1. Research assignment: An historical analysis

2. What is historical analysis?
It is a gathering of documents, records, and artifacts to provide a description and interpretation of past events or persons.
You will be conducting analytical research, a mode of inquiry in which events, ideas, concepts or artifacts are investigated by analyzing documents, records, recordings, and other media.
You will also be interviewing people who have experienced the events.

3. Step 1: Choosing your topic
This assignment involves analyzing the impact a decision or event had on someone significant to you.
In order to do this, you first need to find an adult over the age of 30 willing to be interviewed.
Because you may be interviewing this person a number of times, be sure to choose someone who will be available between now and mid-March.

4. Whom can I interview?
It’s best to ask someone you know well enough to ask a number of questions
Consider family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, great-aunts, great-uncles.
Consider neighbors, teachers, religious officials, your parents’ friends, coaches.
Make sure it is someone not planning on taking an extensive trip anywhere or someone that is difficult to communicate with regularly.

5. What are some good topics?
Remember it needs to be someone that has something to say about the impact of that historical event
Remember, you are NOT simply writing a biography or telling a story. Rather, you are explaining how living through that event impacted your person.
Think about historical events that have impacted your person: the Cultural Revolution, WWII, the Korean or Vietnam Wars, protest movements, Title IX, Desert Storm, September 11, the War in Iraq, conflicts elsewhere in the world.

6. Important to Remember
If you choose to write about an event that impacted your person, there needs to be significant impact.
For example, the death of John Lennon would not be a good topic unless your person was a close friend or relative.
If your person was at Kent State when the National Guard opened fire on protesting students, that would be a good topic.

7. Also Important to Consider
Choose only one historical event even if your person was alive during several important events.
Select something that impacted family life, careers, religious beliefs, freedoms, futures.
Ex. Someone going South during the Civil Rights Movement to help register African American voters

8. More Personal Topics
Many other kinds of events shape people’s lives as well. Do you know anyone who
Immigrated to the United States?
Adopted a child?
Divorced someone?
Changed careers?
Started a business?
Had a child as a teenager?
Lived abroad?
Blended two families into one?

9. Be Careful!
Some topics are too personal or too difficult for people to talk about.
Choose something that happened enough years earlier that the person has experienced closure and some distance (death of a loved one or divorce, especially)

10. Most Important
Choose a person who likes to tell stories about the event
Go beyond the basic who, what, where, when, why, how
Think about memoirs—they include emotion and opinion, not just facts

11. Topic Assignment
In groups brainstorm topics using the alphabet as your guide A-Z.
Be creative. Maybe a topic won’t work for you, but it may work for another student.
This A-Z list is due Wednesday 

12. Topic Ideas Historical Analysis Topic Ideas
Adoption, accidents, addictions, alcoholism, abortion, alcoholic family, abusive relationship Bulimia, becoming a citizen, bridge collapse (35W), brain aneurism Cultural Revolution, changing careers, culture clash (two cultures united through marriage), civil rights movement, changing religions, children, community service, cold war, car crash Divorce, drafted by military, death in the family, drug use, depression, disease Eating disorders, education

13. Topic Ideas continued
Foster families, foreign exchange program Great Depression, Gulf War, going back to school while having a family, graduate school, gangs, gang violence, gay marriage Having a child later in life, having a child out of wedlock, homeless, handicapped child, heart attack Immigration, illness, infertility Job changing, jail Kent State, Korean War

14. Topic Ideas Continued
Living abroad, losing a job, losing a parent Miscarriage, missionary work, mission trip Nine/11, near death experience Obesity Peace Corp, professional sports, paraplegics, protests Quitting a job, quitting smoking

15. Topic Ideas Continued
Refugee camp, rehabilitation, remarriage, reuniting with biological parent Surviving the Holocaust, starting a business, switching high schools, survival situation Teen parents, taking a year off, title IX, travel, twins Uganda Vietnam War, violence, volunteer work WW II, weight loss X Y Z

16. Topic Ideas
From the topics mentioned in class, and the topics you wrote down on your alphabet sheet—
Pick your top 5—write these down in your topic notes.
Narrow these 5 down to your top 3 *Write these 3 down in your packet—think of 3 people you could interview with these 3 topics.
Now, choose two topics that you will brainstorm on.

