HIS 1100 Capella University History and Future of Gender Equality Worksheet

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  • Overview

    Complete the Evaluating Historical Sources Worksheet, identifying and evaluating the credibility of two primary sources and two secondary sources related to your topic.

  • Note: The first three assessments in this course build on each other; therefore, it is essential that you complete them in the order presented.
  • Before you can address any kind of challenge in your personal or professional life, gathering accurate information is a must. In a world of fake news, instant communication, and dubious online sources, the quest for reliable facts has become increasingly difficult. In our information-rich society (we’re creating 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day!), it is becoming more and more essential to identify and rely on trustworthy information.
  • What question are you really trying to answer? Are the sources of information you have relevant to your topic? What types of information do you need? As you take a look at some of the pivotal economic, political, and social challenges throughout American history, you’ll learn from historians about the kinds of information they gather as they answer important questions about our past. And you’ll get to play historian yourself as you begin your own process of gathering and evaluating evidence, including both primary and secondary sources.
  • Primary sources are firsthand accounts from people living in a particular time period, such as Frederick Douglass’s autobiography or Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Primary sources can also include statistical information about the era being studied (for example, census data from the 19th century). Secondary sources, on the other hand, are analyses and interpretations of historical events or issues based on primary sources. For example, a secondary source might be a journal article in which an historian compares the experiences of slaves in North and South Carolina in the first half of the 19th century.
    Resources

  • Essential Skills

    Unpacked and unlabeled, salt and sugar look quite similar. While one will help you achieve sweet baking success, the other is sure to ruin your grandma’s famous cookie recipe. So, it’s important to know what you have before you start.

  • The same is true when it comes to understanding history. Throughout this course, you’re learning how understanding our past can help us make connections and draw conclusions for our present and future. But, just like adding the wrong ingredient to your batter can destroy your batch of cookies, utilizing the wrong information can also destroy a winning argument or solution.
  • That’s why understanding where our information comes from—and whether it is valid and credible—is so important. When we take the time to evaluate the information we use before drawing conclusions, we are practicing effective problem solving and preparing ourselves to make informed decisions about our future.
  • For this assessment, you will improve your problem-solving skill by discovering how to evaluate sources of evidence to determine validity and credibility. You will also discover how carefully choosing the information you use to make decisions can set you up for success in your personal and professional life. Studying historical moments of change and honing your ability to weather such changes in your life are also part of practicing your agility skill.
    Skill Application

    History of the United States

    For the first three assessments in this course you will investigate how economic change affects certain populations or the fight for civil rights for a specific group. The following chapters provide multiple examples of economic change and civil rights from 1790 to today. For this assessment, skim the chapters in order to find a topic that interests you.

    • Montoya, M., Belmonte, L. A., Guarneri, C. J., Hackel, S., Hartigan-O’Connor, E., & Kurashige, L. (2018). Global Americans: A history of the United States. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link.
      • Chapter 9, “Markets and Democracy, 1790–1840,” pages 248–277.
      • Chapter 12, “Expansion, Slavery, and the Coming of the Civil War, 1848–1861,” pages 340–369.
      • Chapter 13, “The American Civil War, 1861–1865,” pages 370–401.
      • Chapter 14, “Reunion and Retreat: Reconstruction, 1865–1877,” pages 402–431.
      • Chapter 15, “Incorporation of the U.S. West, 1862–1917,” pages 432–461.
      • Chapter 16, “The Making of Industrial America, 1877–1917,” pages 462–491.
      • Chapter 17, “Politics of Reforms, 1877–1917,” pages 502–519.
      • Chapter 19, “Managing Modernity, 1919–1929,” pages 554–585.
      • Chapter 20, “Great Depression, New Deal, and Impending War, 1929–1939,” pages 586–617.
      • Chapter 21, “The World at War, 1939–1945,” pages 618–649.
      • Chapter 22, “The Cold War, 1945–1965,” pages 650–679.
      • Chapter 23, “Prosperity and the Cold War Economy, 1945–1965,” pages 680–709.
      • Chapter 24, “Civil Rights and Human Rights, 1945–1965,” pages 710–739
      • Chapter 25, “The Vietnam War Era, 1965–1975,” pages 740–771.
      • Chapter 26, “The Global Conservative Shift, 1975–1988,” pages 772–803.
      • Chapter 27, “Closer Together, Further Apart, 1988–2000,” pages 803–837.
      • Chapter 28, “Global Americans Today, 2000–2016,” pages 838–868.

    Primary and Secondary Sources

    For the first three assessments in this course, you are required to choose a topic related to economic change or civil rights and find primary and secondary resources related to that topic. A sample of possible resources are listed below by topic. Review these resources to help you understand the difference between primary and secondary sources and to generate ideas for your topic. For more sources to choose from, review the History Presentation Resource List [DOCX].

