Manifest Destiny and Early Expansion 1830–1880
Week 1: Why did the West become attractive to different groups of people?
August 6: What were the main features of Western society by 1880?
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August 7-8: What were the main ideas of Manifest destiny and how were they portrayed?
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August 9-10: What impact did the availability of natural resources have on westward expansion?
Investigate
What it was? Geographic location that it affected most? Who was positively affected? Who was negatively affected? What affects id it have on the environment and what affects did the environment have on the success of it? |
Background information: The Grapes of Wrath makes a lot more sense if you understand the dust bowl of the depression. The fighting in Iraq makes more sense if you understand that it wasn’t until after World War I that it became one country under the British. Knowing the context of your topic can help you understand that material better and write about it more clearly.
Links: At the bottom of every article is a list of external links. These sites are often articles or respected authorities that you CAN cite. For example you could use a few liens from the Woody Guthrie song Tom Joad about his experience of seeing the film Grapes of Wrath in a paper on the topic. There are also good links in the Notes section (which are the references for factual statements made in the article). Keywords: Sometimes coming up with the right keywords for a library or google search is the hardest part of a research project. The Wikipedia page can give you a ton of clues about what word combinations will get you the best results. For example “drought” gets a lot more irrelevant hits than “dust bowl”. References: Also at the bottom of each article is a list of books and articles that were used to put this article together. Those are things you can read and later cite. A librarian can help you get a copy if you can’t find them yourself. |
Week 2: To what extent did people overcome the challenges of traveling west?
August 13: How did the convergence of different people affect those native to the land?
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What a little extra knowledge! Here you go.
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August 14-15: Which routes were used to travel west? Why did the Mormons settle in Utah?
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August 16-17: How did people organize themselves to travel west?
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Watch The Donner Party by American Experience
1. Why were the group’s members moving west? 2. Why did they go all the way to California? 3. Who moved west? 4. What did it take to make the move west? 5. How did they decide which way to go? 6. How were wagon parties organized?
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Week 3: How successful were attempts to build a new society in the West?
August 20: What were the obstacles and problems faced by those who traveled west?
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Think about the challenges and obstacles for those already living in the West. Write an interesting and original argument that is a one to two page response to the following article for extra credit.
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August 21-22: How was law and order maintained?
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August 23-24: how was government themselves to travel west?
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Week 4: To what extent did life in the West change?
August 27: What challenges were faced by those who settled in the West?
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August 28-29: how did new farming techniques change the West?
life_on_the_plains_cartoon.pdf | |
File Size: | 229 kb |
File Type: |
August 30-31: What impact did the railroad have on westward expansion?
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Week 5: Writing a History Paper
September 4-5: Claim
September 6-7: Supporting the Claim with Evidence
Outline and Thesis Due September 7, 2018 at 4:00pm
Week 6: Was the West a story of progress?
September 10: Paper Guidelines
American West Outline and Rubric | |
File Size: | 1018 kb |
File Type: |
TOP TEN REASONS FOR NEGATIVE COMMENTS ON HISTORY PAPERS(Drawn from a survey of the Hamilton College History Department)
10. You engage in cheap, anachronistic moralizing.
9. You are sloppy with the chronology.
8. You quote excessively or improperly.
7. You have written a careless “one-draft wonder.” (See revise and proofread)
6. You are vague or have empty, unsupported generalizations.
5. You write too much in the passive voice.
4. You use inappropriate sources.
3. You use evidence uncritically.
2. You are wordy.
1. You have no clear thesis and little analysis.
10. You engage in cheap, anachronistic moralizing.
9. You are sloppy with the chronology.
8. You quote excessively or improperly.
7. You have written a careless “one-draft wonder.” (See revise and proofread)
6. You are vague or have empty, unsupported generalizations.
5. You write too much in the passive voice.
4. You use inappropriate sources.
3. You use evidence uncritically.
2. You are wordy.
1. You have no clear thesis and little analysis.
September 11-12: Research/First Draft
american_west_organizer.pdf | |
File Size: | 453 kb |
File Type: |
September 13-14: Research and Write
1. Label File as: Lastname_Firstname_West_Class: M1, M2, G1, G2, or G3
2. Paper Format Guide
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The template is very similar to what is required for this paper as well. Major difference is that the content within the paper will be different.
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3. Need a little extra help!
Sentence Starters.pdf | |
File Size: | 78 kb |
File Type: |
4. Use this document not only for a guide on your first research paper, but more importantly as a resource for taking Paper 2 of of the Cambridge American History exam.
tackling_paper_2_0409.pptx | |
File Size: | 135 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
5. Footnotes and Bibliography
The following document is an example research paper done in Chicago Style Citations.
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6. Revising
revising.pdf | |
File Size: | 323 kb |
File Type: |
Final Paper Due September 14, 2018
at 4:00pm
Check to make sure you have:
- Title Page
- Footnotes
- Works Cited Page
- Google Doc is Properly Labeled
Label File as: Lastname_Firstname_West_Class: M1, M2, G1, G2, or G3
e.g.: Smith_John_West_M3
e.g.: Smith_John_West_M3
For the revised copy please change the name to:
Lastname_Firstname_WestRevised_Class: M1, M2, G1, G2, or G3
Week 7-8: was the West a story of progress?
September 17: Group Project
americanwest_posterproject.pdf | |
File Size: | 278 kb |
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September 18-26: Group Project
Final Poster Due September 26, 2018
at 4:00pm
Examples from National History Day contest