Jill Fields ◘ History 12: US History, 1865-Present ◘ CSU Fresno ◘ Fall 2003

Primary Research Assignment – Guidelines

General Requirement
A 2 to 3 page paper describing and analyzing a Fresno Bee or other California newspaper article on any event from 1865 to the present published at the time the event took place. Students sign up for their due dates for the paper, and present their topic in class (counts toward class participation grade).

Microfilm
Microfilms of the Fresno Weekly Republican (1885-1897), the Fresno Daily Evening Exposition (January 1887-June 1896), the Fresno County Enterprise (January 1891-September 1912), the Fresno Morning Republican (1892-1926), the Fresno Evening Democrat (1903-1904), the Fresno Evening Herald (1909-1924), the Fresno Bee (1923-present), the San Francisco Chronicle (1869-present) and LA Times (1961-present) are located on the third floor of the Henry Madden Library. Additional newspapers from other local communities are also available on microfilm. You can search for them in ALIS, the search engine for our campus library, or try a public library. If you have never viewed microfilm before, don’t hesitate to ask for assistance!

Finding an Article
To find an article, you can either scan through microfilm of a year or decade that interests you, or, if you have in mind a specific event and know when it took place, look at newspapers printed the next day or later. If you don’t know the exact date of a specific event, you can consult newspaper indexes and other reference books available in the Reference section of the library (first floor). Unfortunately, there are no indexes available for most of the local newspapers. There is microfilm of a card index of the Fresno Bee, which is very sketchy. You can use the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-present) and the New York Times index (1851-present) to find topics and events for a particular date or period that may also be reported on in local newspapers. There is also the San Francisco newspapers index (1904-1949), San Francisco Chronicle index (1950-present), and the Los Angeles Times index (1972-present). Other reference books that can help are chronologies and year books. More recent events are searchable online. Ask a Reference Librarian for assistance in locating any of these sources.

What to Include
There are three parts to the paper:

1) summary of historical event, issue, or debate (addressing the who, what, why, when, and where questions). You will need to cite your source(s), and will need to refer directly to the article(s) you have selected.

2) description of historical background or themes of U.S. history relevant to understanding more about, and explaining the significance of event, issue, or debate.

3) your analysis and conclusions regarding the event and the historical trends and themes raised in the reporting of this particular event, issue or debate. If possible, include consideration of the relationship between local and national trends and themes through comparing and contrasting the Bee or other California report with what you have learned about the period at the national level.

Questions to Consider
(provided to help you think about your topic–you do not need to answer them specifically)

1) How does the event, issue or debate relate to the larger context of national trends and historical change taking place during that period?

2) Is the national context a factor in how the event/issue/debate is being considered by those directly involved, by reporters or by the public? If so, how are the national aspects being considered? If not, how is the event being presented as one of only local concern? Would the newspaper report and the people of Fresno have benefited from considering the event in a wider context? Or, was it appropriate to consider the event only in a local context? If so, why?

3) Does reporting on the event rely upon particular conceptions understood to be accurate and shared assumptions at that time about race, class or gender? Does the reporting convey historical information about how ideas about race, class or gender were understood in that period?

4) What additional evidence might you need to more fully investigate the event and how it was reported? What sources might provide that evidence?

Remember
1) Pick a topic that interests you!

2) You can discuss topic ideas or get help with a rough draft during office hours.

3) Include a photocopy of the article you have selected when you turn in your paper.

Topic Due Dates

Reconstruction (1865-1877)

September 24

Gilded Age/Progressive Era (1880-1920)

World War I (1914-1918) & 1920s

October 22

Depression and New Deal (1929-1940)

World War II (1941-1945)

Post-War Era (1945-1963)