Research Question Paper

Description: This is somewhat different than the standard undergraduate research paper. In this paper, you are to ask a question about some topic from the national period of Latin America, roughly 1800 to the present. (Both terms are broadly defined. "National period" can include the independence wars. "Latin America" can include the English-speaking Caribbean and other non-Spanish, non-Portuguese areas.) The key idea here is "ask a question." Instead of writing a paper about women in Mexico, you might ask, "How have the lives of women in Mexico been changed by NAFTA and the maquiladores?" This paper is to be 8 to 10 pages long.

Topics: There are millions of possible topics. You should discuss you topic with me before getting started. I strongly recommend that you determine the availability of sources before beginning. J-store and other full text databases available at our library are good places to look for sources. Hint: Let the sources be your guide in choosing a topic. If your search leads you to a wide number of sources on one particular topic other than what you originally had in mind and it seems interesting, do it.

Sources and Citations: There is no set number of sources, but you want to avoid depending on only one or two sources. I would suggest about six as a minimum, depending on topic. You must use standard citation, including a bibliography and footnotes/endnotes, preferably Chicago, MLA, or Turabian.

Due Date: You will need to turn in a rough draft by Dec 1, and the final draft is due Dec 8