Our topic: crime and violence in Seattle Washington.
Our research question: How did crime and violence get to the level it is today in Seattle WA?
Research Portfolio
Create a document that you will continue to work on for the rest of the semester. The Portfolio will have six sections.
Part I: Topic
Under a heading of Statement of Topic, provide a 1-2 sentence explanation of your topic (as it might have changed somewhat since your Proposal).
Part II: Current News Source
Provide the citation for your current newspaper article that you provided in your research portfolio proposal. The citation must be in Chicago Manual of style format.
Part III: Journal Article
Scholarly history journal articles are another key resource for deepening your knowledge of a topic and furthering your research. All disciplines have any number of journals in which scholars publish articles. These journals often peer-review their articles, meaning other scholars read and evaluate them before they are published. This process of evaluation ensures that the journal publishes only top-quality research in the field.
One database that houses this type of source is JSTOR Links to an external site., which contains a wide range of history and other journals. Another is Project Muse Links to an external site., which also includes hundreds of scholarly journals that publish in the fields of literature, American studies, education, and ethnic studies. Most likely you will find relevant articles in either JSTOR or Project Muse. But, if not, you can also search Historical Abstracts Links to an external site.for your history journal articles.
For links and to learn how to navigate these databases, visit the RCI Libguide page and see Part II: Database Specific Video Tutorials Links to an external site..
Using the links above locate and choose a historical journal article that will best help you with your research. Your journal article should be found in history journals (you’ll want to narrow your search here) and must have been published within the last 20 years (between 2002 and 2022).
Under a heading of Source Citations: Journal provide the bibliographic citation. Consult this guide to find an example for how to construct a bibliographic citation (not footnote).
Under a heading of Source Analysis: Journal do the following:
Write an 8-10 sentence paragraph that provides the following:
Information about the author’s professional credentials (no more than 2 sentences and must be paraphrased).
An explanation of the geographical, chronological and topical scope of the article.
A paraphrase of the author’s main argument.
At least three interesting historical facts/details/pieces of evidence that contributed to you answering at least part of your research question, or helped you get closer to answering your research question.
Part IV: Book
Scholarly history books (which can include monographs and edited collections) are a key resource for deepening your knowledge of a topic and furthering your research. The WSU Libraries have thousands of books and materials, much of which you can search using the central database Search It Links to an external site.. Like scholarly journal articles, these books have gone through a process of peer-review. Visit the RCI Libguide and watch the video labeled LRA 2 Pt. 2 History Monographs Links to an external site.and Pt. 2: Advanced Book Search Links to an external site.videos, for a tutorial on how to search for these types of books in Search It.
Using the Search It link above identify a scholarly book that helps you with your. When searching, keep in the mind the following expectations:
Your books can be monographs or edited collections or a combination of the two. Avoid books that are encyclopedic; published by the government or other agency; dissertations; or indicate that it is a collection of primary source documents (often called readers). Being able to discern true scholarly secondary sources (monographs and edited collections) from these other types of books is key here.
Ideally, your books (or the chapter, if published in an edited collection) will have been written by historians who are experts in the field, or by scholars who work in a very closely related field (be careful here). Knowing if your book was written by a historian will require you to do some digging—either via a Google search or by interrogating aspects of the book itself.
An indication of a book that has been peer-reviewed (vetted) is if it was published by a university press.
The book you find must have been published within the last 20 years.
The contents of the book (the time period under examination) must be about the deeper past (remember, your research must be in a pre-1990 time period).
You may use print books and/or ebooks for this assignment. You may borrow your items from another library via Summit (see the next step for information about what you will be doing with one of your book).
Every chapter in the book does not have to be related to your specific topic.
In many cases, books that are about the larger social, political, economic and cultural history of the region where your topic takes place, are a nice way to round out a list of sources. They provide necessary contextual information to help us better make sense of the more specific historical aspects we seek to find answers about.
Under a heading of Source Citation: Books, provide the bibliographic citations for the scholarly book you identified. As always, consult this Chicago Style guide Links to an external site.for examples of what bibliographic citations look like for a variety of sources. You will most likely follow the “One author” book example, which is used for monographs; and the one under “Chapter or other part of a book,” which is used when the book is an edited volume. If you located ebooks, you will need to cite them using the model under “Book published electronically.”
Under the citation write an 8-10 sentence paragraph that does the following:
Information about the author’s professional credentials (no more than 2 sentences and must be paraphrased).
Read the introduction of the book. Provide an explanation of the geographical, chronological and topical scope (this means does the book cover one topic in depth, or a range of topics?) of the book. Identify the author’s main argument. All of this should be paraphrased.
