To what extent were African Americans active agents or passive participants in early American histor

To develop yourpapers, you will first research the primary and secondary sourcesavailable on this topic. It is stronglyrecommended that you take advantage of the resources in the ShapiroLibrary to ensure that your references areappropriate. Secondary sources may befound using JSTOR and the âpeer-reviewedâ articles you can findin the âAmerica: History and Lifeâ database, which you can accessvia the Shapiro Library. When searching âAmerica: History andLife,â be sure that the checkbox for âpeer-reviewedâ ischecked, as there are articles inthat database that do not qualify as secondary sources.As usual, if you have questions about a secondary source, please donot hesitate to ask your instructor before you use it.

Once you haveread a number of primary and secondary sources, it should causesomething to occur in your mind called âcritical massâ (a termborrowed the âhard sciencesâ). You reach âcritical massâ inhistory when you have researched sufficiently in the sources to letthe documents suggest a thesis for your paper. Historians do notfirst come up with a thesis and then search for documents to supporttheir argument. Historians immerse themselves in the sources and letthese suggest the thesis. That is the track that knowledgetakesâaccumulating sufficient data to produce information and thentaking that information and transforming it into knowledge.

Prompt: Onceyou have researched your topic, you will submit yourthesis and corollaries (i.e.,overall claim and claims specific to the cultural, economic,political, and religious contexts). You will also include a basicsketch of your supporting evidence and a list of the resources andscholarly references you plan to use in your paper. Again, itis strongly recommended that you take advantage of the resources inthe Shapiro Library toensure that your references are appropriate. You may use the tablebelow to structure your submission if you choose, but even if you donot, your submission should include the basic elements representedbelow.