United States History HUS 804

Research Paper
Ms. Maher





Guidelines:
Each student will be required to prepare and turn in a formal research paper during second semester. This paper
will be worth one-third of the student's fourth quarter grade. Students should be aware that an incomplete
project (not meeting the requirements for the research paper) will result in an automatic failure of second
semester U.S. History. The research paper will be prepared on an approved topic and thesis statement.

Each student must choose a topic, which falls historically into the period from exploration to the present, which
is directly and significantly related to U.S. History. A narrow enough topic must be picked to allow it to be
completely covered within the assigned length of the paper. Therefore, topics like World War I or World War
I I are not appropriate but the assassination of J ohn F. Kennedy would be appropriate. No strictly
biographical topics, such as Ulysses S. Grant, will be approved.

Once a topic has been selected, a question must be formulated related to the topic and then a thesis generated
based on that question. An example of a question and thesis on the assassination of JFK topic would be:
Question--Who was responsible for the assassination of JFK? Thesis--The Warren Commission covered up
facts indicating the existence of a conspiracy of multiple assassins in the death of President John F. Kennedy. A
paper on this thesis would focus on the conspiracy theories that have been formulated about the Kennedy
assassination.

The research paper will be due May 21
st
whether the student is in school that day or not. It will be accepted
prior to that date but under no circumstances after.

All of the following assignments leading up to the paper's completion are required. Each must be completed and
turned into the instructor before the next assignment in the sequence is completed and handed in. No credit will
be issued for late assignments, but it must be completed for no credit before moving on to the next assignment
in the sequence.

Under no circumstances may two or more of these assignments be turned on the same day. Required
assignments for this paper must be submitted to the teacher in print form and not through e-mail. Students with
IEPs or 504 plans requiring accommodations for this assignment must work out those accommodations in
writing with their U.S. History teacher and case manager before April 6th. The final paper will not be accepted
for grading by the history instructor unless all preliminary assignments have been previously completed.







TIMELINE:
Preliminary topic submitted. March 20th / 21
st
2014
No two alike per class.

Thesis statement, listing of general ideas March 26
th
2014
related to your topic

All bibliography cards and notes due (50 note card min) April 9
th
2014
citations will be verified by notecards

Preliminary outline for paper is due April 24
th
/ 25
th
2014

Completed rough draft due for proofreading. May 7
th
2014
Must Include: citations, work cited page.

Final Research Papers are due. May 21
st
2014
-> Rough Draft & Final Copy
-> Bibliography and note cards. Note cards must be rubber banded together in paper order.

Obtain a pocket folder to place the paper in. The paper should be in the following order:
Title page
Outline (Typed in final form)
Body of paper (Typed, double-spaced, in 12 point Times, 6pg min)
Works Cited page (6 source min.)
Check List

If you want to be able to keep your graded final paper, submit an additional copy of it.

Remember: All due dates are worth points that add up in final paper grade so be sure to complete your work
according to the above schedule!!!!

***** The absolute maximum length for the paper is 8 pages!!!

For those who question how many citations there should be in a paper that will vary from paper to paper. A
good general rule, though, is approximately 3 per page so no student should be turning in a paper with less than
18 citations in the body of his/her paper.

Students should plan to utilize the library computer lab. If a student anticipates needing after school assistance
from his/her teacher, make arrangements with the teacher in advance.

PLAGIARISM:
*Be careful not to plagiarize. Intentionally or unintentionally claiming someone elses work as your own
will earn you a zero on the paper. Plagiarizing applies to all aspects of the Research Paper! You must
always use proper citation and format from the works consulted to the final copy.

*NFAs Academic Integrity Policy applies.





