Research Assignment: The First World War as Seen Through the Pages of The New York Times
News of the First World War in Europe quickly crossed the Atlantic and made headlines in The New York Times, as well as other major newspapers. Newspaper records offer one means of learning about the conflicts from reporters who were, if not on the front lines themselves, perhaps just a few steps removed from the conflict.
Zahnow Library has full digital access to The New York Times covering 1914 to 1918. This will provide the raw data for the work described below.
Step 1:
To take the first step, do the following: 1) Identify the month of your birth; 2) Identify a span of seven days during that month (e.g., September 1-8); 3) Identify a year between 1914 and 1918, to attach to your span of seven days (e.g., September 1-8, 1915). (This initial seven-day span cannot go beyond November 11, 1918, the official end of hostilities between Britain, France, and Germany.)
Step 2:
Then, access The New York Times Historical database (provided by ProQuest) made available through Zahnow Library. The New York Times Historical will be listed among the databases provided on the left menu bar of the library’s homepage.
Step 3:
Select THREE diverse articles on the nations of Europe and the war that you find either to be of personal interest or that you believe contain critical information regarding the war. Any article you choose focus primarily on an event taking place in Europe, or focusing directly on a nation of Europe (including the Ottoman Empire).
Step 4:
Prepare written summaries of the three articles. Each summary should be approximately 150 words, be written in clear and concise language, and address the topic as well as the substance of the article.
Step 5:
Your instructor will review your summaries and respond to you indicating which one of the three articles might be effectively used for your continuing research and writing. established.
Step 6:
After having received word from the instructor on which article can provide a solid base for continued research, you may begin work on your short research paper, which will be about 1750 words. Search for additional Times articles related to the topic of the article you have chosen.
Step 7:
Choose secondary sources to assist in the writing of your research paper. You may gather a wide variety of secondary sources but are required to make substantive use of at least TWO of the following sources available through Zahnow
Library.:
E-Books (Zahnow Online):
Gatrell, Peter. Russia’s First World War: a social and economic history. New York: Routledge, 2014.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/svsu/detail.action?docID=1733950
Gilbert, Martin. The First World War: a complete history. New York: RosettaBooks, 2014.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/svsu/detail.action?docID=5503177
Neiberg, Michael S. Fighting the Great War: A Global History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.P., 2005
*access through the eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) in the Databases link on the main library page
Strachan, Hew, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford, U.P., 2014.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/svsu/detail.action?docID=1661333
Tucker, Spencer C., ed. The European Powers in the First World War: an encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishers, 1996.
*access through the ProQuest Reference in the Database link on the main library page
Paper Books (Zahnow Shelves):
Gilbert, Martin. The First World War: a complete history. New York: Henry Holt, 1996.
Howard, Michael. The First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Knopf, 1999.
Lyons, Michael J. World War I: a short history. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000.
Neiberg, Michael S. Fighting the Great War: A Global History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.P., 2005
Strachan, Hew. The First World War: a new Illustrated History. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003.
Paper Books (Zahnow Reference Section):
Tucker, Spencer C., ed. The Encyclopedia of World War I. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
Tucker, Spencer C., ed. The European Powers in the First World War: an encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishers, 1996.
Step 8:
Prepare a research paper that incorporates both the information gained from reading your New York Times articles as well as the secondary sources you use.
Step 9:
Place your name in the upper left-hand corner. No cover page is necessary.
Construct a title for the paper centered just above the text.
At the end of the paper, you should include a bibliography in Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) format that contains all of the newspaper and secondary sources you have used.
