HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION MODEL ASSIGNMENT

Miss Blom

CHY 4UW

To prepare for your historical investigation that will be included as part of your grade 12 IB History mark, you will be completing a model historical investigation that will be included in your Grade 11 mark. We are aiming to complete this by midterm, to enable you to begin the process of topic selection and initial research for your Grade 12 topic that you will wrap up next year. Please refer to the sample handouts to see detailed descriptions of each section and models.

Everyone will be writing on the same topic for this assignment: Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations. You will be assigned two sources, and must find at least four more of your own. For the evaluation section, you will assess one of the provided sources and one of your own sources.

Sections:

A/ Plan of the Investigation:

· indicate the subject of the investigation, formulated as a sharply focused question

· provide a clearly structured plan of the methods to be used in the investigation

B/ Summary of evidence:

• indicate what has been found in the sources used
• this section may be in prose or in the form of a list
• illustrations, documents, relevant reference material should be included in an appendix, and not in the word count
• provide references as evidence of thorough research
• “The facts, the facts, the facts.” No analysis here.

C/ Evaluation of sources:

• a critical evaluation of two important sources—no more, no less
• sources should be appropriate to the investigation undertaken
• use OPVL and write one paragraph for each source evaluated
• your purpose here is to assess the usefulness of the sources, not to describe their nature or content

D/ Analysis

• do not add new factual information in this section that you did not present in your summary of evidence; you may use and cite only evidence introduced in section B
• be certain to address the importance of the investigation in its historical context, analysis of the evidence, and a consideration of different interpretations if applicable
• where appropriate make links with associated events to aid understanding of the historical importance of the investigation

E/ Conclusion

• clearly state a conclusion that is consistent with the evidence presented
• think of this as a follow-up to section D which addresses the question stated at the inception of the investigation

F/ List of Sources

• a properly formatted bibliography must be included
• all sources must be listed, be they written, pictoral, interview, etc.
• use the Chicago Manual of Style format
• separate written and non-written sources into their own alphabetic sections
• do not include this in your word count

REQUIRED SOURCES

The Covenant of the League of Nations: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/leagcov.htm

Woodrow Wilson Speeches1919 http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/wilsonspeech_league.htm

YOUR SOURCES

Try to find sources that offer a window into other sides of the issue. Starting places for source material:

http://www.indiana.edu/~league/sources.htm

http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ21-LeagueofNations.html#2

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/portrait/wp_league.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ww28.html

http://www.americanpresident.org/history/woodrowwilson/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/league_nations_01.shtml

http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/poland_paderewski2.htm

http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/lodge_leagueofnations.htm

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww38.htm

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww40.htm

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html