17. Brainstorming You will create 2 of 3 different brainstorms:
Web
List
Free-write
Once you have completed both brainstorms, write a 1 paragraph reflection as to which one you think you want to do your historical analysis paper on.
Turn in your alphabet list, two brainstorms, and your 1 paragraph reflection by the end of the hour.
This will help you to decide on a topic which will be due on Friday 

18. Step 2: Writing the Research and Interview Questions
Once you have chosen your topic, your next step is to decide the information you need to know. This will come from both primary and secondary sources
A primary source is the person who actually experienced the event.
Examples of primary sources: Interviews, letters, journals, autobiographies, memoirs, videos, personal websites, photo albums
A secondary source is someone else’s interpretation of the person’s experience.
Examples of secondary sources: Articles, biographies, websites created by someone else, documentaries, reference books

19. Five Ws and the H
Keep in mind you will be conducting both primary and secondary research as you work on this project. Before finding sources, however, you need to determine WHAT you need to research. This involves creating both primary and secondary questions. Keep in mind that all questions must begin with the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, why) and the H (how).

20. Keep the Questions Separate!
The primary questions are ones you will ask in interviews and will pertain to the narrative aspect of your paper.
Just like in fiction, nonfiction includes setting, characters, conflicts, resolution.
Make sure your interview questions help you piece together the story of the event or decision (i.e. Where did this happen? When did it happen? Who was involved? How did you feel?).
YOUR RESEARCH PAPER MUST CONTAIN AT LEAST THREE INTERVIEWS (2 primary source; 1 other interview person)

21. What are Research Questions?
Answers to secondary research questions will come from secondary sources.
Perhaps there are some terms you don’t know, historical details, procedures, rules, laws, statistics, or geographical information.
Secondary research questions will help you determine what you need to research.
Keep in mind that some answers from your interviews may lead to some good secondary research questions, and some secondary research will help you with primary questions.
You will most likely have to conduct both follow-up interviews and follow-up research.

22. Constructing Good Questions
Think about the answers you want. Do you want one-word answers?
No? Then don’t start a question with a verb!
Poor question: Did you lose your job?
Better question: What were some financial impacts during the Great Depression?
Poor question: Did you feel nauseous?
Better question: What were physical effects of the chemotherapy?

23. Organizing the Interview
Start with basic questions (who, what, where, when)
Have the tougher questions in the middle (Why did you decide to… or How did you feel when…)
Ask brief questions
Don’t let silence fluster you. Give them time to think
Don’t interrupt a good story because you have a question
If your narrator strays, try to pull her back as quickly as possible
End with easier questions and a thank you

24. Interview continued
Have as much background as possible going into interview
Be considerate; arrange for privacy, don’t interrupt or annoy
Get quotes that are interesting and important
Be interested and empathetic in what is being said
Be polite and appropriate

25. Interview continued
Ask precise questions as interview continues; these are the ones that ask for specific memories
Listen and be non-judgmental
Be sure to get clarification on important points and things you don’t understand
Give them a chance to tell their story or their side of the story, to inform others, influence quotes
Don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat or clarify
Finish by saying is there anything you could like to add or is there anything you think I would need to know

26. Keep in mind
The interview may head in a direction you hadn’t planned, so some of your questions may not work.
Listen carefully to answers, and ask clarifying questions (What did you mean when you said… or Why was that important)
Try to record oral interviews if you can.
If you are doing interviews via , ask for answers at least four days before you need them and send reminder s. Get your parents involved if you need help.
Interview information goes on the note cards.

27. Step 3: Creating the Preliminary Thesis and Outline
The preliminary thesis is basically a hypothesis: an educated guess of what you hope to prove.
Keep in mind that this may change a number of times as you conduct your research.
You will finalize the preliminary thesis and outline as you begin to write the first draft.
A thesis should include the person’s name and event/decision.
The outline consists of three consequences of this event/decision.

28. Example of a Preliminary Thesis and Outline
Thesis: Serving in the Navy during World War II changed Bob Conant’s life.
Outline (points or proofs):
He became more responsible
He became more independent
He became more appreciative of the U.S.

29. Another Example
This version combines the preliminary thesis and outline:
While immigrating to the United States was difficult for Andreas Johannson, it taught him the importance of education and family.
Notice the three points:
Immigrating was difficult.
Immigrating taught him the importance of education Immigrating taught him the importance of family.

