Archival Research Project – Assignment Guidelines
Utilizing archival database from UH Library or other archives approved by instructor, you will find a historical document/s or artifacts (photos, meeting minutes, reports, etc) related to an era of American Higher Education. You will write a summary, analysis, and critique of that/those document(s) to uncover and “create an objective rendering of the past” (Humphrey, 2010, p. 65).
You must choose items from a specific period in higher education that we studied in class. Your goal is to find historical content in order to (re)tell the story of what those documents or artifacts can tell us about a specific event or period in higher education (e.g., Colonial or Antebellum Period, WWII, Civil Rights, Post-911, etc). You should plan to visit online or (if possible) physical archives to find your content. Your paper should include an analysis of the documents’ meaning and description of how the document and your subsequent analysis inform the study of higher education. Please draw from the class lecture in which we discuss UH archival documents at the UH Library. You might also consider visiting one of the Archival Databases in the Houston area colleges and university libraries or examine online sites for historical documents such as the Texas Archival Resources Online.
As part of this assignment, you will submit a brief 1-page outline of your research plan by October 30. This outline is worth 5 points of your total grade which is 30 points total.
This outline should include the following information:
A. List the name of the specific Archives you plan to search (e.g., online or in-person; institutional or local)
B. Name the era/period in higher education you will be focusing on and why you are interested in learning about this period
C. Describe the topic or group in higher education you will be focusing on
D. Describe your specific goal, purpose, or research question. In other words describe in a few sentences what you might find or what you expect to find and/or what you want to find
Questions to address in your final paper (use the Humphrey, 2020 reading as a guide):
1. Determine the Originality of the document. How does your document compare with similar texts from the same period? Are there glaring differences within the documents such as dates of the event, names of people involved, or details of the story being told?
2. Determine the Genesis of the document. Where was the source produced? Who produced it? When? Under what circumstances was the document created? Was the document written freely by the author or was it written under the coercion of someone?
3. Determine the Authorial Authority of the document. With what authority does the author speak? Was the author an observer or a participant? Is the account we are reading a first-, second-, or third-hand account? Is this first-hand account an accurate account of the event?
4. Author Interpretation of the document. Tell your story in your own words. What is the purpose or meaning of the document? What were the agendas of the people involved?
What other information did you find out about that is helpful in understanding the document and/or period of higher education it came from?
Assignment Requirements:
• Follow APA guidelines, Times Roman 12-point font, double-spaced
• Your final paper should be 4-5 pages in length [reference page not included in page count].
• Students will discuss their topic in a 4-5 minute short video presentation on the key findings presented in their paper and what they learned from the artifact(s).
• You should include a minimum of 5 references from scholarly articles (not including internet sources) that pertain to the specific era when the document was produced for additional background and context
• Please include a handout with picture(s) or pdf of the document to post to the online discussion board
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