All semester we’ve been considering how people in the past understood themselves within their own community and within the wider United States. In that same vein of thought, you are to read through the primary sources provided in the textbook to argue how people’s experiences in, and understanding of, the United States changed, or didn’t change, over time. The primary sources can be found here: (https://www.americanyawp.com/reader.html Links to an external site.)
Your thesis should answer this question: Did a specific group of people’s experiences in the United States change over time and how so? You can pick any group of people we’ve discussed in class (immigrants from a specific country, Indigenous communities, African Americans, women, industrialists, U.S. politicians, etc.) but you must focus only on one group’s experiences. To answer this question, you must substantially engage with at least three primary sourcesfrom the American Yawp Primary Source. The sources can be from any chapter we discussed in class (chapters 15-30), but you must have at least three.
This essay should be 1,500 words (about 5-6 double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins), double spaced, and in Times New Roman font. Your thesis statement should be a direct answer to the question in bold. Organize your paper to include subtopics that support the thesis. Your paragraphs should contain information from the sources, with analysis and interpretation of the information. To properly contextualize, you will need to draw upon information from both the textbook and the primary sources. Cite all examples and direct quotes using Chicago-Style footnotes. You can find how to do so here https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html Links to an external site.. Your essay should include a concluding paragraph that restates your argument(s) which ties all your analysis together. I’ve also included the PowerPoints from class discussing how to write a strong thesis and overall essay.
Submit your paper to this assignment box.
Include a proper cover sheet with a catchy title, and a bibliography of sources at the end.
These papers will be evaluated based on the attached rubric.
Important(!): This research paper should only include information from the American Yawp. You are not asked to conduct additional outside research into secondary sources. You are not allowed to use any other source material other than those found in this course for this assignment. Cite all your sources.