30. Caution!
You are not writing about anything that does not support your three points in the outline.
Try to come up with your points as you write your interview questions, or you will have to do more research and interviewing than you think.
This is NOT a biography project.
You are NOT simply telling a story.
You are SHOWING how an event or experience impacted your person.

31. Writing Secondary Research Questions
Must conduct interview to truly guide your secondary research questions
Do not research aspects of the topic that do not pertain to your person’s experience- even if it is interesting

32. Writing Secondary Research Questions continued
When did the event or phenomenon that you’re researching occur, long ago or recently? Does the research about this event need to be recent or contemporary to the event? (with topics such as diseases, addictions, etc…what new things have been studied or discovered about it)
Why is this issue/event important?
Why/how do people develop the disease/addiction?

33. Writing Secondary Research Questions continued
Where did the event/phenomenon that you’re researching take place?
What years/ What years did important findings about treatment/symptoms, etc occur?
How did the event start? What led up to this historical event?
How have people reacted since then?
How has treatment changed?

34. Writing Secondary Research Questions continued
What have been the after affects of this event?
How did it change/influence a country or our world?
How did it change people’s lives?
Ask the 5 W’s and H concerning the topic (who, what, when, where, why and how)
Find/research others’ experiences about your topic. Is your person’s experience/response to this event common?

35. Writing Secondary Research Questions continued
What are common after effects/side effects /results to_____?
How does/did _______ start?
What is the process for ______?
What are typical options for ______?
How does one typically find him/herself in this situation?
How long does ______ last/affect a person, etc?

36. Step 4: Conducting the Secondary Research
Once you’ve begun thinking about what you need to research, you need to find sources. The library and the Internet are two good places to start your search. There are five questions you should consider before using a resource:
Question 1: Is the information current?
Reason: Some sources can be out of date, both books and online sources.
Question 2: Is the information complete?
Reason: Try to see all sides of an issue.

37. Step 4: Conducting the Secondary Research
Question 3: Is the information accurate?
Reason: Check your source--it should be a reliable one (no Wikipedia).
Question 4: Is the source an expert?
Reason: Avoid most sources ending in .com--use .edu, .gov or DATA BASES.
Question 5: Is your source biased?
Reason: Some sources "spin" or slant facts. Who or what is your source?

38. More about Sources
Which types of information packages would be good for your topic?
--Personal sources, books, reference works, periodicals. AV resources, government publications, business publications, electronic media
Which information places would be good for your topic?
--Libraries, computer resources, mass media, learning sites (museums), workplace
Which reference works would be good for your topic?
--Encyclopedias, handbooks, yearbooks, almanacs, atlases, yearbooks
Besides Google, what are some other good search engines for your topic?
--Look at the databases in the library and answer this question.

39. Conducting Research
Use “+” in your search tells many of the search engines that your results must contain a word or phrase. The “-” tells the search engine that your results must not contain a word or phrase
Use quotation marks to search for phrases. Quotation marks tell most search engines that the words you specify must appear consecutively, such as “used cars”

40. Conducting Research Avoid common terms such as a, an, if, of, the
Look at end of articles for “descriptors” as other search terms
GOOD EXAMPLES
World War I- too common
“Effects” + “posttraumatic stress disorder” + “Vietnam”
“ World War I( )” + “Campaigns” + “Normandy”

41. Finding Good Sources
Determine the site’s purpose: Is it to inform? To present opinions? To report research? Or to sell a product?
Identify the site’s author: Are qualifications, experience, and/or institutional affiliation given? Determine who supports the site.
.org, .edu may provide a different viewpoint on the information presented than a sit labeled .com will
May use cites ending in .gov, .org, and .edu

42. Finding Good Sources
Consider the site’s authority: Does the website contain documented facts or personal opinions? Are the sources of information cited? Does the site look as if it’s been created by a professional (no typos, spelling errors or messiness)?
Check the site’s timeliness: Is the content up to date? Is the date of creation or most recent revision clearly shown?
Consider the site’s content: What aspects of your topic does the site not cover? Can you use this cite to support a position you plan to take in your paper?

