Final Project

What is the final project?

Throughout the semester, you will create website and exhibit using WordPress and Omeka. This exhibit should uncover some aspect of the history with a topic of your choosing.

How do I pick a topic?

In this course, we are going to spend quality time working with various digital tools and thinking about the myriad issues (legal, ethical, technical, historical) that these tools bring to light. Over the course of the semester, each of you will use your newly-found digital skills to create and publish an original digital history project due at the end of the semester (in place of a final exam.)

This project will allow you to explore a research question of your choosing, and will demonstrate your ability to use digital tools to help you analyze evidence, craft a historical argument, and communicate your findings to a larger audience. You can use some of the sites we have explored as inspiration for your final project or an area, topic, event in history that interests you.

Digital History starts with History

While the end product will be a digital history project, you are still writing the equivalent of a history paper.

History papers are driven by arguments.  In a history class, you are writing a paper that requires some form of argument.  For example, suppose you come up with a project idea that will discuss the differences between colonial New England and colonial Virginia.  It might seem like this topic is straightforward and does not require an argument, that it is simply a matter of finding the “right answer.”  However, even here you need to construct a paper guided by a larger argument.  You might argue that the main differences between colonial New England and Virginia were grounded in contrasting visions of colonization.  Or you might argue that the differences resulted from accidents of geography or from extant alliances between regional Indian groups.  Or you might make an argument that draws on all of these factors.  Regardless, when you make these types of assertions, you are making an argument that requires historical evidence.  Any history paper you write will be driven by an argument demanding evidence from sources and this narrative and its sources becomes your digital project. 

Here are a few samples from previous students:

Project Ideas – Week 4 and 5

Brainstorm ideas for the final project and start thinking about what research questions are behind your interest in these ideas. Coming up with two ideas, write at least 4-5 sentences explaining the idea and the research interest behind it. Do not think in terms of a digital project yet, rather look to this portion as a traditional research project. You may change your mind as you progress through the semester, but keep in mind that the earlier you begin working on your project, the easier it will be.

This assignment is not given a letter or numerical grade, but if you do not turn it in you will lose points on your final project grade.

Proposal (think of this as approximately 10% of your grade)

Your project proposal will be due during Week 9 (by noon on March 12) and should address three key components:

    1. Your research question developed from this prompt: “I am studying ______, because I want to find out who/how/why _______, in order to understand how/why/what ______.” (1%)
    2. Your thesis statement (2%)
      • Take from your Slack work #research-question to refine your thesis statement.
    3. At least 5-7 credible sources (primary and secondary) must be cited to show that background research has been done to frame the project. (2%)
      • Please include a link to your Zotero library 
    4. Include a 2/3 paragraphs that document your research process and findings on locating sources (including the databases they came from). Consider your search strategies, your methods of evaluation, and your ultimate findings. (5%)
      • What sources did you find?
      • What did you learn from reading these sources? 
      • After reading those sources, what direction might you take your final project?
      • What did you learn about finding primary and secondary sources online?
      • What do you know now about your topic that you did not know previously?
      • What new and remaining questions do you have? In retrospect, how might you approach this task differently?

    You will post your proposal on your website as “Project Proposal”

    Project Outline (think of this as approximately 10% of your grade)

    Your project outline will be due during Week 11 and should address: 

    An outline is helpful in giving you a sense of the overall structure of your paper and how best to organize your ideas.  You need to decide how to arrange your argument in a way that will make the most sense to your reader.  Perhaps you decide that your argument is most clear when presented chronologically, or perhaps you find that it works best with a thematic approach.  There is no one right way to organize a history paper; it depends entirely on the prompt, on your sources, and on what you think would be most clear to someone reading it.

    An effective outline includes the following components: the research question from the prompt (that you wrote down in the Proposal), your working thesis, the main idea of each body paragraph, and the evidence (from both primary and secondary sources) you will use to support each body paragraph.  Be as detailed as you can when putting together your outline.

    Check in meeting (Dates TBD)

    Sign up for a timeslot in Calendly to meet with me. We will discuss the progress you’ve made on your project, brainstorm ideas and strategies for troubleshooting, provide feedback, and assist with any challenges you are facing.

    This assignment is not given a letter or numerical grade, but if you do not meet with me, you will lose points on your final project grade.

