AFRICA/AMERICAS
Dr. I. Ibokette
Semester II Seminar Papers:
“The World of New World Africans”
This is our second semester’s set of Seminar Papers. Its overall focus is on “The
World of New World Africans”. You will choose a topic through which you will explore
a specific aspect of the world created by Africans in the Diaspora. Your research and
related activities (presentations and class discussions) on these topics constitute the
essence of the remainder of the school year’s work on this course. I look forward to the
continuation of the rigorous and scholarly exploration of the essentials of the history of
Africa and the New World that you have been doing despite the gravitational pull of
senioritis.
For a continuous successful, stress-free but challenging and rewarding experience,
you will need to be attentive datelines; seek clarifications on those aspects of this project
and its requirements that you do not understand. There will be no re-write
opportunities and I will be firm on due dates. Please do not plan on last-minute
work on any component of this project.
The supplementary text for this phase of the course is Joseph Holloway (ed.),
Africanisms in American Culture (chs 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 & 10).
Topics: These are broad topics from which I expect each student to articulate a more
manageable topic. Also, feel free to come up with any additional topics particularly
those that have trans-continental linkages. These must be both of interest to you and
within the scope of this semester’s overall theme. Bonus points will be awarded for
successful initiatives and creativity in topic selections.
1. The World of African Cubans
2. The World of African Jamaicans
3. The World of African Haitians
4. The World of African Brazilians
5. African American Abolitionists
6. The Strange Career of Jim Crow, 1870s to the 1890s;
7. The Strange Career of Jim Crow, 1900 to the 1920s
9. The Music of New World Africans
10. The Harlem Renaissance
11. The NAACP, 1909 - the 1950s
12. Marcus Garvey
13. W. E. B. DuBois
14. Civil Rights Movements, 1950s to 1970s
15. Islam and New World Africans
16. US-African Relations: From Kennedy to Obama
17. US-African Relations: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s).
18. Contemporary Africa and Global Politics
Schedule:
1. Introduction to Topic (250 words): This will be followed by brief presentations.
2. Paper Overview (ACP – 500 words; Honors - 750 words) 20 pts.
This overview includes
(a) Purpose and central focus or theme: Spell out the main purpose,
central focus or theme of your paper.
(b) An overview of your paper. Give a brief summary of what you know
to be important issues on your topic. This may include time-frame,
background information, context, key characters and main issues.
(c) A bibliography of five to seven key sources (excluding general
references.)
Due: Wednesday, 5/6/15
3. Project Outline (40 pts). This outline includes
(a) a 500 to750-word summary of your paper (a revised and more
articulate version of items ‘a’ and ‘b’ above combined; and includes a
thesis paragraph
(b) a list of the main sections of your paper (similar to a table of content in
a book).
(c) a final bibliography
Due: Friday, 5/15/15
4. Final Project - 80 pts
Due: Friday5/29/15
Length: ACP: approx. 1000 words; Honors: approx. 1500 words
Basic Requirements:
1. Your project must utilize information from a variety of sources. These
include primary and secondary sources. The latter include general
references (course textbooks and encyclopedias), full-length books and
newspaper or magazine articles
2. You must use the footnote format of citation.
3. Your paper should be submitted in a two-pocket file folder and must
include the following items:
a) a cover/title page,
b) the main text (including footnotes) and bibliography
c) all preliminary components of the paper
HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS
1. Taking Notes
Glance through or skim all the material you have gathered. Note the table of contents
in the books, magazines and journals, and the headings and subheadings in the chapters
and articles. Gather information as you go. Make a list of questions or topic headings
relating to your information. For example, if your topic is “Jim Crowism”, what were its
main features? What role did the government play? Identify key Jim Crow laws and their
enforcers. How did African Americans react to these laws?
You are now ready to reread the information, choosing the facts that relate to the
questions or topic headings that you noted when skimming through your materials. Be
sure to take notes only on the information relating to your thesis.
Taking notes is a process of collecting facts, opinions and quotations that support
your thesis statement and main topics. Identify your source, and indicate the question or
topic to which it relates.
Keep in mind the different ways of taking down information on your research
notes:
a) Summarizing: Writing down material from sources in a shortened form
b) Paraphrasing: Retelling information in your own words
c) Quoting: Using the exact wording of the author. Quotations must be exactly as
written in the source material and must be in quotation marks.
Most information is presented in your paper by summarizing or paraphrasing
information from your source material. Quotations are necessary only when the
author’s own words are essential for making a point in your paper.
2. Thesis Paragraph
A research paper should have a beginning, middle and an end. The beginning
introduces your subject and states your ideas about what you want to say about the topic
you have chosen. This is your thesis paragraph. Your thesis paragraph should contain
three categories of information. These categories include the thesis statement or statement
of purpose; key arguments or findings; and the roadmap or layout of your paper.
