MLA Research Project
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mla_research.docxChoose one of the following Topics:
Please choose a topic from the following list and use it as the basis for your research assignment. These topics are designed specifically to be used as keywords in a research database search, but feel free to use related words to broaden your search area.
Begin with a ProQuest search. I also recommend the MLA International Bibliography and Google Scholar.
1. Thomas Jefferson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau
2. Thomas Jefferson and slavery
3. The Abolitionist movement
4. Civil Rights and government
5. Civil Rights and voting
6. Civil Rights and Martin Luther King, Jr.
7. Henry David Thoreau and government
8. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and women’s rights
9. Aldo Leopold and environmentalism
10. Aldo Leopold and agriculture
11. Stephen Jay Gould and Charles Darwin
12. Peter Singer and animal rights
13. Jim Mason and animal rights
14. Factory farming and ethics
1. Choose 1 primary source relevant to your topic.
a. Cite the source appropriately, using MLA documentation guidelines.
b. How might you use a primary source such as this one to support or inform a thesis on your topic?
c. What are the benefits of consulting a primary source (as opposed to a
2. Choose 3 secondary sources (1 full-length book; 2 journal articles) that represent recent (2001 or after) analyses of the topic.[footnoteRef:1] For EACH source, please answer the following questions: [1: What’s the difference between a primary source and a secondary source? See the link “Primary vs. Secondary Sources” in the RESEARCH area of the course site.]
a. Cite each source appropriately, using MLA documentation guidelines.
b. How reliable is this source? Take into account the qualifications of the author, the reputation of the publisher, the accuracy and reliability of the information, and the author’s presentation of the material (is it objective? well-researched?)
c. What is the central claim (or thesis) of the source?[footnoteRef:2] [2: A careful reading of the “Introduction” to a full-length book will reveal the book’s central thesis.]
d. What are the strengths/weaknesses of this approach to the topic?
3. Choose 1 secondary source that represents a recent (2001 or after) response or counter-argument to one of the sources in question #2. (NOTE: here you are looking for an argument that challenges one of the points of view you discovered in question #2 or looks at your subject in a completely different way than the sources you have listed so far)
a. Cite the source appropriately, using MLA documentation guidelines.
b. How reliable is this source? Take into account the qualifications of the author, the reputation of the publisher, the accuracy and reliability of the information, and the author’s presentation of the material (is it objective? well-researched?)
c. What is the central claim (or thesis) of the source?
d. What are the strengths/weaknesses of this approach to the topic? How successfully does this approach question or refute an alternative view of the topic?
4. Choose 1 source that represents one of the earliest discussions of the topic. (NOTE: Choose a source written by a contemporary of your topic or one written shortly after your topic’s death OR choose a source written between 1950-1980 – the goal is to find out what scholars of an earlier generation were saying about your topic and to think about how attitudes have changed)
a. Cite the source appropriately, using MLA documentation guidelines.
b. How reliable is this source? Take into account the qualifications of the author, the reputation of the publisher, the accuracy and reliability of the information, and the author’s presentation of the material (is it objective? well-researched?)
c. What are the assets/limitations of this approach to the topic?
d. How have considerations of the topic changed since this source was written?
