The Roaring Twenties
Project Menu
Essential Question:
What was the "Roar"?
What role did the ideals play in the opposing ideas, opinions, and conflicts of the 1920s?
Enduring Understanding: The 1920s were a time of opposites, exemplifying change and reaction against changing.
Objective:
To improve research skills, such as evaluation of sources and use of researched evidence in an
essay, deepen understanding of the 1920s, as well as develop creativity skills.
Assignment: Choose one of the following topics about the 1920s that interests you. You will then research
your 1920s topic using at least three sources, including one primary source and turn in the
following:
 A 5 paragraph essay OUTLINE
 A proper citation page
Project Menu Options:
1. Prohibition –
a. Essay Prompts
i. To what extent was Prohibition a success?
ii. Explain the causes of Prohibition, its unintended consequences and the eventual result.
Key terms to use in your research and writing: Prohibition, Volstead Act, Speakeasies, Bootlegging, 21st
Amendment
2. Palmer Raids
a. Essay Prompt
i. Can the actions taken by A. Mitchell Palmer against Sacco and Vanzetti be justified?
Key Terms to use in your research and writing: The Red Scare & Anti-Communism: Sacco & Vanzetti
Trial, Radicalism, Communism, Haymarket Square, Palmer Raids, Sedition Laws
3. Sports
a. Essay Prompt
i. To what extent did female athletes of the 1920s change perceptions of women?
ii. Identify 3 ways that sports influenced popular culture in the 1920s.
Key terms to use in your research and writing: Spectator Sports such as Football, Baseball, Swimming,
Sports Stars (Yankees, Babe Ruth, Black Sox
4. Harlem Renaissance
a. Essay Prompt
i. Explain three of the popular themes in 1920s poetry. (using quotes from specific poems as your
evidence)
ii. To what extent did African-Americans gain access to the founding ideals during the 1920s?
Key terms to use in your research and writing: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, The Jazz Age.
Improvisation, Night Clubs, Duke Ellington, The Cotton Club
5. Art from the 1920s
a. Essay Prompts
i. Identify 3 of the objectives of a particular artistic movement in the 1920s.
ii. Compare how society influenced the development of 2 different artistic movements from the
1920s.
Key terms to use in your research and writing: The Lost Generation, The Great Gatsby, Art Deco,
Cubism, Surrealism, Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism
6. Political and Social Tensions
a. Essay prompt
i. Describe the impact of a major political issue of the 1920s on the founding ideals?
ii. Describe the impact of a major social issue of the 1920s on the founding ideals?
Key terms to use in your research and writing:
Political - The Red Scare & Anti-Communism (Sacco & Vanzetti Trial, Radicalism, Communism,
Haymarket Square, Palmer Raids, Sedition Laws) or Women’s rights (League of Women Voters, Equal
Rights Amendment)
Social – Traditionalist vs. Modernist viewpoints (Evolution vs. Creationism, Scopes Trial, Eugenics,
Urban Growth) or Early Civil Rights (ACLU, Marcus Garvey, Back-to-Africa Movement, anti-Semitism,
Anti Defamation League, KKK, Hiram Wesley Evans, Lynching)
7. Technologya. Essay prompt
i. Identify 3 ways that new technology impacted the US economy of the 1920s.
Key terms to use in your research and writing: Print, Radio and Movies: Print Media, Radio Programs,
RCA, Sound Motion Pictures such as The Jazz Singer, Movie Stars, Credit &Installment Buying, New
Transportation with Airplanes & Autos
Important Dates:
Tuesday
Monday
11/19
11/25
Rough Draft due today
Final Draft Due Today
Paper Scoring Guide
Introduction and Thesis
___ Introduction sets place and time
___ Thesis statement answers the prompt
___ Thesis statement states a position.
___Thesis statement includes sub-claims (paragraph topics) that are refined: they do not just list key terms and
they also are more elaborate than just economic, social, political, opportunity, conflict or positive and negative.
___ Uses academic vocabulary, like transition words.
___ Is written clearly.
Advanced= 6 checks
Proficient=5
Basic=4
Below Basic=3
Far Below Basic=0-2
Claims (Topic Sentences of the Body Paragraphs)
___ Describes a topic that is not one of the key terms given on the assignment sheet.
___ Is a clearly written sentence.
___ Does not repeat the exact same words used in the thesis statement.
___ Connects to the thesis sentence.
Advanced= 4 checks
Proficient=3
Basic=2 Below Basic=1
Far Below Basic=0
Evidence
___ At least 6 specific pieces of evidence (dates, events, names) are included in the body paragraphs.
___ Evidence is in your own words
___ Includes information beyond what is in the textbook.
___ Primary source evidence is specifically included (a quote or an explanation of a political cartoon)
___ Uses at least 2 of the suggested key terms or people to support your claim.
___ Includes commentary that connects the evidence back to the claim and/or the thesis statement.
___ Uses in-text source citations for each piece of evidence.
Advanced= 6-7 checks
Proficient=4-5
Basic=3
Below Basic=2
Far Below Basic=0-1
Conclusion and Research Skills
___ Conclusion re-states the main ideas
___ Conclusion states why the information included is historically significant or of interest to the reader.
___ Includes a citation page
___ Citation page has 3 or more sources
___ One of the sources is a primary source
___ Sources are well-chosen and reliable
___ Citations follow MLA format with 2 or fewer mistakes.
___ Paper is submitted to TurnItIn.com
Advanced= 7-8 checks
Proficient=TurnItIn.Com and 5-6 other checks
Basic=TurnItIn.Com and 2-4 other checks
Below Basic= 2 checks but neither is TurnItIn.Com
Far Below Basic= 1 check that is not TurnItIn.Com
Works Cited: List your primary and/or secondary sources (you must have at least 3) using this format to cite
websites. See instructor’s website for additional citation help.
a. Book Citation:
i. Author Last Name(s), Book Name, Publisher, Copyright, Page numbers used.
ii. Example: Rice, Richard B., Bullough, William A., Orsi, Richard A., The Elusive Eden: A New
History of California. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1996 p.477-79.
b. Internet Citation:
i. Author’s name if known, “Title of Article.” Title of Website. Date of website. Organization
name. Date you accessed website. Link to article