    Primary

    Facing Economic Change:

    Civil Rights: Women’s History:

    Civil Rights: Native American History:

    Civil Rights: African American History:

    Civil Rights: Immigrant History:

    Secondary

    Facing Economic Change:

    Civil Rights: Women’s History:

    Civil Rights: Native American History:

    Civil Rights: African American History:

    Civil Rights: Immigrant History:

    Library Research Guide

    You will need to find other resources to prepare for this assessment, and you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The Finding Primary and Secondary Sources page of the General Education Information Research Skills Library Guide can help direct your research.

  • Assessment Instructions

    Note: The first three assessments in this course build on each other; therefore, it is essential that you complete them in the order presented.

    Overview

    For this assessment, imagine you represent your company at a service organization dealing with one of these two issues: facing economic change or engaging civil rights. Your supervisor has asked you to research information related to the history of this issue for your organization to help new employees and volunteers understand it better. Your job is to put together a list of credible sources related to a topic of your choice and then use your problem-solving and agility skills to evaluate them using the Evaluating Historical Sources Worksheet [DOCX].

    Preparation

    Complete the following:

    Step 1: Choose Your Topic

    Choose a topic and narrow its focus. Think about who you want to focus on and what event or challenge you want to focus on. For example, your topic could compare the challenges faced by farmers during the Great Depression with the challenges they faced during the 2008 recession. Economic Change:

    1. What if the bottom falls out?
      • How can you prepare for and protect yourself from bad times based on lessons learned from the Great Recession of 2008 or the Great Depression?
    2. What happens when the workplace changes?
      • How can people adjust when the workplace changes? What lessons can we learn from America’s Industrial Revolution, the new economy of the 1950s, or the Information Age?

    Civil Rights:

    1. Women.
      • What strategies were used and what lessons can we learn from the struggles women faced in the late 1800s–early 1900s or the 1960s and 1970s for engaging and understanding current and future women’s rights issues?
    2. African Americans.
      • Considering past struggles such as Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era or the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s for African American civil rights, what lessons can we learn about the best strategies for protecting civil rights now and in the future?
    3. Native Americans.
      • How can lessons learned from events or policies such as the Trail of Tears, the Indian Removal Act, or the Dawes Act be used to address the challenges Native Americans face today?
    4. Immigrant Groups.
      • Based on lessons learned from immigration policies in the late 1800s and early 1900s, how can present-day immigration issues be addressed?
    Step 2: Identify Resources

    Review the History Presentation Resource List [DOCX]. Choose two sources from the list that correspond to your topic. Some of the items in the resource list are collections, so you’ll have to dig a little deeper to find a specific source that matches your topic.

    Step 3: Research

    Conduct your own research to locate two additional sources relevant to your topic. The additional sources should be resources from the Capella library or credible websites. For help finding sources on the Internet and in the Capella library, review the Finding Primary and Secondary Sources page on the General Education Information Research Skills Library Guide. To ensure you are finding quality sources, refer to the Capella library’s Think Critically About Source Quality resource page.

    Instructions

    Use the Evaluating Historical Sources Worksheet [DOCX] to complete the following steps. Be sure to answer each question in the worksheet for each source.

  • Step1: Identify quality primary and secondary sources related to a historical topic.
  • Step 2: Identify key elements of each source, including the author, date, and main idea.
  • Step 3: Describe the biases and perspectives of the authors of each source.
  • Step 4: Explain why each source is or is not credible.
  • Step 5: Write in a well-organized and concise manner that adheres to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.

  • Additional Requirements

    Your paper should meet the following requirements:

    • Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
    • Citations: Include a complete citation for each source.
    • Number of references: Your paper should include at least four properly cited sources, two primary and two secondary.
    • Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

    Evaluating Historical Sources Scoring Guide

    CRITERIA DISTINGUISHED
    Identify quality primary and secondary sources related to a historical topic. Identifies quality primary and secondary sources related to a historical topic and cites each source with minimal errors.
    Identify key elements of each source, including the author, date, and main idea. Clearly identifies all key elements of the sources (who, what, when, why) using specific examples.
    Describe the biases and perspectives of the authors of each source. Describes the biases and perspectives of the authors of each source and provides specific examples.
    Describe key facts presented in each source. Describes key facts presented in the sources with specific examples.
    Explain why each source is or is not credible. Explains why each source is credible or is not credible using specific examples.
    Write in a well-organized and concise manner that adheres to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics. Organizes content so clarity is enhanced and all ideas flow logically and smoothly. Writes concisely, precisely, and directly, with nearly flawless adherence to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.