HIST102W Canada since Confederation

 

The research paper proposal is an opportunity to get feedback on your ideas, sources and structure for your research paper. See the description of the research paper (below) for further guidelines.

 

The paper proposal is a 3 -4 page document (plus bibliography) that includes:

 

1) Your draft thesis (argument) and introduction

 

2) A bullet-point outline of your paper

 

3) what are your main sections?

 

4) what sources will you use for each part? approximately how long will each part be? what are the topic sentences/sub-arguments for each section?

 

5) Problems you expect to encounter (trouble finding sources, too much information, time management) and how you might address them

 

6) An annotated bibliography of at least 8 sources of which at least 6 must be academic (peer-reviewed journal articles, books or book chapters from books published by university presses).

 

The annotation is 2-4 sentences explaining the type of source and what you expect it to contribute to your paper.

 

Questions:

 

1. What does a paper proposal look like? A proposal is an outline of your paper. Your introduction needs to be written out in full, and you will need to address potential challenges in full sentences. The bulk of your proposal will be a bullet point outline with headings (with topic sentences for key sections). Look at the description of the Research Paper for ideas of headings.

 

Title-Introductory paragraph with your thesis (a thesis is an argument, see #4 below for ideas on how to make an argument about a monument) (Key sections of your paper, indicate the length, topic sentence and what will go in them, what sources, IN POINT FORM) For example: Historical Background (title of section, looking at the history of person or event addressed in the monument)

 

-Topic sentence (this is the only part that needs to be a full sentence, this is where you show what this section does and how it connects to your argument) -1.5 pages (ie this is how long this section will be in your full paper)

 

-I will use Brown, Albertson and Dupuis to explain the history of the XXX event

 

-Why is this an important human rights story

 

-What kinds of information you will talk about in this section (in point form) Monument Description: How is this issue represented through a monument? (or What is currently missing? How you propose this issue, topic, event or individual be represented?

 

-topic sentence

 

-length

 

-what questions will you answer? what issues will you address ? (point form)

 

-what sources will you use? How does this monument / proposed monument represent human rights history in Canada? -topic sentence

 

-what questions will you answer? what issues will you address ? (point form)

 

-what sources will you use?

 

Conclusion: What is the key message of your paper? (topic sentence) Are there any next steps you would recommend? (for existing monuments) (point form) Are there any barriers to your proposal (for proposed monuments) (point form) Potential Challenges and How I will address them (2-4 sentences) (for example not enough time, multiple assignments, too many sources, too few sources) Annotated Bibliography in Chicago author-date style, with 2-4 sentences addressing what each sources is about and how you will use it in your paper

 

2. How do I cite? In this class we are using Chicago author-date method. This method DOES NOT HAVE FOOTNOTES. This means you cite authors in text - with last name, year and page in parentheses, for example (Kenyon 2019, 34). I have put resources on how to do this in the syllabus, also pasted below. For your outline you probably won't have quotations, but you might list the authors you will use in particular sections (by listing the author and year of publication).

 

How do I cite a monument ? (You may need to find what is closest to what you have, and adapt, for a missing year you can use 'n.d.' for no date, don't worry about the height of the monument if it is not provided)

 

3. I can't find sources! -check your notes from Ian Fraser's guest lecture -look at the resources on Nexus from the Manitoba Historical Society -do a search in the U of W library catalogue -follow the footnotes/bibliography for sources you find (ie look up the sources they use) -look up sources in Google Scholar https://scholar.google.ca/ (here you can see how many people cited, and you can click through and look at those sources -make an appointment with a librarian -use "ask us anything" (red box at bottom of the library website)

 

4. There is no academic literature on my statue/monument -who is the statue of? Search for literature on that person -there may not be a lot written on the Famous Five Statue, but there is a lot on the Famous Five (same for Chief Peguis, Louis Riel, etc.) -does the statue or monument relate to an issue, topic or event? Look for literature on that issue

 

5. How do I make an argument about a statue? Think of a question about it that interests you -is there something puzzling or unexpected about the statue? -is part of the story missing? (ie only one side of a conflict represented, women's role missing, etc. -is the statue in an unusual place? -was it placed at an unexpected time? The answer to this question is an argument

 

6. How do I get a good mark? -pay close attention to the assignment description/guidelines (and include all the parts) -make sure you make an argument (it is okay if it changed in your final paper) -have enough sources, and enough academic sources, have sources appropriate to your topic -have logical parts to your paper that support your argument -if you want to do really well, go beyond the minimum number of sources, exceed my expectations! (just don't go beyond the word limit!)

 

7. What's an academic source? -peer-reviewed journal articles (you can see below on the U of W library website on the left you can tick a box to indicate peer-reviewed (under Content)) -book published by a university press (it will always be called X University Press) -some books published by other presses may be academic, look at who the author is (are they a university professor?), and what the press publishes (google it). Palgrave MacMillan and Routledge are academic presses. -government reports or policy documents are not typically counted as academic sources but are for the purposes of this class

 

8. Other Good Sources -beyond your minimum of 6 academic sources you can also use good non-academic sources -if your monument is recent you might find news coverage of it, you can use this - it is not an academic source but may be a useful source -laws, the Constitution, human rights treaties are good sources but not academic sources

 

9. What if mine is too long /short? -your cover page does not count towards the length -your bibliography does not count towards the length -generally try to be within 10% of the length described in the syllabus, a little too long or short is okay, much longer or shorter effectively makes it a different type of assignment (part of the challenge is fitting everything in) -generally don't go shorter, this suggests you've run out of things to say! -all assignments are 12 point Time New Roman, double spaced, for this assignment some parts will be bullet points 9 mins ago so it's based on a monument where I live like in Manitoba, Canada. you can choose any monument or anything which represents human rights. For example- "Museum of human rights, the Louis Riel statue" this can be the ideal topics for the proposal