assignment sheet #9 (history 201)
(for march 13 and 15; week 9)
Monday:
Please remember that we have a presentation in the Main Library by Michael Unsworth to give
you instruction in using the library resources when researching your paper. We will meet at 3:00 in the
Library, on the first floor by the New Faculty Book Collection. Please do not come to our classroom first,
but go directly to the library. I expect everyone to attend the presentation and, thus, will take attendance.
Please see note below under notes & reminders.
Wednesday:
There is no class on Wednesday. Instead, I expect you to use the time in the library for an
assignment that will be due in class on Monday, March 20. You need to compile an annotated
bibliography for at least 3 secondary books on the American Revolution that will help you in choosing a
topic for your research paper. These books should be scholarly books that contain academic apparatus,
such as notes and a bibliography, so that you can look at a list of the sources used by the author. The
instructions for the annotated bibliography are listed below; please follow them carefully. (See the
attached form below.) You will need to turn this assignment in on Monday, March 20. I will check off
that you have completed the assignment and return the sheets to you, for your use. Please see note below
under notes & reminders.
I would recommend that you begin with a general book on the subject of the American
Revolution; I would also suggest that you begin with books that have been recently published (say from
1999 on). Your purpose in beginning with the general overview is to get an idea of various topics
concerning the Revolution, from which you could choose a broad topic to pursue. After you have
examined this general overview, begin to narrow down a list issues, categories, controversies, and/or
questions that you would be interested in researching. Then, you should look for books more closely
focused on the issues/topics that interest you; again, I would recommend that you begin with the books
most recently published on the subject. In terms of identifying an appropriate research topic, you are
starting from a very broad perspective and then continually narrowing it down, until you get to a specific
research thesis (argument) or question. Thus, one example of a broad topic would be: public opinion
during the American Revolution. From there, target a perspective (namely, British, American, Loyalist or
other); next, target a social group (namely, men or women; elite or working class; merchants or artisans;
urban or rural); next, you could beginning narrowing by locale (London, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania),
obviously your locale needs to be based upon (or match) your perspective; now you want to look at
controveries, debates, questions within this framework.
I realize that this assignment will take time to complete, which is why you are being given class
time to prepare it. Therefore, I expect you to devote the necessary time required to do a good job on this
assignment. We will use class time on Monday to discuss the books that you looked at and the potential
topics you have identified. This discussion should give you additional ideas for research (by hearing
topics raised by others in the class) and help you think about ways to both identify and narrow appropriate
topics. To get the full benefit of this assignment, you need to have fully completed it by class time.
notes & reminders:
You will have a number of assignments, workshops, presentations, appointments, etc., over the
coming weeks, designed to help you prepare your research paper. I expect you to attend all of these
sessions and complete all of the assignments. For this reason, I will notate attendance, completion of
exercises, etc. This information will be calculated into the final score on your research paper. Thus, if
you fail to attend sessions or complete assignments, it will hurt the final grade on your paper. My policy
regarding these assignments will be straight-forward and consistent. First, you must have the assignment
completed and with you in class on the day that it is due. Also, in order to be able to turn in the
assignment, you must be present in class on the day that it is due and discussed. There will be no
exceptions to this policy.
Next, as a wake-up call to those of you who have, thus far, taken a passive and lacksidaisical
approach to the class, it is time for you to start becoming more proactive, both in terms of attendance and
constructive participation. Constructive participation does not mean carrying on private conversations
during class (re-read the syllabus and go somewhere else for those), nor does it entail speaking on
unrelated topics.
See the attached form below, which you need to complete for each book in your annotated bibliography.
Instructions for the Annotated Bibliography
Provide the following information for each one of your books. You should complete a separate form
for each book. Remember that you need to look at a minimum of three books for this assignment.

author:

title:

publication information: city of publication, publisher, year of publication:

number of pages:

apparatus: here list the types of features included in the book, for example: notes, bibliography,
index, map, illustrations, etc. Different books will included different features; thus, you need to
tell me what type of apparatus that book contains.

the information listed above should be presented as such:
o Eliga Gould, The Persistance of Empire: British Political Culture in the Age of the
American Revolution (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press,
2000), 262 pp. Maps, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.

now state the primary thesis of the book

provide examples of primary sources used by the book, for example newspapers, diaries, letters,
Colonial Office records, etc. For this you will need to consult the footnotes and the bibliography.

identify at least 3 topics that you could explore using this particular book. For each topic state
whose perspective you could explore, in terms of national identification (British or American)
and “group” identification (namely, gender, class and/or race, etc.). See example, above, of ways
to narrow your topic.

list (by author, title, publication date) at least three sources listed in this book that sound as if they
would be helpful in researching at least one of the topics listed above.