    Final Project (think of this as approximately 80% of your grade)

    You’re going to build out your project on your class portfolio using Omeka. Each project must contain:

    1. Easy-to-follow Navigation and Menus that help guide the reader logically through the site – from exhibit, to collections, items, and simple pages;
      • Tip: include an “How to Navigate” simple page if you think your navigation is not clear
      • Tip: you will have two navigations – one for your exhibit and one for the whole Omeka site
    2. A written narrative, which is placed within your exhibit. (The equivalent to 4-6 double-spaced pages of text, ~ 1000-1500 words). This narrative must include an introduction to your topic (including the argument you are making and a well-constructed thesis statement) and any relevant context and evidence you’re using to support that argument. Please note: Your narrative will not be in one, linear location, rather placed in your exhibit pages;
    3. At least five historical images/artifacts that you have the legal right to republish;
      • These objects should be pulled from your Items and/or Collections
    4. At least two visual elements from your Skills Assessment—map, timeline, Flourish chart, Thinglink, or other similar graphical element– that help support your argument;
      • These visuals must be incorporated into your Omeka exhibit
        • Points will be deducted if they live outside of your Omeka exhibit
    5. Links to your online evidence (original sources) and/or scholarship (secondary sources) that you used to support your argument or provide historical context;
    6. A bibliography of all sources, formatted in Chicago Style (or MLA if you are not a (art) history major or minor) as a Simple Page;
    7. Design elements (theme, color, font, etc.) that are aesthetically appropriate for your project;
      • Tip: think about using a theme that best matches your topic. Don’t limit yourself to the three pre-loaded themes.
    8. An “About” page that includes your name, small bio, and what your project is about (Simple page).
      • Tip: This “About” page does not live within your Omeka exhibit, but on your main Omeka Page
    9. A “Reflection” page that offers a reflection on the project process itself. It should include your rationale for organizing the site the way you did, any challenges you faced in your research and how you overcame them, and anything else you think I should know to grade your project.**
      • Tip: This “Reflection” page does not live within your Omeka exhibit, but on your main Omeka Page
      • **You can add your Reflection Page as a WordPress Entry and link to your Omeka exhibit or you can create Simple Pages within Omeka to house these.
    10. A “Portfolio” page that houses all of your completed Skills Assessments -not used in your project/exhibit (Simple Page)
      • Thinglink
      • Timeline
      • HTML/CSS
      • Visualization/Map(s)
        • StoryMap
        • Google Map
        • Flourish
      • WordPress (this does not have to be linked in your Omeka site, but should be up-to-date with navigation, design, etc.)

    These are minimum requirements. Beyond these, it is up to you to decide what else your site needs to contain and how you should present those elements in order to make and support a coherent historical argument.

    There is no final exam. However, you will post your link to your Omeka site and your reflection (if it is in WordPress) on to your Final Self-Evaluation  no later than May 7, 2024 by 4:15 pm. Late projects will lose 20 points a day regardless of the quality of work. The last day work is accepted is May 8, 2024 at 10 pm.

    What should I be working on each week?

    • Weeks 1–5: Become familiar with digital history and some of the projects that scholars have created.
    • Weeks 3-7: Form a basic question about a topic of your choice. Begin investigating sources at the DPLA and other databases to see whether your research question is feasible. By the end of week 7, you should be have found enough sources that you can settle on a particular topic and question.
    • Week 10: This is a crucial week, because during this week you will learn how to create the website that will host your final project (with an Omeka component). By the end of this week, you should have a site and the beginning of content for it. You can begin adding primary sources with the appropriate metadata to Omeka.
    • Weeks 11: During this week we will focus on creating exhibits in Omeka to tell a story or make an argument.
    • Weeks 11-14 : During these weeks we will make visualizations in class.  If you have found some other quantitative information, use that too. By the end of these weeks, you should have created the visualizations mentioned above.
    • Weeks 11-14: You should create an exhibit that ties together the materials on your site, and you should begin drafting the introductory essay. By the end of these weeks, all of the materials for your project should be on your WordPress site, and you should have begun to tie them together.
    • Week 15: During this week you will give a brief presentation on your project, which need not be finished when you present. You should use the time to put the finishing touches on your project.

    What do I do if I get stuck or feel like I’m falling behind?

    Feel free to e-mail me with questions gbeasle1@gmu.edu or we can arrange a meeting (virtually) to help you make progress. You can also ask me to look at your work in progress to see if it is going in the right direction.

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