3. Paper Outline
An outline is a plan for presenting the findings of your library research in a simple
clear form, like making a sketch before doing a painting. It is a way to organize your
information before you begin to write and is composed of the main points in the order in
which you intend to present them. The question or topic headings you have written on
your research notes become the main headings of your outline. The subheadings provide
more details about your main points.
Here is a sample framework of an outline:
1. Thesis Paragraph/s*
- thesis statement: key position/s on an issue
- supporting arguments
- the “roadmap”
*See “Project Outline” #3 above
2. Background: Major point or Topic Sentence
- supporting arguments
- additional information or evidence
3. Origins of a phenomenon: Major point or Topic Sentence
- supporting arguments
- additional information or evidence
4. Etc, etc.
4. Literary Citations and Notations
Giving the source of your information is required whenever you use someone else’s
words, opinions or ideas in your papers. Trying to pass off someone else’s work, ideas,
and viewpoints (even when these are restated or expressed in your own words) as your
own is called plagiarism and is illegal.1 (Please refer to the “Newton North Writing
Handbook” on the school-wide policy on this mater. )
When you decide to quote someone directly in your essays, make sure you copy
down the words exactly and enclose the entire quote in quotation marks. When you write
out your paper, you must include a formal acknowledgment of the source of your quote.
Such literary acknowledgment is usually done through the footnote citation format. A
footnote is a note at the "foot" or end of the page that gives the source of the quotation,
opinion or viewpoint. In other words, the footnote informs your readers of your source of
information. You should keep track of all your sources, and match them with the
information derived therefrom, during the research and note-taking phase of your paper.
This will be very useful when you are ready to start writing your paper.
When to cite your sources:
1. Always cite the source of a direct quotation or when you are copying exact words
from a source material.
2. Cite your source when you rephrase someone else's idea that contains an opinion or a
theory that is not considered common knowledge.
3. Statistical information that is peculiar and not common knowledge requires citation.
Example: In 1975 more baby girls were named Jennifer than any other name.
1
To Plagiarize: “To steal (the language, ideas, or thoughts) from (another, representing them as one’s own
work.” Webster’s Desk Dictionarv (New York: Portland House, 1990) p. 691.
4. Statements that appear to be contrary to popular belief also require citations.
Example: Soft drinks are consumed by more adults at breakfast than is milk.
Do not cite your sources when rephrasing information that is considered common
and general knowledge. Example: Dinosaurs have been extinct for over 70 million
years.
How To Use The Footnote Citation Format:
Number each piece of information that you want to cite by placing a number (using a
superscript font) at the end of the sentence/s or statement/s containing this information.
At the end or "foot" of the page which contains the information cited, write the number
of the citation and provide the bibliographical information of the source of the
information. For example: Paul Johnson, in his book, A Shopkeeper's Millennium, gives
a very powerful account of the religious reawakening in early nineteenth-century
Rochester, New York. He asserts that this phenomenon reached its peak in the early
1830s and embodied the essence of a series of religious “revivals” that historians
christened the Second Great Awakening.2
All citations are numbered consecutively. To re-cite a work that you have
previously cited, you need not give the full bibliographical information again. Instead
write the author’s last name and the new page number/s of the subsequent footnotations.
For more information on footnotes and bibliographies see “Newton North Writing
Handbook”, p.19-21.
Sample Notation Formats
A book by one author:
Max Hasting, Victory in Europe (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1985) 42.
A multi-volume book by more than one author:
George A. Rothrock and Tom B. Jones. Europe: A Brief History. 2 vols. (Lanham, MD:
University Press of America, 1982) 400.
An anonymous book:
The Times Atlas of the World. Rev. ed. (London: Times, 1984) 25.
An article from a magazine:
Clare Boothe, “MacArthur of the Far East,” Life 8 Dec. 1941: 124.
An article from a newspaper:
Associated Press, “Russian Troops Seize Key Point,” The Quincy Herald-Whig 17 Mar.
1942:1.
2
Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millenniurn (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978) 4.
A pamphlet:
Theodore K. Rabb, The Origins of Modern Nations (New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1981) 11.
A Film, filmstrip slide program, or videotape:
City Under Fire: London, sound filmstrip, by Social Studies School Service, 1987 (2
filmstrips, 2 audio cassettes).
A personal interview:
John Smith, Curator of Alien Museums, New York. Personal interview, May 25, 1989.
Internet Source:
John Smith, "My Teenager Years", October 1, 2001. (wwwjohnsmith\etinan.com)
These citations may also be collected at the end of your paper in the form of
endnotes. In the latter, the format remains the same.