“solve” a historical mystery.

In short, you are going to play the part
of a “historical sleuth.” First, you will select a historical mystery or controversy that you find interesting or
intriguing that dates from on or before 1980. Second, you will conduct an investigation into this mystery or
controversy until you have solved the mystery. You will then write a paper (called by historians a “historical
research paper”) that explains in detail your solution to the mystery.
The final draft of the historical research paper must be between ten to twelve (10 – 12) pages in length, and it
must resolve a specific historically relevant mystery or controversy. This assignment is worth a maximum of
200 points, or 17%, of your overall final grade in the course. Further, this paper must be your original work and
relevant to the topic of historical research. Recycled papers from other classes or papers with a topic not
relevant to the subject of historical research will automatically receive a zero (0) for the assignment grade.
This paper presents an opportunity for you to research a historical mystery, controversy, or phenomenon of
particular interest to you. Equally, if not more importantly, it is presents you an opportunity to develop your
formal writing skills. For students planning to attend a four – year institution or graduate school, conducting
research and strong formal writing are skills invaluable to a successful academic career. For all other students,
this assignment provides you the opportunity to hone your formal writing skills – abilities needed in every walk
of life regardless of your future profession or career.
After choosing a research topic, you must conduct research to uncover the solution to your historical mystery or
controversy. This research must gather facts drawn from scholarly and historically relevant primary and
secondary sources. In the process, you will familiarize yourself with the challenges involved in historical
research. Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will have: developed a deeper understanding of a
historically relevant topic, honed your formal writing abilities, and discovered how to conduct to historical
research using both primary and secondary sources.
While conducting the research necessary to successfully complete your project, please consult primary sources
whenever possible. The assignment allows you to use secondary sources, but you must also employ AT LEAST
ONE primary source relevant to your research thesis. This requirement exists because the analysis of primary
sources is the essence of historical research and interpretation and is, therefore, a vital skill to develop during
your academic endeavors. In fact, if you fail to use at least one primary source in your investigation, you
will receive an automatic zero for this assignment. Consequently, it is very important for you to understand
exactly what constitutes (as well as what does not constitute) a primary source. I have provided much assistance
to this issue later in this document as well as in other documents found on the course D2L website in the
“Historical Research Paper Documents” section.
Additionally, you must use AT LEAST five (5) historically relevant, scholarly sources in this paper. Moreover,
you are limited to ONLY one internet web source, regardless of how may other sources you use in excess of the
stipulated five. However, note some sources, such as magazine articles or e-books, are available online but I do
NOT consider these as “web sources” because that information exists elsewhere, not solely on the internet. If
you have any questions on whether a source you are considering is a web source, simply ask me.
In your introduction, you must identify your topic and clearly state your solution to this mystery or controversy.
This clear statement of the mystery’s solution is your thesis. Throughout the remainder of your paper, you will
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use the information you gathered over the course of your research to prove your thesis. Finally, at the end of
your paper, you must summarize your main points in a conclusion which reasserts your original thesis.
In short, I am NOT looking for a book report or a re – worded summary of an already – existing encyclopedia
entry on your topic. Instead, I expect you to produce an ORIGINAL paper that solves the mystery or
controversy based on your personal investigation, research, and analysis.
Your paper must adhere consistently to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). An excellent example of a
historical writing manual is Mary Lynn Rampolla’s A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 7th Edition,
copyright 2012, ISBN-13: 978-0-312-61041-8. This manual, along with these instructions, provides all the
information you will need to properly complete this assignment and is one of the required texts for this course.
Also, your paper must include a separate title page, employ properly formatted Chicago Manual of Style
endnotes, and include a properly formatted Chicago Manual of Style Works Cited page. Failure to do so will
result in an automatic zero (0) for the assignment.
Employing citations provide your reader with leads for further investigation and, even more importantly, give
the proper credit to the individuals whose work you used in the creation of your paper. The failure to cite your
sources in this manner constitutes plagiarism, a serious violation of academic ethics, and opens you up to
investigation for violations to the Student Honor Code of Conduct.
Write to the Correct Audience
For the purposes of this assignment, you will write your research paper to an audience of experts in the
field/topic you have chosen to research. Since, in theory, the people reading your paper are experts, you DO
NOT NEED much summary information or background in your paper. Writers provide summary/back ground
to bring a reader up to speed about the subject at hand. However, since you are writing to experts on your topic,
your readers are already up to speed. Consequently, you do not need to spend any significant portion of your
paper on review/summary/background information. Instead you should jump directly into the meat of your
thesis as quickly as possible. Therefore, you are to commit no more than one (1) single page of your paper to
summary/background information.
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