History 590 Research Paper Guidelines

In place of the Artifact Presentations that undergraduates will give, graduate students will write a research paper on a fairly narrow topic of their choice that is relevant to the history of American consumer culture. The 9 to 12 page paper will be based on primary and secondary sources and informed by the theories and subject matter featured in this course. You may use sources already assigned for this course.

Graduate students must turn in a paper proposal by October 19.

The proposal should:

§ List your research questions. Identify one as the main question and others as sub-questions. If you are at a stage where you can begin crafting a thesis statement, then by all means do so. (Then I can provide you with better and earlier feedback.)

§ List the primary sources you plan to use (be as specific as possible.)

§ List the secondary sources you plan to use. (again, specific is best.)

The final paper is due by November 16. It should have a title, begin with a strong thesis that features your original interpretation of an historical topic/problem, analyze primary sources, reference secondary sources, use clear and correct writing, and practice footnotes/endnotes citation style. The paper should be double-spaced, typed in Times New Roman 12 pt. font, one-inch margins, no extra spaces between paragraphs, with numbered pages. You may use sub-headings in the paper if you like. You do not need a bibliography because all of your source information will be in the footnotes.

How to Use Footnote or Endnote Citation Style (often called Chicago Style)

I ask you to use either footnotes or endnotes because that is the citation style historians use. It is different from citation styles used in most other fields of study. Foot/end notes require you to put a superscript number in the text. The number corresponds either to a footnote that appears at the bottom of the page, or an endnote that appears on a page at the end of your paper that lists all of your notes. All word processing programs will create the foot/end notes for you. In most versions of Microsoft Word, the “Insert” menu features this option (in some versions it’s called “Footnotes;” in others it’s called “References.”) Make sure you choose the option for numerals (1, 2, 3…) not roman numerals or other symbols.

You must include a citation not only for direct quotations but for any information that comes from a source, even if you’ve put it in your own words. (For the purposes of this paper, however, you do not need to cite class lecture or discussion.)

My first tip is to study how some of the secondary sources assigned for this class have used the foot/endnote citation style. These are your best guides. You will notice that these authors do not put a foot/end note after every sentence in which they use a source. In fact, most authors wait until the end of the paragraph to put their superscript number, and then the foot/endnote lists every source used in that paragraph, and the multiple sources are separated by semi-colons. You will also notice that the authors include extra information in many of their foot/end notes. You are welcome to practice this style too. Your notes do not have to only include citations.

 Use the following site to learn how to write foot/end note citations (which are different from the standard bibliographic citations that you are accustomed to using):

http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html

I also recommend the book: Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (any edition), which is in our library and probably sold in our bookstore.

Note that the first time you cite a source, you write a full citation. The second and subsequent times you cite that same source, you use a shortened citation. Please also note the meaning and use of the Latin abbreviation Ibid.

I realize that the standard instructions for citing books and articles is not going to apply to some of your primary sources. You will probably need to invent citation styles that make sense. One rule of thumb is that the citation should allow your reader (me) to be able to locate your source, and that they should remain as standardized as possible. Citations of sources from websites should provide as much information as possible, including the website address of course. Please talk to me about citations you are unsure about.