43. Research Terms
Bias: an inclination/tendency to a certain perspective; prejudice concerning an issue (conservative or liberal)
Opinion: A belief or idea held with confidence but not proven by direct knowledge or proof (theory)
Fact: information that can be proven real or accurate with other verifiable information
Source: one that supplies information

44. Research Terms
Credibility: Deserves confidence; the quality of being believable
Reliability: dependability (studies)
Evidence: data on which a conclusion or judgment may be based; furnishes proof or supporting details

45. Research Terms
Author’s intent/authorial intent: an individual’s purpose for a piece of writing or communication
- inform, persuade, educate
∙ Copy right: sole legal right to reproduce material
∙ Works Consulted: MLA formatted list of all sources concerned or examined in the process of research

46. Research Terms
Works Cited: MLA format list of sources that you actually mention/cite from in your research paper

47. Step 5: Taking Notes
For this project you will be writing bibliography and note cards. This is a sample bibliography card:

48. Note Cards
This is a sample note card:

49. Secondary Resource Card
Thesis point- living with phobias Source #
Dr. Smith, Medical Association:
“If the person were to be exposed to the non-dangerous stimulus time after time without any harm being experienced, the phobic response would gradually extinguish itself. Thus, life would eventually return to normal for that person” (“Treating Phobias”).

50. Suggestions for Taking Notes
Keep notes on cards of the same size and style.
Include the thesis point in the upper-left corner and the source number in the upper-right one.
Place quotation marks around anything word for word and include citation for quotes from secondary resources
Use an ellipsis (…) if you leave anything out
Look up unfamiliar words.
Write only on the front side of a card.

51. Suggestions for Taking Notes
Put only one main idea/quotation on each card.
Use abbreviations and phrases when possible
Leave space at the bottom of each card for notes on how and where you might use the information in your paper
Be selective
Don’t look at the passage while paraphrasing so you don’t accidently plagiarize
Read entire source first- don’t just start taking notes

52. Suggestions for Taking Notes
Don’t photocopy to substitute for taking notes
Don’t write notes on a sheet of paper

53. Taking Notes
SUMMARIZE: make note of a few important points in your own words
PARAPHRASE: Restate what you have read, in your words
QUOTE DIRECTLY: Use the exact words from the source (put in quotation marks and source or else it is plagariasm)

54. Quoting: Important quotes only
The quote is a true expression of what your person is saying
The quote is not taken out of context and makes sense

55. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else’s words and ideas as your own.
Avoid plagiarism by using quotation marks around any words, phrases, or sentences taken from a source.
Avoid plagiarism by using parenthetical references ( ) after the two ways of sharing information from another source: PARAPHRASES and QUOTES.

56. Plagiarism example:
Original source: “Critical care nurses function in a hierarchy of roles. In this open heart surgery unit, the nurse manager hires and fires the nursing personnel” (Chase 3).
Plagiarism: Critical care nurses have a hierarchy of roles. The nurse manager hires and fires nurses.
Patchwork plagiarism: Chase describes how nurses in a critical care unit function in a hierarchy.
Legitimate paraphrase: In her stud of roles of nurses in a critical care unit, Chase also found a hierarchy that distinguishes the roles of experts (3)

57. When paraphrasing, you should
Skim the material first to get the overall meaning, paying attention to key words.
Write the author’s ideas in your OWN words.
Use quotation marks around any words or phrases you could cut and paste from the original text.
Check your paraphrase against the original source.

58. Questions Regarding Accuracy
Have I kept the author’s ideas clear and true?
Have I cut out enough of the original so that the words are my own?
Could another person understand the author’s main ideas by reading my paraphrase?

59. Accuracy in Quotes
A quote can be a single word or an entire paragraph (but don’t do this in your paper).
Keep the following in mind regarding quotes:
Choose quotes carefully.
Keep them as brief as possible (four typed lines or fewer).
Be accurate with words, spelling, and punctuation.
With partial quotes, use an ellipsis to show omission.

60. Note Card Assignment Read the article and create the following cards:
A source card
A paraphrase
A paraphrase with a partial quote
A quote with an ellipsis
Pretend that is your first source card.
Imagine this to be the thesis: Trying out for American Idol was good for Larry Platt. It brought him fame, it allowed people to know his past, and it will probably increase his finances.

61. Step 6: Finalizing the Thesis and Creating the Outline
Now that you have conducted your research, you need to finalize the thesis. Look at your preliminary thesis on page 6.
Based on your research, can you prove that statement in your paper?
Do the points seem to be in the best order, most likely weakest to strongest?
If either of these answers is no, you need to change your thesis and points.