HISTORY RESEARCH PAPER
You must write a research essay of 2,500–3,000 words (min 8 double-spaced typed pages in length, not including title page, bibliography, and footnotes or endnotes; maximum length 10 pages) on one of the topics from the list on the next page. The topics are broadly defined, so you should feel free to narrow them down to suit your own interest in the topic you choose
You should use at least six sources. You can use sources from the required course readings, but not the modules/lectures themselves. Moreover, your paper’s sources much include at least three outside sources (including recommended readings and those listed in the course bibliography. Five percent (5%) will be deducted from your paper mark (out of 100) for each source you do not use. You must make meaningful and substantial use of each of your sources. Sources that have obviously been included merely to pad the bibliography will not count toward the minimum requirement.
It is important that your essay follows the proper format and style. Elements of style and readability will be given much greater weight in the grading of the research essay than test. Before proceeding, you should read the “Essay Writing Guidelines for History Essays” in this course outline. As the guidelines state, citations must follow Chicago style (for more information than is provided in the guidelines, see the Chicago Manual of Style).
Use only scholarly articles and books (e.g. those published by academic/university presses; those with well-documented/footnoted sources, etc.). Begin with the useful bibliographies found on the course’s blackboard site and in Thompson and Randall’s Ambivalent Allies. You may include in your sources any of the course material that covers your topic
The electronic database called America: History and Life will likely be the most useful bibliographical guide for recent articles in Canada-U.S. history. JSTOR (which contains older material) and the Canadian Periodical Index (CPI) might also be helpful. Some of the journal articles listed in these searchable databases may be available online; others can be found in the library (note: if using the CPI, you can use articles from journals, such as the Canadian Historical Review, but do not use articles from popular magazines, such as Maclean’s, or newspapers).
Many of the articles cited in the above bibliographies are available as online versions, which you can access on {edited} Library website (Opens new window) either from home or at the Library.
Do not use Internet websites to write your papers (esp. Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias). In addition, do not use general textbooks (e.g. Illustrated History of Canada, Origins: Canadian History before Confederation, or A History of the Canadian Peoples), encyclopedias, or dictionaries
You may write an essay on any of the topics below, following the guidelines in the Course Outline as to length, number of required sources, type of sources acceptable, etc. Remember that this is a history course on Canada and the United States, so for general topics (e.g. the Second World War, Vietnam) you are required to focus on aspects of the topic that concern both countries and/or relations between them. You may choose to narrow (or even expand) your topic, where appropriate.
TOPICS:
1. Acid rain
2. Alaska Boundary Dispute
3. American investment in Canada
4. Annexation movements in Canada and the US
5. Anti-Americanism
6. Anti-Asian racism and legislation in Canada and the United States
7. Anti-Ballistic Missile defence
8. Arctic sovereignty
9. Auto pact
10. Borderlands
11. Canada and the American Revolution
12. Canada and the War on Terrorism
13. Canada and US Prohibition
14. Canada as a middle power
15. Canada-US Tourism
16. Canada, the US, and the Gulf War
17. Civil War (1861-1865) and Canada
18. Confederation and the United States
19. Council of Canadians
20. Cross-border migration
21. Cuba
22. Cultural exemption (Article 2005 of NAFTA)
23. Cultural mosaic/melting pot
24. Cultural protection and promotion policies
25. Deregulation in Canada and the United States
26. “Diplomacy of Constraint” in the Cold War’s hot wars
27. Economic nationalism
28. First Nations
29. First World War and Canada-US relations
30. Fisheries disputes
31. Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA)
32. Franco-Americans
33. Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
34. Functional Principle
35. Great Lakes borderlands
36. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements
37. Impact of 11 September 2001 on Canada-US relations
38. Impact of mass culture
39. Impact of the Cold War on Canada-US relations
40. International Joint Commission
41. Japanese Removal and Internment
42. Loyalists
43. Lynchpin theory of Canada in the Atlantic Triangle
44. Magazine industry and “split-run” magazines
45. Maine-New Brunswick Boundary
46. Manifest Destiny
47. Massey Commission
48. National Energy Program (NEP)
49. National Missile Defense (NMD)
50. National Policy and the branch plant economy
51. New Deal America, No Deal Canada
52. New Democratic Party and the United States
53. Nixon Shokku and Nixon Doctrine
54. North American Air Defence Agreement (NORAD)
55. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
56. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
57. Oregon Boundary Dispute
58. Pacific seal disputes
59. Petro-Canada
60. Political Culture
61. Quebec sovereignty and the united states
62. Quiet diplomacy
63. Rebellions of 1837 in Canada-US relations
64. Reciprocity agreement (1911)
65. Reciprocity Treaty (1854)
66. Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney
67. Second World War
68. Soft power
69. Softwood Lumber disputes
70. “special relationship”
71. St. Lawrence Seaway
72. The “Undefended border”: myth or reality
73. The role of Canada-US Joint Commissions/boards in overall relations
74. Third Option
75. Trade relations in the 1930s
76. Treaty of Ghent (1814)
77. Treaty of Washington (1871)
78. Trudeau’s foreign policies and the US
79. Vietnam
80. War of 1812
81. War resisters