History

Research Paper: a 4-6 page paper which requires research and citation (as in-text citations, MLA-style, or footnotes, Chicago-style). The assignment is to write a 4-6 page biographical essay on Clarence Thomas split into two parts: the first half to be a straight biography, the second half to be an actual letter written by your subject to an imporant person in his/her life, describing a major decision you made or event or in your life and how you responded to it. For example: if I picked Richard Nixon, Id begin by telling his story from an impartial perspective, i.e. he was an effective president, but was his own worst enemy by bringing on the Watergate scandal. Then, Id finish with a letter telling his side of the story, i.e. I was convinced that the press and my political enemies were out to get me and I did not want to lose the presidency and let the American people down. So I tried to protect those whod helped me and to protect the presidency. To complete the assignment, you will need to consult no fewer than three secondary sources. (at least one of them must be a book or scholarly article, and please avoid using non-academic sources like Wikipedia, history.com, answers.com, or personal webpages) and preferably one primary source. Please ask me for clarification. A writer must give credit when she or he borrows ideas and facts from others. The form of citation is not set-in-stone for this assignment. A parenthetical citation (i.e., the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number), which follows the quoted, or paraphrased, text will suffice. Of course, a full footnote is also acceptable. The important point is to cite the source, so that there is absolutely no possibility of impropriety or plagiarism.