Final Project
For your Final Project, you may write a paper or create a PowerPoint presentation.
- If you choose to write a paper, it must be four to five pages in length, plus a title page and reference list, formatted according to APA style.
- If you choose to create a PowerPoint project, it must be 12 to 15 slides, plus a title slide and a reference slide, formatted according to APA style. Be sure to save your presentation as a PDF before submitting it to Waypoint.
- Please note that whether you choose to write a paper or create a PowerPoint presentation, you must properly cite your sources according to APA style.
To complete this project
- Choose from one of the topics below and analyze its history from 1877 to the present.
- Select four specific events or developments that span the years covered by this course, based on their impact on the topic. Two of the events must be from before 1945 and two events must be from after 1945. You must assess how the events in relationship to the topic changed over time and explain how the changes occurred. Please refer back to your Week Three Assignment, consider your instructor’s comments and make any necessary revisions.
- Write an introduction with a thesis. Your thesis should summarize the main conclusions that you discovered while researching your topic and that you will support with a logical argument based on evidence (sources). Please refer back to your Week Three Assignment, consider your instructor’s comments, and make any necessary revisions to your thesis statement.
- Connect each of the events or developments you have chosen back to your main thesis. The information presented must be organized and in chronological order.
- You must use at least four sources in your paper other than the textbook, with at least two primary sources and at least two secondary sources. Please refer back to your Week Three Assignment, consider your instructor’s comments, and make any necessary revisions.
Choose one of the following topics:
- Native Americans/American Indians
- African Americans
- Immigrants
- Women
For example, a student writing a paper about the topic African Americans might choose the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Power Movement as two of their events. In that case, the paper would provide a description of the two movements. It would explain what each one revealed about the role of African Americans in broader American society in, respectively, the 1920s and the late 1960s, explain how and why the roles of African Americans in the 1920s differed from their roles in the late 1960s, and explain how events in the 1920s may have contributed to developments in the later decade.
Writing the Final Project
The Final Project
- Must include a separate title page with the following:
- Title of project
- Student’s name
- Course name and number
- Instructor’s name
- Date submitted
- Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
- Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
- Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
- Must use at least four scholarly resources other than the textbook, including a minimum of two primary sources. Your secondary sources must come from the Ashford University Library. For help locating primary sources refer to the HIS206 HIS206: Primary Sources Research Guide.
- Must document all sources, including images, in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
- Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
If you choose to create a PowerPoint presentation: You should use visual elements to contribute to your explanation of the topic. PowerPoint presentations should avoid plagiarism and have proper APA citations for all source material either in the note section at the bottom of each slide, or on the last slide of the show indicating sources for each slide. The final slide must be a correctly formatted reference list containing all of your sources. You may use non-scholarly sources for your images, but not for the text of the presentation. Make sure to pay attention to color and style. You will need to save your PowerPoint presentation as a PDF before you submit it to Waypoint. Use the Converting a PowerPoint to PDF tutorial.
Before submitting your Final Project, you may want to view the Sample Paper and/or the Sample Presentation and/or visit the Ashford Writing Center for feedback.
Do you have questions? Check out the FAQs on Assignments page.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
