Field Trip Assignment      ***     Summer 2024  ***  Minnesota History

Self-guided IRL field trip reports, 40% of final grade (20 % each):


You may choose to take two self-guided field trips during the summer and write a three page paper.  Remember, you can mix and match one virtual paper and one in-person paper. 

Choosing a Location and Preparing to Write

Click here for a list of possible locations.  This list contains a number of possibilities throughout the state of Minnesota, some of which charge admission and some of which do not.   If you select locations listed as "pre-approved," you can visit them without discussing it with Linda.  If you are interested in locations that are not pre-approved, you must discuss it with me via Contact Linda to ensure that the location will contain enough information to complete a report.  In some cases, outside research will be required.  If you discover an interesting location that is not on the list, let me know and we could add it to the list.

You must visit a different location for each paper.  In other words, you may not visit the same place twice.  You must also complete the visit during this current summer; you cannot rely on memories of a previous visit.

Suggestion: You may be able to reduce your field trip costs by sharing a ride with other students and/or bringing your student ID for reduced admission -- don't be afraid to ask.  I suggest you survey your classmates through the Class Cafe to find out if anyone is interested in carpooling. 

Another strong suggestion: experience has shown that visiting larger museums (particularly those operated by the Minnesota Historical Society) provides more material for student papers.  Local historical society museums can be "hit or miss."  Since the assignment requires you to connect what you learn on your field trip to the themes of our course, choose your location carefully.  Be sure you can learn enough about the background of your location (from North Country or other course materials) to write a good paper.  If you are trying to decide between two possible field trips, feel free to consult with Linda about which location might produce a stronger paper.  In the end, your goal for this assignment is to turn in a strong paper, so it is essential that you start with some good material.  Another tip: You might also choose to visit locations that line up with what we are doing in class, i.e. visit something related to Fort Snelling or the Fur Trade for your first paper; visit the State Capitol towards the end after we've completed most of the class.  This might save you the effort of needing to "read ahead" (see below.)

To repeat: your goal is to write a good paper.  While you might really enjoy your visit to a small historical society (or this might be the most convenient location for you), such a field trip might not give you enough material to write a strong paper.  Choose locations that directly connect to what we are studying in the course.  If you visit a large museum (such as the Minnesota History Center) feel free to focus your visit and your paper on the exhibit(s) which connect most closely to the themes and topics of the course.

You'll also be able to write a stronger paper if you take notes while you're on your field trip and/or collect any informational handouts that might be available.  Or you could use your phone to take pictures of captions on exhibits.  You'll also write a stronger paper if you do the background reading in the textbook before you visit your location.  This means that might be reviewing past readings or looking ahead to future readings.  Some locations  will have a short reading assignment available on D2L Content that will provide the necessary background information.  See the list of locations for information about which locations will require a short additional assignment.  I do not intend for this requirement to dissuade you from choosing these locations, as the Kelley Farm and Fort Snelling have proven to be very popular destinations for students (and their children/families) over the years!  But I do want you to know that I will expect you to have read the background material before writing the paper.  If you can't see a connection to the course materials before you go on your field trip, ask Linda to point you in the right direction.

Writing the Paper

You must turn in at least three double-spaced typed pages, with reasonable margins and font sizes, i.e. no font larger than 12 point, no extra spaces between paragraphs, and no margins larger than one inch.  I will reformat papers which do not meet these criteria.  I will be happy to read papers longer than three pages; papers less than three pages will be penalized.   This is a formal academic paper so I expect you to use proper paragraph development, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Your paper should have a strong thesis statement that is part of your introductory paragraph.  Your paper grade will be based, in part, on your writing as well as the content within the paper.  Remember you can earn 5 points of extra credit if you schedule a meeting with a campus writing tutor.

Your paper should accomplish two goals. 

First, your report should describe your experience on your field trip.  Describe what you observed.  What were the museum's usual exhibits?  What types of topics does the museum cover?  How does it organize its exhibits?  What kinds of artifacts are preserved in the museum?  Were there any special exhibits?  Etc.  In short, your job in this portion of your paper is to convince me you visited the location with an "up close and personal" account.  Your job is NOT to write a research paper about the topic of the field trip.

Secondly, your paper should analyze and evaluate your experience.  Here is a list of questions you might wish to consider in your paper.  Do not feel compelled to consider each and every question in a "laundry list" fashion.  Strong papers may be focused on one or two questions, although you must be certain that your analysis connects to the topics and themes we have covered in our course.  This means that your paper should make explicit reference to course materials and your paper should have a clear thesis statement.  After reading our course materials, think of yourself as something of an "expert" about the topic, and then use your expertise as a "lens" to evaluate the field trip location.  Stronger papers will cite directly from course materials as part of the analysis portion.  One possible successful idea is to choose one or two items or topics from the museum as an example and do a "close reading" of that item, comparing-and-contrasting to the course assignments. (here is where having pictures of exhibit materials on your phone could help with your recollection and analysis.  You do not need to submit the pictures as part of the paper.)  Be sure to double-check if your location has any extra assigned readings and/or if reading ahead would help you make these connections.

• How did this visit enhance your knowledge of Minnesota history?  Does it complement what you learned in class?  Contradict?
• How does your visit compare to what you have read in the textbook, in the readings for discussion, or in any additional reading assignment?  (If you have not read about this topic yet, you'll need to read ahead.)  Does this museum give a complete and accurate picture of this topic?  What did they emphasize?  What did they neglect? *These are the most important questions that should guide your analysis.
• How could this museum improve their exhibit?  How could they improve the experience for visitors?  How could they attract more visitors? 
• Was this a valuable learning experience?  Why or why not?  Would you recommend this to others interested in Minnesota history?

Formatting and Citations

You must save your papers in a format that I can open.  Be sure to check your e-mail on the day papers are due because if I cannot open your paper for some reason I will be in touch with you directly.  I use Microsoft Word so I must be able to open your paper using that program.  Once your paper is written, please save it in a file format that I can read, including: docx, doc, rtf, pdf, or txt. So far the only file types I can’t open are from “Open Office.” If you are using this program or something else that I might have trouble with, save your file as either an rtf or doc file.

Citations:  Much like your quiz answers, you must demonstrate to me that you acquired your information for this paper from your field trip location and course materials.  Do NOT do outside research or ask ChatGPT.  At the end of each paragraph, tell me where you found the information.  This does not need to be a formal citation -- just a way to let me know where you got your information.  For an in-person field trip, it could be just naming the room or the exhibit you were viewing.  I am wide open to all sorts of citation formats!  So some citations might look like this: [Exhibit about canoes] or [Wall plaque containing information about living conditions] or [Trail Marker] or [Description of the entrance to the building].  That sort of thing!  When you are using course materials to analyze your visit (a required part of the paper) you can cite the name of the material and a page number, such as [North Country, 32.]  If you use a direct quotation (very strongly recommended!) you must tell me the page number for the quotation.  I am expecting that the end of each paragraph could have several different sources listed.  That's fine!  I don't care about the specific formatting of citations, just that you demonstrate you acquired the information from your field trip and course materials. 

I cannot stress this point enough: Copying ANY PORTION of your paper directly from internet sources, using AI or Chat GPT, the course textbooks, AND/OR from classmates will result in failing the paper.  Again, copying ANYTHING, including short phrases, from other sources or a classmate will result in a failing grade for the paper.  In other words, this paper must be written ENTIRELY (100%) IN YOUR OWN WORDS.  This paper is designed to describe and analyze YOUR experience.