HISTORY 1301
SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

Assignment: Take any person, place, or event from the time period of 1460-1860, and use primary and secondary resources to write an 800-1,000 word research paper.
Style: MLA is the standard citation format. Please include a works cited page with your name, course title, instructor’s name, date, your email, and word count. Also, a works cited page must be included, as well as in-paper citations. Purdue Online Writing Lab is a source you can go to and check out the MLA style guide as well as citation format examples.
What is a primary and secondary source?
A primary resource is something that comes directly from a person such as a letter or recollection of a first-hand account. Archives.gov/education/research/primary-sources
A secondary resource is something that is not written by the primary source or is a first-hand account of an event. For example: A biography is a secondary resource, because it was written about a person and not written directly by that person.
Examples of primary resources:
A letter written from a specific person
An autobiography (written by the subject)
A first-hand account
An original speech
An originally signed document
A journal
Examples of secondary resources:
A biography (written about the subject)
A newspaper article (unless the writer experienced the event too).
Scholarly books
Anything that was written about an event or person, but not written by the subject.