GUIDELINES:

- 6 - 8 pages in length
- Typed, double spaced, Times New Roman, font 12, standard 1in margins
- Must use the Noodlebib for proper citation
- You must use at least six resources
o Include at least one book.
o Include at least one primary source
o No more than two internet sources. (databases like EBSCO or ABC-CLIO are not considered
internet sources)
o No general encyclopedias such as World Book, Britannica etc., unless otherwise indicated
o Ensure your resources are valid and objective (No Wikipedia allowed and refrain from using too
many books by the person you are researching)
o *No in-body citations and works cited page is an automatic failure!
- You will also make a visual aid (picture, poster, PPT) about your topic and briefly present it to the class.
- Must accept the fact that you will work on this independently as we will continue to cover other
information in class.
- Due date! Pay attention to all due dates as listed on the last page. No excuses will be accepted. If
you are absent the day the final paper is due have someone bring it in for you or email it to me as an
attachment using Word software only. If you do not receive confirmation from me that it has been
received, assume it has not. A note from a parent will not suffice as an excuse. No excuses will be
accepted.
- This research paper and all parts is worth 240 points.

























POSSIBLE TOPICS
You are by no way limited to these topics but you must get my approval for any choice that you make.

Foreign and Domestic 1920s - Present

Woodrow Wilson: Effective reformer or deluded idealist?

Economic Policy of the 1920s: Prescription for growth or disaster?

Sacco Vanzetti Trial: How did it portray the tensions of the time period, xenophobia and paranoia?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: A great statesman or shrewd politician?

Harlem Renaissance: What cultural impact did the Harlem Renaissance have on society?

Great Depression: Which event had a greater impact on the Depression, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or the Dust
Bowl?

New Deal: Socialist transformation or salvation of capitalism?

Atomic Bombs: Was the U.S. justified in dropping the atomic bombs?

U2 Incident: Did President Eisenhower make a mistake and ruin the 1960 Paris Summit Conference by ordering U2 spy
plane flights over the Soviet Union?

NATO: Did the Soviet military threat to Western Europe in the late 1940s warrant the creation of NATO or was the
creation of NATO an overreaction by the Truman administration?

Suez Crisis (1950s): Did President Eisenhower handle the Middle East crisis of the Suez Canal correctly when he went
against our NATO allies France and Britain?

J. Edgar Hoover: Did FBI director J. Edgar Hoover abuse the power of his office during the Red Scare to promote his
personal and political agenda?

Rock and Roll: Was the emergence of rock and roll constructive or destructive to American society?

Suburbia: Was the rise of suburbia an American dream or nightmare?

Israel: Has the close alliance between the United States and Israel been helpful to U.S. policies in the Middle East?

Superpower Cold War: Did the superpowers inflame regional conflict in the Middle East during the cold war?

Korean War: Was U.S. military intervention in Korea in 1950 justified?

McCarthyism: Was McCarthyism caused by global events or internal radicalism?

Eisenhower: Was President Dwight D. Eisenhower a cold warrior or peacemaker?

Suez War: Was it wise for the United States to pressure Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw their forces from Egypt
during the Suez War of 1956?

CIA Operations: Did the CIA go too far in its covert operations during the 1950s and 1960s?

Bay of Pigs Fiasco (1961): Did John F. Kennedy betray the CIA-supported Cuban revolutionaries at the Bay of Pigs in?

Kennedy: Was John F. Kennedy committed to international peace?
Cuba Policy: Has U.S. policy toward Fidel Castro in Cuba been prudent and effective?

War on Poverty: Did Lyndon B. Johnsons War on Poverty fail?

Kennedy and Camelot: Has the Kennedy presidency become more myth than reality in our collective memories?

Malcolm X: Was Malcolm X correct about the civil rights movement when he stated, The only solution is complete
separation from the white man?

Nixon and Civil Rights: Did President Nixon thwart the success of the civil rights movement or was the movement self-
destructing?

Civil Rights Movement Methods: Which was more important to the civil rights movement: legal procedures or mass
mobilization?

Violence and the Movement: Given the progress of the civil rights movement, was the violence of the civil rights
movement in the mid- to late-1960s inevitable?

Anti-Communism and the Civil Rights Movement: Did cold-war politics bolster the civil rights movement?

Violence and the Movement: Did the African American violence of the mid- to late-1960s have a positive or negative
effect on the movement?

Cambodian Invasion: Did President Nixon make the correct decision when he ordered U.S. troops to attack enemy bases
in Cambodia in 1970?

