There are several Internet Web Sites that you might consult for research purposes. These include: Our Roots http://www.ourroots.ca, Early Canadiana On-line, or National Library and Archives of Canada and the ArchiviaNet collections at www.collectionscanada.ca. Canadian Studies: A Guide to the Sources at http://www.iccs-ciec.ca/blackwell.html, Also, the Glenbow Museum site at http://www.glenbow.org/collections and Dictionary of Canadian Biography at www.biographi.ca. Also, use the on-line academic journals by title, for example the Canadian Historical Review accessed through the MRU library home page. Do not use Wikipedia or other non-academic sites.
The following list of essay topics includes several suggested book sources. Your final bibliography must include a minimum of three sources. A good place to find relevant articles and books is the “Beyond the Book” sections, which follow each chapter in your textbook. Here you will find listed a selection of the best works pertaining to the information discussed in the chapter. After reading a book or article on your topic, always look over the bibliography and notes for other sources.
Historical writing is subjective which means that the researcher will find several different points of view on any given question. The researcher must weigh the information presented and decide which interpretation best fits her\his thesis or which interpretation is the most convincing. It is unlikely that one source will contain all the factual information about a particular question, thus several sources are needed. Do not hesitate to use articles in scholarly journals; often they are a concise source of information and recent articles may contain new approaches or interpretations.
In your bibliography list all the sources you consulted not just those that are cited in the footnotes. Your textbook is not considered a bibliographic source for your paper. The essay due date will approach quickly; therefore you should start your research early. Sources may be difficult to obtain at the last minute. The inability to find sources will not be accepted as an excuse for a late paper.
History papers of this length should not include subtitles; notes should appear either at the bottom of the page (footnotes) or collected at the back on a page entitled “endnotes”. When writing scholarly papers do not use contractions (i.e. can’t, don’t, hadn’t) or abbreviations (i.e. etc.). Acronyms, such as “HBC” (Hudson’s Bay Company) may be used after writing out the title once in full. Avoid colloquial expressions, for example: “just what the doctor ordered” or “boggles the mind”. Remember to italize book, magazine and newspaper titles. Essays should be typed on plain white paper; a title page with your name and student number, the essay title, course number and professor’s name should be included; staple the pages of your essay together. Do not put your essay in a folder of any kind and use only one side of the paper. Be sure that your essay includes a clear introduction to the topic and your position and a concluding paragraph, which summarizes your argument. Ideas should be put into proper paragraph form. For information on format consult the MRU Department of Humanities Chicago Style Documentation for History guide. Most importantly, PROOF READ your work