Part V: Primary Source
Open the Word document you’ve been saving your Research Portfolio work on (thus far, Parts I-IV). At the top of a new page, provide a centered heading of Part V: Historical Primary Sources. Follow the directions below and save your work often.
A primary source is something that a person, people, organization or government (among other things) during the time period you are studying left behind. This could be a diary, letter, photograph, law, piece of writing…the list can go on. It is primary sources that help us understand what motivated people, gives us insight into what they believed in and valued, and why they acted the way they did. Some primary sources give us raw data (such as in a census record), but others allow us to consider the human condition.
WSU Libraries has a number of databases to help you find historical, full-text primary source newspapers. To begin, go to Historical/Older Newspapers Links to an external site.and select a database (left side box). Each database is different, so you’ll have to familiarize yourself with how to search. The Times of London Links to an external site.and the Historical New York Times Links to an external site.will likely be the most helpful. But keep in mind that these newspapers were not in existence during the entire historical time period we’ve examined thus far in class.
Note that you are not limited to newspapers for your primary source! Diaries, letters, and speeches, are also options. You are also welcome to use audio/visual materials (historical footage, interviews, maps, photographs, and paintings).
For database tutorials and links to various primary source collections, click on this link Links to an external site..
Sometimes a simple Google search for a particular subject within digital archives can yield you results as well. For example, you could search for “European missionaries in Africa primary sources.” If you do that, though, you will have to make sure that the source your search reveals was produced during the time period you are studying. In addition, you will need to make sure that you can access the item in full, rather than just a part or excerpt of it. And you will have to make sure you can trust the source. Websites ending in .org and .edu are your safest bets.
TIP: Keep in mind that when searching for older material, words have changed. For example, if your topic was early nuclear bomb development, you are not going to find much on “nuclear bombs” from the 1940s and 1950s. However, you’ll find information on “atomic bombs,” because this was the more common descriiptor of the time. Likewise, you may need to broaden the scope of your topic. The point here is to be flexible with your search terms, and if one database does not yield fruitful results, try another one. Research is a trial and error process.
Also consider this: it might be difficult to find a historical primary source that very specifically answers or reflects the question you are asking. But maybe you can find a historical primary source that provides context for understanding that very specific thing. For instance, using the example of atomic bombs above, maybe your research question is about argument against nuclear proliferation in the 1950s. For whatever reason, maybe it’s difficult to find a primary source that reflects that specific aspect of history. However, maybe you do find a newspaper article that details the aftermath of the dropping of the hydrogen bomb in the summer of 1945, effectively ending WWII. The horrors of the impact of that bomb on humanity was part of the reason nuclear proliferation faced such backlash. A historical primary source like that, then, could provide necessary context for your topic.
Under a heading of Source Citation: Primary Source enter the full bibliographic Chicago citation for your historical primary source. This is the link Links to an external site.to the quick guide that you’ve used before.
NOTE: Your citation will depend on what type of source you found. For example, if it is a book, then you would use the appropriate bibliographic citation for books. If you’re accessing your primary source online (and not in print), the citation should include a URL or name of the database where the material was retrieved (see the Chicago-style reference page). Do your very best here—I and/or your TA know that sometimes primary sources can be very obscure and difficult to know how to cite.
Under a heading of Source Analysis: Primary Source, provide an 8-10 sentence paragraph that provides the following:
An analysis of your source (should include at least what type of source it is, who created it, when, and why)
Explains how the primary source you found enhances your understanding of your historical topic or how it helps you answer your research question
Part VI: Research Question and Conclusion
Once researchers have read and analyzed several sources (like you’ve just done), they formulate a set of preliminary research questions that they hope to answer by the end of their research. In the process of research, our questions usually change, and almost always new questions arise. Read the Part I: Writing Research Questions Links to an external site.and Part I: Roots Research Question Example Links to an external site..
Under a heading of Research Question, formulate a clear and concise research question regarding the history of your topic.
If you were really writing a research paper for this assignment, you would have read more widely in your chosen sources and may have even selected more sources than you were asked to find here. The argument, or thesis statement, for your paper would be your answer to the research question you asked. For this project, you haven’t done enough reading to be able to adequately answer your own question in the form of an argument. However, I’m curious to know if you learned enough historical information through this research process to at least draw some preliminary conclusions about the history that you studied. Under a heading of Conclusions write a 5-sentence minimum paragraph that explains any conclusions you were able to draw about the history your examined. If you were explaining to someone the significance of the history you looked at, what would it be?
