HIST
1101: Minnesota History
Professor Janke
Summer 2024
This
assignment involves taking a “virtual tour” of the state Capitol and then you
will consider some issues related to
this site, drawing on what you
have learned from the course readings.
To repeat: in order to write a strong paper, you must draw on what you’ve
learned in the course, and this will likely include going back to re-read or
review past assignments. The best
way to demonstrate that you’ve made connections between the field trip location
and course materials is to include quotations and examples from the class
readings.
Due
In this paper your job is to consider what you’ve learned about the history of
our state, Minnesota’s “founding fathers,” and Minnesota’s indigenous peoples,
and use that knowledge to analyze a recent debate about artwork that was on
display at the Capitol.
Step One:
Visit the Capitol’s website and take a “virtual tour,” clicking through to learn
as much about the building and its history as you can.
Make sure to include these two links and make sure the watch the video
that’s part of the “Reconciling History” link.
https://www.mnhs.org/capitol/learn
https://www.mnhs.org/capitol/learn/art/reconciling-history
Step Two:
Review what you have learned in this course and think about which readings
connect to this topic as a whole.
Figuring out which course readings to use when writing your paper is part
of the challenge of the assignment so I will not be giving many specific hints
or suggestions. My advice would be
to look over the course schedule and the
North Country note-taking guide to refresh your memory of the topics we have
covered. For example, we read quite
a bit about the topic of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux and also Father
Hennepin – the topics that are depicted in two artworks that are part of this
debate.
Step Three:
Write a 3 page double-spaced paper considering these questions:
As
you will learn, during a recent renovation there was much discussion about
the artwork that was on display.
What are some of the issues regarding the displays of artwork?
Based on what you learned from course materials, what do you think about
displaying the paintings? What do
you think is the best way to resolve this issue?
Do you agree with the decision the Capitol made?
Why or why not? And if not,
what other solution would you propose instead?
Writing, Formatting and Citations:
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 grade will be
based, in part, on your writing as well as the content within the
paper.
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 prefer papers saved in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) but I can also
open PDFs. I cannot open files
saved in "Open Office." Do not
share a Google Doc.
Most, if not all, of your paper should be in your own words. Be very careful not
to accidentally copy something from course materials or the websites you used
for research -- copying even phrases or parts of a sentence can be considered
plagiarism.
A Word About Plagiarism:
I cannot stress this point enough: Copying ANY PORTION of your paper directly
from internet sources, 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 grade of ZERO on 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.