HIS 114 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a historical event paper. The final product represents an authentic demonstration of competency because you

will need to seek out historic claims and support them with evidence from primary and secondary resources. The project is divided into three milestones, which

will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in

Modules Two, Four, and Six. The final product will be submitted in Module Eight.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

 Articulate the development of major historical events in American history between 1865 and the present by accurately and clearly explaining their

causes, chronologies, and participants

 Explain the significance of major historical events in American history between 1865 and the present and their relationship to prominent historical

trends

 Incorporate relevant evidence from primary and secondary sources to logically support historical claims about America between 1865 and the present

 Draw conclusions about the significance of major events to time periods in American history between 1865 and the present by interpreting historical

evidence

Prompt

For your final project, you will write a historical event paper that connects an event in American history taking place between 1865 and the present to the larger

historical context of the time period. To begin, you will select a historical event from a provided list on which to focus your paper. A list of topics is provided in

the Final Project Research Kit section of the course. Along with the event, you will be developing a thesis statement on which to focus your paper, and you will

defend that thesis and other historical claims using a provided list of primary and secondary sources.

Your historical event paper will contain an introduction, body paragraphs, a conclusion, and a references page. In your paper, you will describe your selected

event, explain the historical significance of the event to the time period, and support your claims with relevant evidence from at least two of the provided

primary sources and two of the provided secondary sources. You will not need to locate any additional sources.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Introduction: Your introduction paragraph will summarize the main points of your essay and lead into your thesis statement. It must include the

following:

A. Identify your chosen research question. Your research question must center on a specific historical event.

B. Discuss the purpose of the essay in broad terms. Your discussion should include why the research question you chose is worth investigating in

terms of its significance to the larger historical time period.

C. Develop a thesis statement that responds to the research question and includes three components you will defend in your essay.

II. Establish the Context: In this section, you will write multiple paragraphs using information from the course regarding the time period in which your

historical event took place. You will use this section to set the stage for your argument. This section of your essay must include the following:

A. Describe your chosen historical event with clear and accurate information about why it happened, when it happened, and who was involved.

The description must include:

1. Cause(s): What events led to the event you selected?

2. Participants: Who was involved?

3. Chronology: When did this happen?

B. Illustrate the larger historical setting.

1. Identify major trends relevant to your chosen historical event.

2. Explain the significance of the major trends of the time period, connecting the trends to your chosen historical event. In other words,

why were the trends that defined this historical age important, and what is the relationship between those trends and the event?

III. Defend your Argument: Now that you have established the historical context, you will move into a defense of each piece of the argument you made in

your thesis statement. Through several paragraphs in the body of your essay, you will defend your thesis using carefully selected evidence from your

sources. You must include each of the following in this section:

A. Component 1 of Thesis Statement

1. Claim: State your historical claim that supports your thesis statement. For example, the South lost the Civil War because of racial

divisions.

2. Evidence and Defense: Incorporate logical evidence from primary and secondary sources that supports your claims, and explain how the

evidence supports your claims.

B. Component 2 of Thesis Statement

1. Claim: State your historical claim that supports your thesis statement. For example, the South lost the Civil War because of economic

imbalances.

2. Evidence and Defense: Incorporate logical evidence from primary and secondary sources that supports your claims, and explain how the

evidence supports your claims.

C. Component 3 of Thesis Statement

1. Claim: State your historical claim that supports your thesis statement. For example, the South lost the Civil War because of philosophical

discord.

2. Evidence and Defense: Incorporate logical evidence from primary and secondary sources that supports your claims, and explain how the

evidence supports your claims.

IV. Conclusion: In your conclusion, while you cannot introduce new information, you can sum up your essay with a thought-provoking discussion related to

your topic. For example, you might comment on the significance of historical study generally, or make a “call to arms” inviting the reader to take some

sort of action as a result of understanding the new perspective you have presented. No matter your approach, your conclusion must include the

following: Write a clear conclusion where your thesis is restated in different words and the major points of your essay are summarized.

Milestones

Milestone One: Thesis Statement and Event Description

In Module Two, you will submit Milestone One. You will use this milestone to set the stage for your paper and to develop your main argument. In this milestone,

you will describe chronology of the event you have chosen and when the event began; identify and briefly explain the most obvious causes; and list the key

participants involved in the Event Description. You will also draft your Thesis Statement, which will be your one-sentence response to the Research Question

provided and will include three supporting facts that you will use to defend your answer. Remember to use the assignment responses you already drafted in the

Soomo resource. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Larger Historical Context

In Module Four, you will submit Milestone Two. To complete this milestone, you must identify the significance of the major trends of the time period and

explain how those trends relate to or impact your chosen historical event. In summary, you need to determine the trends that defined this historical age, and the

relationship between those trends and the event you are investigating. Note: In the earlier tasks in this module, you discovered the historical trends and

supported them with scholarly sources. In this milestone, you will now combine that information and explain how these surrounding trends impact and relate to

your historical event. You should be using sources from the list of sources provided, which are scholarly and essential to the time period. This milestone will be

graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Defend Your Claims

In Module Six, you will submit Milestone Three. For each claim you have stated thus far in each of your milestones, you will now create the body of your

research paper by incorporating your evidence. In your thesis statement, you should have generated at least three components that either caused or solved your

historical event. Each of those components or, claims, now needs to be supported by the scholarly evidence provided. This milestone will be graded with the

Milestone Three Rubric.

Final Submission: Historical Event Paper

In Module Eight, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should

reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.