You will be doing some research for this course and then write a paper that reports on your findings.
For the research, you should locate and use a minimum of 7 sources [3 primary sources and 4 secondary sources]. Your primary sources may be found in the digital archives accessed through the Library’s newspaper and historical archive databases or interview with senior/elderly people. If you choose to use primary sources other than those, please have them approved by your instructor before you begin your research. A good secondary source is one of the textbooks or readings that we have used in class.
Your research report should be at least 4-5 pages long or a minimum of [1500 words] excluding the bibliography. For information on formatting your paper properly and using correct citations, please refer to the Social Sciences Style Guide on Blackboard. You may use APA style; MLA style; Chicago Style or Harvard Style, but you should be consistent when using any style with both in-text citation and bibliography.
The research outline:
- Introduction: background of the topic and thesis statement or research question
- Body: the research may have from 3-4 main points depends on the topic. Each point should include explanations, examples and details.
- Conclusion: in the conclusion you need to reward your thesis
- Bibliography: list of all the resources
- Appendices: to add the interview script [if any] or any used documents
How to analyze historical sources:
- Locate the articles/books about the topic.
- Read the source.
- What kind of source are they?Do all the articles/books agree with each other?
- Reporting an incident?
- Commenting on something that happened?
- General interest or informative?
- Editorial?
- Does one source present a different point of view?
- Do you think the articles/book present facts, or do they push a perspective?
- Write a short essay analyzing the articles you found using all the points listed above.
Suggestions for research:
- Religious Diversity in the lower Gulf region during the Pre-Islamic Era
- The Kingdom of Hormuz and the Portuguese
- Qasimi and Bu Said war
- Julfar
- Baniyas Tribe
- Treaties with the British
- The Trucial Coast
- Rulers and/or the people of the Trucial States
- British role in the region during WW1 and WW2
- The Buraimi Dispute
- Discovery of oil.
- Bedouins
- Pearl diving
- Early history of a tribe [student should select one tribe]
- British wars against Ras-Al-Khaimah
Library Sources:
Times of London Digital Archives
New York Times Digital Archives
British Library
National Archives
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/journals/srchbm.htm
