Term paper basic information

 

You will publish your term paper on Turnitin.com AND submit a "hard copy." Note: do not enclose your paper in a folder or portfolio. DO put it in your Hamilton folder. (See "formatting," below.)


Option One: ALEXANDER HAMILTON: Write up your Alexander Hamilton presentation in a story or essay format. You MUST incorporate  information that you got from the Journal Article you found already, or get another article whose information you CAN use. (See JStor) (See "Journals" link)

 
 REMEMBER: You are writing a historical fiction,  which is a story based on real people and real events.

In other words, the people are real, and they must have "real" connections to Hamilton. They actually must  have resided in Philadelphia, for example, if you want to say that they did! 

The clues have been provided to help you make the connections between Hamilton and your suspects. In that sense, they are "real" ties to HISTORY, and historical fact. YOU get to speculate about them, but you can't just make stuff up. (The whiskey jug didn't turn up because the murderers decided to get drunk, for example. A Banknote didn't "just fall out of someone's pocket.")

Think in terms of symbolism, if that will help.  Did the killer or killers leave items behind as "marks"?  The items found in the trash -- why were they in the trash?

 

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Here's a fabulous resource for you:

  JStor: available with your SFPL card. From the linked page, click "JStor" and log in with your library card number.

See "Journals" page for a list of relevant Journal titles to choose from.
 

 

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How and When to use Citations:

As a general rule, whenever you use information in your paper that you got from another source, you MUST CITE your source!  (Exception - do not cite textbooks or encyclopedias.)

 

You may cite web sites (.edu or .gov -- all others: check with me for approval), but NOT Wikipedia or other online encyclopedias. As a general rule, the information in a textbook is of the "everyone knows" sort. The problem with encyclopedias is that there is no clear trail back to an original source document. Use your biographies or JStor articles, or go to a reliable biography site.

 

 

The BEST GUIDE is over on another page -- click here! There are tons of examples available over on this page, including how to cite from obscure sources.


FORMATTING--> You must CITE the sources of your  information. (Citation guide for footnoting) The citations appear at the bottom of the page as footnotes.

 

SAMPLE PAPER: Your word processor is very good at formatting these. I have included an old research paper of mine in which the citations appeared as endnotes, but the principle is the same. (sample paper)  The paper is provided as an example of what and how to make citations. Note that this paper includes the proper FORM for footnotes (Ibid., for example) and a bibliography sample. (There were some errors which are noted in pencil.....)

 

All works footnoted must be in the Bibliography. The bibliography must NOT contain works that you didn't footnote in the paper, unless you put them in a separate section titled "Works also read..."

 

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General Term Paper Formatting requirements:

Your term paper must have a Cover Sheet with the TITLE centered about 1/3 down the page, and in the lower right-hand corner, (use several lines) Your Name, APUSH [section], Date, and your professor's name (J. Miner).   (Sample pages)


The first page of the term paper is NOT numbered, but all the other pages should be numbered. The First Page: About 1½" from the top, print the TITLE of the paper. Then just start with the first paragraph. Your name is NOT included on this page -- that's why you have a cover sheet.  For ALL pages: Double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 pt. or Arial 10 pt. type; 1.5" margin left, 1" margin right (maximums), 1" top, .75" bottom.  (Note that the Bibliography page has its own special formatting! -- use "hanging indent.")

 

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