The Media and Vietnam: Did the American media unfairly report the Vietnam War to the American public, thus turning
public opinion against the Vietnam War?

Vietnam and Containment: Was the Vietnam War simply an expression of United States containment policy?

Vietnamization: Was President Nixons policy of Vietnamization the best way to end the war?

War Powers Act: Is the War Powers Act constitutionally sound?

Lyndon Johnson: The Vietnam War has popularly been referred to as Johnsons War. Is this a fair assessment of the
war?

Antiwar Movement: Did the anti war movement have a beneficial effect on U.S. policy toward Vietnam?

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Did the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution promote an abuse of presidential power by Lyndon
Johnson and Richard Nixon?

Draft: Was the draft an effective means of raising troops during the Vietnam War?

The Counterculture: Was the counterculture of the 1960s merely an example of teenaged
rebellion or was it more extreme?

Equal Rights Amendment: Was the Equal Rights Amendment doomed to fail from the start?

Roe v. Wade: Was the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision the correct one?

The Womens Movement: Have women truly gained equal rights as a result of the womens movement?
Native Americans: Did the Blood Quantum laws promote an abuse of the United States power over the Native
Americans?
Carter and the Panama Canal: Was the negotiation of the Panama Canal Treaty by President Carter, which gave up
U.S. possession of the Panama Canal in 2000, the correct policy?
Nixon and the Middle East: Was President Nixons massive military assistance to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur
War the correct policy?
Human Rights: Was Jimmy Carters emphasis on human rights a sound basis for foreign policy?
Carter and Afghanistan: Did President Carter respond properly to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan?
Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis: Did President Carter, despite much public criticism, correctly deal with the
American hostage crisis in Iran?
Nixon and China: Was President Nixons opening of relations with the Peoples Republic of China the correct policy or
was it a betrayal of our longtime ally, Taiwan?
Watergate: Was President Nixon justified in refusing to release the tapes of White House conversations until ordered to
do so by the Supreme Court?
Nixon and Kissinger: Were Richard M. Nixons and Henry Kissingers approaches to foreign policy unified?
Watergate: Was President Nixon guilty of an abuse of power during the Watergate scandal?
Afghanistan: Was U.S. opposition to the Soviet-supported government in Afghanistan the right policy?

Afghan Mujahideen: Did American assistance to the Mujahideen forces fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan
following Moscows invasion in 1979 serve American interests within the context of the cold war?

Panama, Noriega, and George H.W. Bush: Was President George H.W. Bushs ordering of a U.S. military invasion of
Panama and the arrest of President Noriega justified?

Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair: Was President Reagan correct in his efforts to secretly trade arms to Iran for
American hostages or did he violate U.S. laws?

George H.W. Bush and the Persian Gulf War: Was President George H.W. Bush correct in ordering war on Iraq in
1991?

Reagan and the Lebanon Crisis: Did President Reagan respond properly to the Lebanon crisis?

Central America: Did the Reagan administration pursue the correct policies in regard to Central America?
Reagan and the Economy: Was the Reagan administration responsible for positive changes in the American economy in
the 1980s?

Collapse of the Soviet Union: Was the collapse of the Soviet Union inevitable?

Power Vacuum: Did the collapse of the Soviet Union cause a dangerous vacuum in world politics?

End of Cold War: Whose leadership most influenced the end of the Cold War: Reagan or Gorbachev?

Nicaragua: Was the Reagan administration policy on Nicaragua successful?

Clinton and Iraq: Did President Clinton correctly deal with Iraqs resistance to U.N. weapons inspections?

Clinton and Haiti: Was the Clinton administration guilty of having an indecisive policy concerning events in Haiti,
especially in regard to the Haitian refugee question?

Clinton and NAFTA: Did President Clinton help the U.S. economically by signing the North American Free Trade
Agreement with Mexico and Canada?

Election of 2000: Was the election of 2000 fairly resolved?

Bush and Iraq: Was George W. Bushs military action in Iraq consistent with his efforts to wage a war on terrorism?

North Korea: Is North Korea currently a threat to world peace?

