Paper Handout AMH 2010 Assignment: Research and write a paper of 750-1,000 words (NOT counting your bibliography)

on the following: If you could meet any American of historical significance in the time period of approximately 1600 to 1876, who would it be and why? Why is this person important to American history? What about this particular persons life and/or accomplishments do you find intriguing? What questions would you want to ask him or her? How do you think he or she would answer your questions? What questions do you think he or she might ask you? How would you answer those questions? What do you think this person would think of our country and world today, and how it has changed since the persons time period? Do not just write me a simple, summary biography of the person instead, integrate his or her biography into answering the above questions. Who you can choose? Anyone you want so long as he or she was significant to American history in our time period. (For example, choices could include but are not limited to political leaders, intellectuals, activists, religious leaders, writers, media figures, artists, inventors, prominent business leaders, etc.) However, I must approve your choice beforehand. Sources: Minimum: 3 sources, Maximum: 5 sources Permissible sources: Trustworthy books and journals/periodicals. The following CANNOT be used as sources for this paper: o Your textbook o Movies or television o Class notes or handouts o Anything from the internet (EXCEPT for back issues of actual printed periodicals that have been archived electronically.) o Reference sources, such as almanacs or encyclopedias (including electronic encyclopedias.) Paper Format: Times New Roman 12 point font, double-spaced, 1 inch margins all around. Indent at the start of each new paragraph. Use italics for book and magazine titles; put article titles in quotes (). How to Cite Your Sources (very important so you dont get in trouble for plagiarism): Any time youre using material that isnt your own, you need to cite a source. If youre directly using the words and phrases of a source, make sure they go inside quote marks. If youre paraphrasing (ie, restating someone elses thoughts in your own words), you dont need quote marks, but you still need to cite a source. IMPORTANT: DO NOT submit your final paper in any format other than either Word/.doc or Rich Text/rtf.

How to Cite Your Sources (contd) Because this is a relatively short paper and you wont be using a large number of sources, you dont have to do footnotes. Simple parenthetical citations are fine. After the section where youre quoting, simply put inside parentheses the authors last name of the source youre referring to, followed by the page number(s) that material came from. If you have two sources by the same author, or even by authors who both have the same last name, just add a comma and an abbreviated version of the title between the authors name and page number. You must have at least one citation from each of your sources. Bibliography Put a bibliography listing all of the sources youve cited in your paper at the end. Sources should be alphabetized by the authors last name. Format: For Books: o Authors Last Name, First Name. Book Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year. o Example: Hazlitt, Henry. Economics in One Lesson. San Francisco: Laissez Faire Books, 1996. For Periodicals (magazines, journals): o Authors Last Name, First Name, Article Title, Publication Title. Volume, Issue # (Month (or season if quarterly), Year): Pages. [<=What page(s) does the article take up in the magazine, not just which pages you cited.] o Example: Chandler, Alfred D, The Beginnings of Big Business in American Industry, The Business History Review, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring, 1959), 1-31. Due Dates:
Please submit all of these from your college email to my college email address, ChristopherKillmer@sjrstate.edu. The first two things you can send me as regular emails, but please submit the paper itself as an attachment (see below.) Send via the regular college email; do NOT use the Blackboard email. 1. Notify me of your selected person by 5 pm Friday 1/31. 2. Submit a preliminary list of at least 3 sources that you intend to use by 5 pm Friday 2/14. (Note: If you find other sources after this date that you want to use, thats fine. I just want to make sure at this point that you have at least a minimal amount of sources to get you started.) 3. Final paper due as an attachment in either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text (.rtf) formats by 5pm Friday 2/28. Lateness Policies: Students will have 1 point per day deducted from their paper grade for each day (starting at 1 minute after the deadline) that items 1 and/or 2 under Due Dates above are late; the final paper will lose 10 points per day that it is late (again, starting at 1 minute after the deadline.)

IMPORTANT: DO NOT submit your final paper in any format other than either Word/.doc or Rich Text/rtf.