Overview of the Research Paper Assignment

For our final research and writing assignment we are going to use the tools we have cultivated — our deeper understanding of war and memory, our research skills, our writing — to undertake a short research project.

Your goal: to write an 8 to 12 page research paper that explores an important aspect of war and memory. In particular, I’d like you to look closely at the way a particular conflict was remembered — or forgotten, or distorted, or misplaced, or processed etc. — in the aftermath of war.

I’ll let you work on any conflict in any place. And I’ll give you wide latitude to find an aspect of the memory of war that interests you. In any case, you will need to read and take notes in secondary sources — 2 or 3 articles or chapter or research notes by scholars that provide background and interpretation. And you will need to study a primary source (or body of sources) — a particular “memory” of war that might be a body of poetry, a work of art, a film, a monument, a museum, a memorial, or something else.

Some examples? You could write about “lost cause mythology” in American history textbooks, German stolpersteine as everyday monuments to the horror of the Holocaust, a French film about Hiroshima (Hiroshima mon amour), Goya’s depictions of Napoleon’s army in his Disasters of War, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago Chile, Japanese commemorations of the war dead, a novel about the Iraq War, or something else. I think you get the idea. Come talk to me as you develop your plans for this final paper.

At the end of the day, the goal is not for you to present information, but to share your interpretation, your analysis, and your argument.

We’ll work on this paper in stages over the last six weeks of the course – and turn in short writing assignments to help us break down the large assignment into small pieces.

In any case, this assignment will require you to:

• Do significant research on your topic in important secondary sources and significant primary sources
• Organize your research around a research question – a question that you set out to answer
• Develop – and present – an argument, an answer to your research question, a large idea that you will develop through examples and analysis
• Write a paper that frames this research around themes of war and memory from our course
• Cite and paraphrase your sources appropriately

Oh, I do allow for an alternative assignment. If you have an interesting idea for an alternative approach to questions of war and memory, come talk to me. In the past, I’ve allowed students to do creative work — write and illustrate graphic stories, record podcasts, write short stories — and to write a shorter research paper.

In any case, I need to approve your research paper topic.

Step 1 – Brainstorm Ideas and Get My Approval

Write a few sentences or a paragraph to describe your initial ideas for the research paper. If you have sources that you would like to use, please list them. All that is required is a few sentences, but you are welcome to say more if you have more ideas to discuss.

Step 2 – Develop a Paper Proposal and a Bibliography

The paper proposal is a formal statement of the work that you will do for your research paper. In includes the following: a statement of your topic (in a short paragraph), a research question that guides your work, a description of the work(s) of memory that you are going to examine, and a statement of what you hope to show (significance). Attach a bibliography with important secondary and primary sources in Chicago-style format.

Step 3 – Research, Take Notes, and Brainstorm Ideas for Your Paper

In your course notebook or in a folder on your computer, gather your notes and your ideas. This is not actually a single step, but a process that you will continue from the beginning to the end of your paper. As you do so, keep track of your research with an updated bibliography.

As you are doing research, you’d like to work up an outline that will be a guide for writing your paper. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Indeed, you’ll do best to write something simple that shows the shape of your paper and that you can update as you learn new things.

Step 4 – Draft the Presentation of Your Primary Source (Your Work of Memory)

Write about three pages to present your primary source to your readers and provide your interpretation. Imagine that you are writing for your classmates or to an interested relative. Be sure that you are answering the basic journalistic questions: what is this source? who made it? Where? When? why? And provide an interpretive perspective: what does this source tell us about the memory of war?

The presentation and interpretation of your primary source will be the most important part of your paper. This is where you are the expert presenting your evidence and analysis. But this is just a first draft, a chance to put your ideas down on paper.

What does it mean to provide an interpretive perspective? You might ask: is your source an accurate memory? a just memory? a distorted memory? does it politicize the memory of war? how does it tell the story? does it put emphasis upon the perpetrator? or the victims? is there a message here? what is missing in this story?

Your writing should be formal, but it does not have to be academic or stuffy. Your aim should be to make it clear, direct, engaging. Give your draft a clear organization. Give each paragraph a clear organization.

And cite your examples – paraphrases and quotations – with footnotes or in-text citations that lead to the precise pages you are drawing from.

Include a bibliography, in proper format, of the sources you are using in your paper.

Step 5 – Introduce Your Paper

Write about one or two pages to introduce your paper.

Typically, your introduction will: draw in the reader, lay out the research question you are going to explore, introduce your secondary sources (what do they say about the topic?), introduce your primary source (how will it help you answer your research question?), lay out your central argument. You may find you can draw upon your paper proposal.

How to organize your introduction? You might simply write two paragraphs. The first would draw in the reader and state the question that you are researching, the second might explain how you are approaching the topic (through what sources) and lay out your argument.

Alternatively, you might write three paragraphs: 1) draw in reader and state research question, 2) explain the sources you are using, and 3) lay out your argument.

Or you might write four paragraphs: 1) draw in reader and state research question, 2) explain the arguments of a secondary source, 3) present your primary sources, and 4) lay out your argument.

Assume that your introduction will be followed by the section of background, then the treatment of your primary source, and then a conclusion.

Your writing should be formal, but it does not have to be academic or stuffy. Your aim should be to make it clear, direct, engaging. Give your draft a clear organization. Give each paragraph a clear organization.

And cite your examples – paraphrases and quotations – with footnotes or in-text citations that lead to the precise pages you are drawing from.

Include a bibliography, in Chicago or MLA format, of the sources you are using in your paper.

Step 6 – Finish Your Draft

Complete the draft of your paper, following your outline.

Step 7 – Revise and Polish Your Paper

With the draft of your paper complete, take time to reread. Revise for content and writing. Get help from the Writing Center if you struggle with small things. Try out your paper on your classmates. Don’t be afraid to make changes to make it better!

Criteria of Evaluation

• Topic. Does your paper explore an important aspect of war and memory, looking closely at the way a particular conflict was remembered — or forgotten, or distorted, etc. — in the aftermath of war?
• Primary Source Research. Does your paper center on a particular “work of memory” or set of “works of memory” and demonstrate a mastery of this source/these sources?
• Secondary Source Research. Does your paper demonstrate significant research in important secondary sources on your topic?
• Thesis. Does your paper present an interesting thesis?
• Evidence and Analysis. Does your paper present relevant evidence and analysis to support your thesis?
• Organization. Is your paper well organized (with a clear sense of movement from beginning to end)?
• Writing. Is your paper well written (on the levels of paragraph, sentence, word)?
• Citations. Do you appropriately cite the sources of your ideas, examples, and quotations?
• Grammar and Small Errors. Is your paper free of errors of grammar or spelling?
• Format. Is your paper formatted correctly?
• Response to Feedback. Let me add this important one: Have you responded well to feedback?