Final Projects

Every student is required to write a research paper on a topic related to Mexican history. Normally the final project will be a research paper on a topic such as Benito Juárez' liberal ideology or the participation of women in the Mexican Revolution, but I also allow a variety of creative alternatives for this assignment such as writing a short story, creating a teaching unit, designing a web page, etc. These alternative projects must be approved in advance by me, and the specific requirements for these must be worked out individually with me. Use this as an opportunity to investigate in depth something which interests you.

This project will be developed in a series of stages. You MUST meet every one of these deadlines. Failure to do so will result in no credit for the entire assignment.

Monday, Febuary 9: Library exercise due (worth 15% of the grade for the project). Although it is not required, I suggest you use this assignment as an opportunity to explore issues which you may find interesting to develop in the research paper.

Friday, February 27: Project proposal (also worth 15% of the grade for the project). This should include a paragraph describing your project, the questions you seek to address with the project, a hypothesis of what you expect to find (the thesis statement of your research paper), and a preliminary bibliography of sources that you plan to use. If you have changed your project topic from what you indicated on the library exercise, please indicate why you have done so.

Monday, April 13: First (rough) draft of the project. I expect this draft to have the form and elements of a formal research paper as listed below. The more complete of a draft you give me, the better feedback I can give you and the more likely it will be that you will receive a good grade on the final draft.

Friday, May 1: Final project due. No late papers will be accepted. When handing in your final draft, please include the copy of the first draft which I corrected. I will return all of this to you at the time of the final exam.

The format of the papers should follow either the MLA or Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. Be sure to consult this guide for The Writing of a Historical Essay or Research Paper for additional requirements for the format of the paper. All final projects must meet the following criteria:

• a bibliography with a minimum of six scholarly sources (books and journal articles)
• typed and double-spaced
• include proper and complete citations
• ten to fifteen pages long

Final projects which do not take the form of a research paper must include an annotated bibliography which describes the sources you used for the project. These projects are intended to be oriented towards your personal interests, so we will work out specific additional requirements for your individual project. The more closely you work with me on your project, the more likely it is that you will receive a good grade.

All projects are due on the last day of class (Friday, May 1) and are worth 30% of your course grade.