The research paper will be a 4 to 5 page paper on a significant EVENT (NOT a person) which occurred in the period from 1607 to 1877. This event might be an election, an invention, a Congressional vote or debate, or a military campaign (as opposed to a single battle). The research paper should, at a minimum, address all the following aspects about the event chosen:

• Factors / other events leading up to the specific date of the event.
• Key Persons whose [non-] involvement contributed to the event.
• Perceived significance, if any, to Americans at the time of the event.

OPTION ONE: Human nature tends to procrastinate. For this reason, the research paper project will have OPTIONAL milestones, which are intended to help you make the needed progress to the submission of a well thought out paper.

The topic of the Research Paper must be approved by the instructor. Excessive duplication of topic events will not be allowed. If the event that you choose has already been chosen by more than one classmate[s], then you must select another event as your topic. For this reason, students are advised to (a) submit their choice of topic early, and (b) have more than one event in mind when proposing the topic for the paper.

The Initial Outline, DUE on September 22, need only show (1)a basic outline structure of the planned paper, (2) the points that will be addressed, and (3) the main point that your paper will illustrate or prove. With effort, a good outline can usually be done in a single page.

OPTION TWO: The “milestone” approach above is intended to help students to make progress towards the submission of a quality research paper, by providing opportunities for instructor feedback. Students who feel they do not need instructor feedback may omit Milestone  (3) above, realizing that 30% of the grade for the course will depend on the quality of their final paper.