.

EX:

6. Habib, Literary Criticism, 208

Remember, footnote and bibliography formatting will be different (but Noodletools will make this easy)

Example: Book

First note: 1. M. A. R. Habib, A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the Present (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008), 201.

Bibliography: Habib, M. A. R. A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the Present. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008.

SAMPLE CHICAGO PAPER

Nazi Aggression and the Start of WWII:

Neville Chamberlain’s Appeasement of Adolf Hitler

Harry Potter

United States History I

Professor Dumbledore

August 8, 2017

Potter 1

In a Chicago paper, there are no headings or subheadings, and there is no need to write the title at the top of the page since there is already a title page. As with most papers, Chicago papers should be written in third-person unless otherwise indicated by your instructor. Avoid using first person or second person language. Chicago papers should be written in size 12 Times New Roman font and should be double spaced. Margins should be one inch on each side, and the first sentence of each new paragraph should be indented.

Chicago papers do not use in-text citations like the ones found in MLA, but instead use either footnotes or endnotes.[1] When inserting a footnote, one should make sure the footnote directly follows the period.[2] Inserting a footnote will take you to the bottom of the page where you will include the information about the source. If instead your teacher has requested endnotes, inserting the number will bring you to the last page of you to the last page of your paper where all the sources are compiled as a comprehensive list. The footnotes and endnotes resemble bibliographic entries, but the formatting is different.[3]

When quoting something in your Chicago paper, you can simply “use regular in-sentence quotation marks,” so long as your quote is three lines long or less.[4] If your direct quote is four lines or more you will need to use a block quote. The sentence before a block quote should end with a colon, and there should be one space between this sentence and the block quote itself:

A block quote should be one space below the previous sentence, however, the

Block quote itself should be single spaced. There should be no quotation marks

Around the block quote, as the fact that it is in this format already implies that

It is a quote. The entire block quote should be intended. There should also be

One line between the end of the block quote and the continuation of the paper.[5]

After that one space one can carry on writing the paper. If you have any questions or need help just ask your teacher for assistance or search online.