Instructions for Students

One often neglected area of American culture is the history, contributions, significance, and importance of African-Americans to American cultural history. The purpose of this project is to enhance our awareness as Americans of the contributions (and struggles) of African-Americans. The body of your research paper will be 3-5 pages in length and must follow the MLA style manual as outlined in The Holt Handbook. You must use information from at least three (3) print sources. You must turn in copies of the main pages from your sources which you use in your paper when you turn in your research essay. The research essay must be typed, double spaced, and must include a title page, outline, and works cited page, all of which must follow the MLA guidelines. The date the research essay is due will be announced in class. All topics must be approved by me before you begin your paper.

I have attached a list of names to use. You may choose a person, group, or organization not on the list, but please have your choice approved by me first. As much as possible, I want to avoid duplications among students. You may also combine names with similar backgrounds or interests if you are unable to find enough information on your primary subject (for instance, writing on more than one sculptor).

If you write on a person, be sure to include the following in your paper:

If you write about an organization or event, be sure to include the following:

Topics List

Each student will select one of the follows topics as the focus of his or her research project. Each student must select a different project from every other student. Topics will be approved on a first come, first served basis.

African-American Civil War soldiers
African Company (1st black drama group)
Anderson, Marion (opera)
Angelou, Maya (writer)
Baker, Josephine (dancer)
Baldwin, James (writer)
Banneker, Benjamin (architect, mathematician, astronomer)
Barthe, Richmond (sculptor)
Black Panther Party
Brooks, Gwendolyn (writer)
Brown, William Wells (abolitionist, author, playwright)
Buffalo Soldiers
Bunche, Ralph (Nobel Peace Prize)
Carmichael, Stokely (civil rights)
Carver, George Washington (scientist)
Clifton, Lucille (poet)
Colored Merchants Association (1929 NY)
Constitutional Amendments (esp. 13th, 14th, 15th)
Douglass, Frederick (abolitionist)
Dove, Rita (poet)
Drew, Dr. Charles (blood plasma, American Red Cross blood bank)
Du Bois, W. E. B. (politician, writer)
Dunbar, Paul Laurence (poet)
Ellington, Duke (musician)
Ellison, Ralph (writer)
Evers, Medgar (civil rights)
Fuller, Warrick (sculptor)
Garvey, Marcus (civil rights)
Giovanni, Nikki (poet)
Harlem Renaissance
Hayden, Robert (poet)
Holliday, Billie (musician)
Hughes, Langston (poet)
Hurston, Zora Neal (writer)
Jobs for Negroes Movement
Johnson, James Weldon (lawyer, writer)
Jones, Le Roi (civil rights)
King, Martin Luther Jr. (civil rights)
Komunyakaa, Yusef (poet)
Lewis, Edmonia (sculptor)
Locke, Alain (educator)
Lorde, Audre (poet)
McKay, Claude (poet)

Malcolm (Little) X (civil rights)
March for Jobs, Peace, and Justice (May 17, 1980, Jesse Jackson)
Marshall, Thurgood (politics)
Mills, Florence (actress)
Morton, Jelly Roll (jazz)
Morrison, William L. (poet)
N.A.A.C.P.
Newell, William Wells (folklorist)
Owens, Jesse (Olympic Gold medal, 1936)
Parks, Rosa (Montgomery Bus Boycott)
Powell, Adam Clayton Jr. (politics)
Price, Leontyne (opera)
Randolph, A. Phillip (1941 -- 100,000 man march)
Reed, Ishmael (poet, novelist, playwright)
Robeson, Paul (opera)
Robinson, Jackie (sports)
Savage, Augusta (sculptor)
Shadd, Mary Ann (editor)
Smalls, Robert (Civil War naval captain)
Smith, Bessie (musician)
Sojourner Truth (Underground Railroad)
Supreme Court Decisions

"To Secure These Rights" (1946 Truman Study)
Tubman, Harriet (abolitionist)
Tulsa Race Massacre
Turner, Nat (abolitionist)
Turner, Henry McNeal (father of black religious nationalism)
Twilight, Alexander Lucius (1st black college graduate, Middlebury College, 1823)
Warfield, William (opera)
Washington, Booker T. (scientist, politics)
Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell (journalist)
Wheatley, Phillis (poet)
Wilmington, NC Massacre (1898)
Woodson, Carter G. ("Father of Black History")
Wright, Richard (writer)

Faculty and Librarian Collaboration

Developed by Steve Pec

By analyzing assignments in collaboration with librarians, instructors can design assignments that guide students through research so that librarians can develop materials that present both library and Internet resources in interesting and attention-getting formats using handouts, Web pages, and HTML documents.

Critical thinking, writing process, writing across the curriculum, collaboration: these are the buzz words of the '90s. Seminars held to discuss the philosophical bases for these pedagogical approaches become pep rallies where instructors are impressed with the vision for a revised pedagogy and the importance these skills hold for students and teachers.

