Your essay must be based on one of the topics from the list provided or another topic pre-approved by the professor. ONLY ONE PERSON IS ALLOWED TO WRITE ON EACH TOPIC. You need to choose a topic by February 9. If you know for sure that you want a certain topic, please let me know ASAP because once someone chooses a topic, no one else will be able to do the same one.  Your essay should be a minimum of 1500 words. The essays can be longer, if you wish, but not shorter!  You should use Turabian/Chicago style—the accepted style for history papers—(I will also accept MLA or APA as long as you are consistent) for citations, and your papers should be clear, detailed, and grammatically correct (be sure to proofread!). Points will be lost if this is not the case.  Use direct quotes very sparingly (no more than one or two very brief quotes per essay; quoted material will not count towards the word limit) and only to highlight a point or two that you are trying to make. In other words, the essays should be in your own words. Be sure to put any direct quotes into quotation marks ("") to avoid plagiarism. Quoted material will not count towards the word limit!  DO NOT submit an old essay that you've done in a previous class and try to pass it off as new research (yes, this has happened in the past and it is cheating!)  For each of the essays, you will need to use the internet and also books, articles, or periodicals. But remember to put any/all the information you learn into your own words!  You should use at least 3–4 sources (books, journals, internet sites, etc.) while researching your essays. Each essay should contain a bibliography page that lists the sites (and any other sources) used. Wikipedia can give you a basic overview of a topic but is not considered a reliable source because the information on it can be changed and is not necessarily verified. You should only use sources that are considered historically acceptable, such as reputable books, journals, or websites. They should be written by a historian or other academic. You may also use primary sources, but they should be from newspapers or other accepted sources (peer-reviewed sources). If you have a question about whether a source is acceptable, please contact me or Southworth Library.  Please don't use images (pictures, maps, diagrams, etc.) in your essay. This tends to make essay submission very difficult.  VERY IMPORTANT!: Completed essays should be submitted as Word documents in the dropbox provided.