Thesis Statement
Research paper requirements: 3-4 double-spaced pages, not including bibliography. Use at least two outside academic sources (books, academic journal articles, etc.) to support the historical context and the argument of your paper. A reliable source is essential as providing strong evidence for your paper. Be sure to cite outside sources appropriately. You may use MLA, APA, or Chicago style. I encourage you to use Chicago style but will not deduct points so long as you use a style consistently. While working on your paper, you should: Pay attention to the feedback that I have provided on your paper proposal and annotated bibliography. Prepare an outline that will help you with organizing your research findings and thoughts as well as setting your paragraphs in a good order. Entitle your paper Include your thesis statement (the sentence shows the overarching idea or argument of your paper) in the conclusion of the introductory paragraph of your paper. Be creative but not repetitive in the concluding paragraph. Secondary Sources How do you select the best secondary sources? Of course, you need to include sources that bear on your topic. The sources that you include should also be trustworthy. There is no hard and fast rule about this, but there are a few general guidelines. Is the author someone you’ve already read and trusted? Is the author well-respected in the field? If it’s a book, is the book published by a university press? If it’s an article, is it published in a widely circulated academic journal? Is the article or book relatively recent? The more “yesses” you have to these questions, the more likely it is that a book will reflect current scholarship. If you’re unsure about a book’s reliability, search one of the library databases. Trace secondary sources through the footnotes of other books and articles. Check bibliographies on your topic (This is easy to do by typing in a very general subject heading and adding “—bibliography”). In addition, here are some suggestions of journals that might yield articles on your topic: American Historical Review; Gastronomica; Food, Culture, and Society; Global Food History. Check our library’s collections Use our library’s search bar: https://www.lib.umn.edu/ Links to an external site. I suggest you use the “advanced search” which you can find by clicking on the little arrow next to the “Go” button on this page. Refine your search with the keywords related to your paper. You can also use our libraries online databases: https://libguides.umn.edu/az.php?a=all&t=30801 Links to an external site. (For example, JSTOR and Hathi Trust Digital Library are amazing platforms offering millions of online books and academic journal articles). On the right sight of this page, you will see “Filter databases by subject,” click on the little arrow and select “History”. In doing so, you will see only history-related databases. Click on any of them related to your paper topic.
