• Each student enrolled in this course is required to visit a pre-approved historic site or historical memorial in Dallas or Dallas County, outside of regular class hours, and to write a 5-page (typed, double-spaced) essay about the site or memorial.
• Pre-approved sites are listed below. Any student who wishes to write a report about some other site or memorial must obtain advance permission from the professor.
• Reports must conform to specific content and formatting requirements, which are detailed below. The report due date is posted on the Course Calendar.
• This report will count for twenty percent (20%) of the student's overall course grade.

Here are the pre-approved sites. You only have to visit one! (IMPORTANT: Click on the links to access specific information and instructions for each site.)

• Old Red Museum of Dallas County History, Dallas, Texas (admission charged)
• Freedmen's' Cemetery, Dallas, Texas (free)
• Frontiers of Flight Museum, Love Field, Dallas Texas (Admission charged but a student discount is available.)
• Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas (Admission charged, but a student discount is available.)
• Texas Vietnam War Memorial, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas (Free, except during the State Fair, which is usually in late September and early October.)

Basic Requirements:

1. Student must physically visit one of the above-listed sites (or some similar site approved in advance by the professor). The report must include either a photograph of the student taken at the site that includes signage of some kind and an admission ticket stub (if admission is charged).
2. Student agrees to assume all risks involved in visiting a site, as well as pay all travel expenses and costs of admission, if any.
3. Each report must include a minium of three citations in Turabian or Chicago style from the Dallas Morning News archive or historical archive, which is accessible through the Databases section of the College Library website. The professor will demonstrate the use of this database for students early in the course.
4. Student must submit, one week prior to the final exam, a five-page report that meets certain specific requirements in regard to both form and content.
5. SUMMER STUDENTS WHO MEET DAILY HAVE UNTIL THE DAY BEFORE THE FINAL EXAM TO SUBMIT THE REPORT.

FORM & CONTENT REQUIREMENTS for REPORTS

Form

1. The report must consist of no fewer than five and no more than ten typed or computer processed double-spaced pages, with margins set at 1-inch top and bottom and 1¼ inches each side (these are the default MS Word margins).
2. The font selected must be 12 point Times New Roman (MS Word default) or 12 point Garamond, or something similar. No san-serif font (such as Arial or Helvetica) may be used.
3. All paragraphs should be indented one-half (0.5) inch.
4. No overly large spaces between paragraphs are permitted.
5. Each page must be numbered at the bottom, center.
6. The report must be submitted as a hardcopy, stapled in the upper left-hand corner.
7. The report must include a cover sheet that is not counted as part of the report. The cover sheet must contain the student's name, the course number and section, the professor's name, the semester, and the title of the report. The cover sheet MUST conform exactly to the style used for the sample cover sheet. Any other formatting style will cause you to lose points!
8. The essay must also be accompanied by a bibliography, which also does not count as one of the five pages.
9. When citing sources, the student should use endnotes, not footnotes.
10. Endnotes should be in Turabian/Chicago style. (See links below where examples may be found.)

Content

The report must:

1. Include the location of the site, its days, dates, and hours of operation (if applicable), whether it charges an admission fee (and how much), and the identification of the operator and/or owner (if applicable).
2. Explain the connection of the site to the applicable period of American history.
3. Include some relevant data about the person or persons whose life or career the site commemorates.
4. Include some personal student comments about the experience of visiting the site.

Item 1 above should take up no more than half a page and item 2 should not exceed a single page unless the student submits a report in excess of five pages. In other words, items 3 and 4 should make up the bulk of the report.

See also the links to access specific information and instructions for each site ("How It Works" above).

IMPORTANT REMINDER:

A photograph of yourself visiting the site, which includes some signage or recognizable feature, AND an admissions ticket stub (if you visit a site charging admission), must accompany your report!

Avoiding Plagiarism

Many students do not seem to understand that copying another writer's material word-for-word and trying to pass it off as one's own constitutes PLAGIARISM, which is a violation of college policy. You may use short passages (no more than a paragraph or two) from other people's work but if you do, you must enclose it in quotation marks "like this" and cite the source.

Facts are not copyrightable. You may obtain facts from other people's work but when you write about them, use your own words.

Believe it or not, college professors can usually detect plagiarism. If you turn in a report or essay, any part of which is plariarized material, IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Furthermore, you may also be liable to some penalty under the college code of conduct.

Read the Indiana University Writing Tutorial Services article Avoiding Plagiarism.

Sources:

Students may use both printed and/or electronic secondary sources but are strongly encouraged to read and cite primary documents, such as letters, diaries, journals, Acts of Congress, and contemporary newspaper and magazine articles, many of which can be found both in libraries and on the World Wide Web. Some of these may be accessible through databases to which your public or college library subscribes. Ask a librarian! They are there to help!

NOTE: Students who cite at least one primary document are more likely to receive a better grade than those who reference secondary sources exclusively.

Sample Cover Sheet

Sample Cover Sheet (PDF)
Use this as a model for your cover sheet.

Need Help?

Contact Richland College Writing Center to get free help and guidance!

Some Useful/Interesting Links:

• University of Georgia Libraries Turabian Style Guide (for footnotes)
• St. Martin's Handbook Chicago Format for In-Text Citations and Notes (for footnotes)
• Indiana University Writing Tutorial Services Avoiding Plagiarism

DUE DATE:

All reports are due no later than one calendar week prior to your final exam. Late reports will be accepted through final exam day but all late reports will be penalized 10 points.

Note from Dr. Butler: If you turn in a report early or on time, I will grade and return it by the day of the final exam. Papers turned in late may or may not be graded by that time and will most likely not be returned.

Any questions? Contact the Professor