Iraq: Given the outcome of the Persian Gulf War, was a second Gulf War inevitable?

Afghanistan: Was the U.S. attack on Afghanistan a fully warranted response to the events of September 11th?

American-Iranian Relations: Should the United States attempt to reestablish diplomatic relations with Iran?

11 September: Can the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 be blamed on U.S. foreign policy?

George W. Bush: Did the Bush administrations foreign policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict contributed directly
to heightened tensions in the region?

Iraq War: Did George W. Bush use the theory of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to promote his own political
agenda?

World Peace: What nation currently poses the greatest threat to world peace?

No Child Left Behind: Is the No Child Left Behind Act the correct path to education reform?

Patriot Act: Is the USA Patriot Act unconstitutional?

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ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH PAPER

I. Introduction- Grabs the readers attention, provides background information, and states your thesis.
Your thesis statement is what you are attempting to explain, describe, argue or demonstrate in your
paper. The introduction should be at least one paragraph.
II. Body- Presents explanations, descriptions, and arguments in support of the thesis. This is the bulk of
your paper.
III. Conclusion- Brings closure by summarizing key points, discussing the implications of the points
made and providing a final perspective. Re-state the thesis, but add more details to summarize your
paper. It should be at least one paragraph.
DO NOT WRITE IN FIRST OR SECOND PERSON (ie I, we, me, us, our, you). WRITE ONLY IN
THIRD PERSON (ie. he, she, it, them)


CONTINGENCIES:
There can be many unforeseen tragedies that could happen but few are likely to occur just before your paper is
due. Consider the following:
You have the flu, you run out of ink, your printer stops working, you dont know my email, your parent or
guardian emailed it and it did not go through, your internet went down, our class did not meet due to a
delayed opening. Etc.

NONE OF THESE ARE LEGITIMATE OR ACCEPTABLE EXCUSES!
RESEARCH PAPER CHECK LIST For your use

Excellent Good Unsatisfactory
Minimum Requirements (30 points)
6 - 8 double-spaced typed pages _______ ______ ________
Correctly numbered pages _______ ______ ________
12pt. Font Times New Roman _______ ______ ________
Title page _______ ______ ________
Margins, Double-spaced _______ ______ ________
Neatness/overall appearance _______ ______ ________

Documentation (60 Points)
In-body citations
A. Correctly formatted _______ ______ ________
B. All must be used at least once _______ ______ ________
C. 3 per page _______ ______ ________
Appropriate use of quoted material _______ ______ ________
Appropriate use of paraphrased material _______ ______ ________
Works cited page
A. Correctly formatted _______ ______ ________
B. Min. of 6 sources documented _______ ______ ________

Content (100 Points) See Writing Rubric
Introduction _______ ______ ________
Conclusion _______ ______ ________
Thesis Statement _______ ______ ________
Support of Thesis _______ ______ ________
Evidence of research, thought
and synthesis of ideas _______ ______ ________

Composition (30 points) See Writing Rubric
Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc. _______ ______ ________
Evidence of proofreading _______ ______ ________
Logical organization and
Smooth transition of ideas _______ ______ ________

Presentation (20 points)
Topic slowly and clearly presented _______ ______ ________
Visual Aid _______ ______ ________











TIMELINE:

It is best to work on this paper little by little. Do not save it for the last minute. Below is a section to fill in
the due dates for each portion of the paper. The first four listed will count on points basis. The entire
research paper will be worth 240 points.
TOPIC -> MARCH 20TH / 21
ST
2014
THESIS STATEMENT/GENERAL IDEAS -> MARCH 26
TH
2014
BIBLIOGRAPHY/NOTE CARDS (50 NOTE CARD MIN) -> APRIL 9
TH
2014
PRELIMINARY OUTLINE -> APRIL 24
TH
/ 25
TH
2014
ROUGH DRAFT -> MAY 7
TH
2014
FINAL PAPER -> MAY 21
ST
2014


I have read and understand the guidelines and the timeline. No exceptions will be made.

Print Name: _____________________________
Signature________________________________ Date___________