Election of 1864

During this course, you will examine a topic given by, the instructor (Election of 1864) from the American Civil War era. You will communicate this information in an Annotated Bibliography MLA project.

This project will be completed by June 27th. There will be three steps to this project.

1. Source Assignment (Module 2)

2. Thesis Statement (Module 4)

3. Annotated Bibliography (Module 6)

Annotated Bibliography MLA Project

During this course you will examine a topic given by the instructor from the American Civil War era (Election of 1864). You will communicate this information in an Annotated Bibliography MLA project.

Topic Selection

This semester you were given a topic: Election of 1864. The parameters of this selection are as follows. The topic (Election of 1864):

must be wholly within the timeframe of the American Civil War topic given by the instructor.
must display critical thinking, i.e. it must argue a problem or forward an idea
ask yourself how it affected the course of human events
must be approved by the instructor
If you have any questions about your topic and whether or not it is suitable, please consult with your instructor. Remember, annotated bibliography topics are turned in for a grade and must display a college-level effort.

Research

You will locate and evaluate information on the topic (Election of 1864). You are required to have three sources, one of which must be a print source, a primary source and a secondary source document.

A print source is one that has physically been printed. Examples would include books, journal articles, newspapers, etc. Encyclopedias, the textbook, History Channel, A &E, Bloggs and Wikipedia are not acceptable and if used will warrant a serious reduction of points, which may result in a failing grade.

A primary source is a firsthand account of events. Examples may include: diaries; speeches; newspaper articles (if written during the time of the event); official records, i.e. government documents; and interviews. For more guidance on primary source documents you may want to visit the internet; one good site is http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html. The librarians are also there to help you to find suitable sources, even primary sources, for your paper. Just ask them!

A secondary source is one that interprets and analyzes primary sources. An example of a secondary source would include textbooks (you may not use your textbook in this assignment); magazine articles, histories, criticism, or commentaries.

Then you will process and evaluate the information. After completing this task you should draw your own conclusions about your topic. This will result in a thesis statement which will be the basis for your annotated bibliography.

Writing

Next, you will communicate your findings in an annotated bibliography.

The annotated bibliography should:

be created and submitted in a Microsoft Word format. If you use another format for your paper it may not be accepted, resulting in a grade of zero.
be typed in 12 pt. font, either Times New Roman or Arial.
be in MLA format.
contain a header on the first page and proper page numbers, i.e last name and page number.
be 150 words in length be well-organized and contain a thesis topic.
Papers containing less than 150 word length may receive a failing grade, will not be graded or will receive a grade of zero.
provide sufficient evidence to prove the thesis statement.
have one inch margins. Please check to make sure this is the default on your computer.
be proofread and neat.
Have the thesis statement in bold print
be free from plagiarism
Wikipedia, encyclopedias, History Channel, A &E, Blogs and the class textbook are not to be used as sources

The annotated bibliography will be submitted through a Safe Assign link and will be checked for plagiarism. You only get one submission to the Safe Assign link, so make sure your paper is complete. This Safe Assign link will be provided at a later date to be announced by the instructor.

The completed Annotated Bibliography due date will be June 27th at 11:59 p.m.. Papers will be submitted via Blackboard. You will log on, click on the radio button on the homepage marked “Lessons” and then submit by clicking the link marked “view/submit.” Note late assignments will not be accepted, but early submissions are invited. This portion is worth 15% (Written Assignment/Historical Analysis Project) of your overall grade.

A warning: Every semester a student is failed for plagiarism in my classes. When you submit your Annotated Bibliography via Safe Assign, it checks every known source for plagiarism. Please submit your assignment early and check your Safe Assign report. Then, if you have mistakenly copied portions of your paper, you will have time to correct it. Late submissions are not accepted under any circumstances, so this is only an option if you submit early.