But how do we, as educators, put these pedagogies into practice in the classroom, make them part of actual assignments, assignments like the research project?

Most classes in the humanities require students to do some type of research assignment. Students are instructed to select topics from an approved list or the textbook. Frequently instructors avoid giving students directions which are too specific because the instructor focuses part of the evaluation on the quality and nature of students' explorations into research.

Depending on their level of sophistication, however, students may only see research as a documented report. Students may lack the sophistication to understand or incorporate information-seeking skills like formulating and defining questions, qualifying research, or evaluating source materials.

To help students do effective research, instructors must analyze the research task they are asking students to perform, identify the steps involved in that process, access the kinds of thinking students must perform to be successful, and in collaboration with the librarian, design a general approach to the assignment and identify appropriate resources in formats which take advantage of expanding library and Internet resources.

Developing a Collaborative Research Assignment

Determining a purpose (instructor): Why is the instructor assigning this project?

To help students effectively complete a research assignment, the instructor must consider what he or she hopes to gain from having students do the assignment. The instructor should be able to formulate some preliminary answers to these questions:

  • What should students learn from doing this research paper that will enhance their understanding of this class?
  • How will their work on this assignment affect how they think?
  • What long term learning or understanding will result from completing this assignment?
  • What is the level of sophistication for this assignment? (introduction to the research process, introduction to a field, global survey, problem analysis, detailed analysis/description of a single aspect, etc.)

Surveying materials (instructor/librarian): What library resources are available to students?

Most instructors assign projects within their field of study (c.f., a history teacher teaching U.S. History would have a general knowledge of the field). However, if the instructor is assigning a topic for research outside his or her field (as may be the case with a composition instructor), the instructor may need to do some background reading and study to get a feeling for the subject. Instructors should also meet with the librarians to determine the quality and types of materials available to students.

  • What types of resources are appropriate for this assignment?
  • What resources are available through the library?
  • Are sufficient materials available for all students?
  • What difficulties may students face in obtaining resources?

    • Identifying information (student/instructor): What information questions should students consider?

    Sometimes faculty have a fear of giving students too much information. However, students need some guidance. Depending on the level of the students, the purpose of the assignment, and time constraints, the following questions could be answered by the instructor and distributed to the students, or students and instructor could explore them in class:

    • What is the reason or purpose for exploring this topic? (Generally the answer to this question will relate to significance or relevance as it pertains to the course)
    • What questions about the topic will students need to ask in order to complete this assignment?
    • What data will students need to gather to complete this assignment?

    Developing focus (student/instructor): What purpose questions should students consider?

    The scientist Louis Agassiz once said that "facts are stupid things until brought into connection with some general law." One frequent problem with research papers is that they are little more than book reports. Students simply parrot back information which they have read instead of coming to grips with their subject and trying to fit the data they have researched into some scheme. The following questions explore the global nature of the research paper. Again, the answers to some of these questions could be supplied to students, or the questions could be explored in class. Some questions may be more applicable to certain research questions than to others.

    • How does this assignment relate to the overall aims of the class?
    • What mode of inquiry are students to take toward their topic? (i.e., analysis, synthesis, exposition, interpretation, persuasion, etc.)
    • What relationships, patterns, or internal structures should students consider when exploring this topic?
    • What is central to understanding this topic?
    • What point of view seems appropriate for discussing this topic?
    • What implications can be drawn about this topic that indicate further study or that suggest a course of action?

    Previewing resources (instructor/student): What format questions should students consider?

    Depending on the level of the class, students may or may not have experience doing research. Prior to visiting the library or scheduling a library orientation, an instructor needs to consider what students need to know about the format of research.

    • What experiences have students had doing research?
    • What style manual will students be using for their paper?
    • What level of source materials are students expected to use: primary, secondary, tertiary?
    • What format of resources are students expected to use: magazines, books, reference, reprint services, CDROM databases, Internet resources?
    • What information about their sources should students record?
    • How many sources are students expected to include?
    • What special instructions about format does the instructor have? Typing conventions? Layout? Type of outline?

    Evaluating resources (student/instructor): What resource questions should students consider?

    Particularly with regard to Internet sources, students must think about the quality of their sources. Again, depending on the level of the class and the purpose of the assignment, students may not have much experience in evaluating resources.

    • Are some resources better than others? How can a student tell?
    • What should a student do when sources disagree?
    • On what information is the source based? Firsthand accounts? Interviews? Personal or Scholarly Research? Other reports?
    • How detailed or specific is each source?
    • What is the background or point of view of the author of the source?
    • What is the background or point of view of the publisher of the source?
    • What assumptions about the topic does the author of the source make?
    • Who is the intended audience of the source?