Papers should focus on any subject that falls within an American history theme between our class starting period till our ending topic(1840-1920). Choose a topic that you’re interested in: America’s role in the Spanish/American war & How it benefited America as an Empire.
Questions to consider
What topics have you chosen for your research and why? What do you know now about the topic? What do you want to find out? Are you aware of any controversies regarding this topic? If so, what are they, and what is your current stand on the issue? Have you noticed any areas of disagreement among your sources? Did anything surprise you as you gathered information? What has been the most interesting aspect of the material you’ve gathered so far? After reviewing your data or sources, what do you see as the latest problems in the field of your topic? What do you think are the important facts of the matter? What new insight can you contribute? Considering all the previous questions, how would you sum up your current attitude toward your topic in a sentence or two? If you decide to use the answer to the previous question as a working thesis for your paper, what information will you have to give your readers to convince them that your stand is a valid one? What questions of theirs will you have to answer? What one real question will your paper answer? What is your current answer to this question? What information do you have to support this? What information do you still need to gather?
