Experiment 16- Spring 20

Due Monday, 2020-05-11 at 10 p.m.

Learning goals and grading criteria. You:

  1. Chose two credible sources, one primary and one secondary.
  2. Used one digital tool or technique we covered in class (hypothes.is, historical statistics, Voyant, a historical GIS map, StoryMaps, creating meta-data, Knight timeline, historical image analysis) to create a thesis about the past.
  3. Wrote two paragraphs of around 150 words each.
  4. Organized your paragraphs around a thesis, which was provable, non-obvious, and limited to a single period.
  5. Used standard usage and grammar in your Experiment.

Background

We have covered a wide temporal range and skill set in this course. Likely you are aware of historical topics and skills that you were not before. Now is your time to demonstrate your competence in one of these skills and periods.

For this final Lab Experiment, you chose the topic and the tool or skill to analyze that topic. The topic should fit inside our time frame (10,000 BCE – 1400 CE for World History 1, 1400 CE – 1914 for World History 2). You can spill over around 25 years in either direction of the date range, but not farther.

Your Experiment is to use your sources and tools/skills to argue for why a particular person, event, idea, or object was historically significant within 60 years (three generations) of it occurring.

In your topic, you will chose a credible primary source and a secondary source. As this is your last assignment, it is vital that these two sources demonstrate your ability to find high-quality credible sources. For example, Wikipedia is good for a quick check if a museum is legitimate, but a much better secondary source would be a book written by historian from our library.

The form of your Experiment will be as follows:

  • Thesis: a one sentence opinion backed by evidence.

  • Primary Source Citation: (Chicago Bibliographic Format)

  • Secondary Source Citation: (Chicago Bibliographic Format)

  • Citation: Tool/Skill. If you use a digital tool that links to outside D2L (such as hypothes.is or Voyant), place the URL here. If you use a historical dataset, similarly post the URL here. Please do not post your raw data (say an entire speadsheet or image) in your discussion board.

  • Paragraph 1 (circa 150 words): What historical context does a reader need to understand how your sources and tool fit together to support your thesis?

  • Paragraph 2 (circa 150 words): How do your sources and tool/skill support your thesis?

Short Example

Consider the following abbreviated example (you need to do much more than this, I’m only including this to give you something to consider).

  • Thesis: The dissolution of the Mongol/Yuan empire in 1368 CE temporarily disrupted silk road trade.

  • Source 1: Trade data from cities along the Silk Road.

  • Source 2: Book on the fall of the Mongol empire from a university press.

  • Data: Analysis of relative percentage drop in trade between Ankara and Tibet in the two decades after 1368 CE.

  • Context Paragraph: What’s happening from China to Turkey in mid-14th century.

  • Thesis paragraph: This is how my two sources and historical statistics analysis support my thesis.