Brunswick Dr. VA

Local History Project

You may pick any subject you wish, as long as it is (a) local, having to do with the place where you live and/or go to school and (b) non-biographical, focusing on something other than an individual’s life or story. Obviously, the possibilities are extensive, but I strongly advise you to check out the availability of research material for your topic idea before you pin you expectations on it. It would be wise to do this checking in the next few days, if possible. The Greenwich Library, Greenwich Historical Society, and other local libraries are loaded with resources that might be at your disposal. Go and poke around. In addition, the Brunswick and Greenwich Academy libraries should prove of value, as least for background material, and maybe for primary sources as well.

I want you to use a wide variety of sources, the more the better. Warning: if it looks as if almost all of your material has come from just one or two sources, I might appear that you haven’t done much work. Much of your research will have to be done with primary source materials of some sort. Newspapers, magazines, letters, diaries, government and business records, photographs, interviews--the range of sources open to you, depending on your subject, is considerable. Be imaginative and resourceful in your use of materials at hand. Organize the research around questions that you think would intrigue any reader of your paper.

As you prepare the paper, which should be about FIVE word-processed pages, bear in mind that the best histories are analytical or explanatory in nature, as well as descriptive of the subject in the context of its time. You must, by the way, include proper footnote or endnote citations to show how you used your research.

This time, also, I do require an annotated bibliography, and if your paper does not include one it will be considered incomplete and, therefore, ungradable. To be “annotated,” a bibliography must feature several lines of descriptive commentary on each source (why the source exists, what its purpose was, what it reveals to you as a historian, what it doesn’t reveal, etc.) This is in addition to the usual bibliographical information (author, title, place and date of publication, or location of the material if it is unpublished).

I expect to receive your final drafts no later than the seventh week of the quarter.