Your final project for the class is a history of a science research paper. (please read all of this closely!)
Independent research is both a requirement and an opportunity. I say opportunity because – within reason… you can research the history of any space-related topic that you want. This does not have to be a chore – and I hope you will actually have some fun working on it. It’s a rare luxury in life to be able to be curious about something and have the time and energy to be able to research it and find out the answer. You will enjoy this much more if you ask a question you genuinely want to know about. Consider making it relevant to YOUR major. How careful and detailed of a job you do is a direct reflection of how much you care about the answer (rather than just your grade).
It also says a great deal about you as a student… Make sure it says what you want it to say.
Unless I specifically approve otherwise, all papers must be on a topic that ENDS before the year 2000. (e.g. You can’t write on SpaceX or Blue Origin)
Otherwise I am open to nearly any topic.
Make sure that you can find appropriate academic sources to back up your arguments. (e.g. if you want to explore abduction cases in Oregon, that is potentially ok only so long as you can find sources that are scholarly and not artbell.com or some such.)
Make sure that you can actually accomplish the task in the time required.
I am aware that this is not your only project or class and gently warn against biting off more than you can chew. Some topics look very cool – but simply require too much time and effort. Find a balance.
Make sure there is actually some history to examine. It’s easy to get sucked into a cool forward-looking topic, but just be sure that there is some foundation/history behind it that you can research. (e.g. if you want to explore human missions to Mars, you will be discussing the history of some aspect of the various programs that have been proposed over the years) The more concrete and discrete your topic is, the easier it will be for you to do a good job on the paper.
Your topic should be a discrete point in history that has a ‘before’ and an ‘after.’ Things don’t just happen. Many little events coalesce into greater events – but at any point, things could have gone another way. You might have chosen to go to the University of Oregon, or to Texas State, or to Victoria College in New Zealand, or to do a year of service in the Peace Corps before entering school. Those different decisions would have literally changed nearly everything about your life today. The same is true with all of history and THAT is what your paper should explore. Can you identify and examine the personal, social, scientific, political, geographic, and other variables that made things turn out one way instead of another?
Remember, try to keep the papers about the history of the idea / technology / person rather than about the idea / technology itself. e.g. Don’t spend 3 pages explaining the technical details of the lunar module on Apollo 13 and only 1 on the who/when/where/what it means.
Also, a gentle reminder to please cite your sources and, even then, do not copy paste exact text unless it is a direct quote.
Connect the history and science to the larger society of the day. Why were they doing this work? Who was paying? What was the impact? Is there a personal story you can tell that reflects the larger context? Were there people against the project? Why? Exploring historical newspapers and magazines from the day will teach you a lot about how things were perceived. Nothing happens in a vacuum (pun intended!) – in this class, you want to explore the larger story!
My essay’s topic is Space Food History, and pls read the instructions carefully. In upload, I have my Annotated Bibliography pls use at least 4-5 sources in there. And try to find 2 more sources into the essay.
