Description
One of your options for special credit is to review ten history news articles (or any combination of history news articles and history projects totaling ten). The purpose of the optional history news articles assignment is to show you that articles related to your class material appear in mainstream news sources all the time. So if you do this assignment you will be looking for articles in a mainstream news source that specifically reference some aspect of the primary history you are studying (which is U.S. history between 1865 and 2000). The articles must come from a current newspaper, news website, or news magazine (meaning something published within the dates of you class term) and the articles must NOT come from a history or military newspaper or magazine or website, or a newspaper blog, or magazine blog, or history or military website. Nor should you use something from "This Day in History," which is more of an announcement than an article, and you should not use sources like the New York Times "Topics" or a website about obituaries since it defeats the purpose of the assignment which is to show you that there are articles all the time in mainstream news sources that relate to the primary history of your class.
Keep in mind that if you are looking for articles in a standard newspaper (like the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, New York Times, Daily Breeze, Wall Street Journal, or Daily News) you are most likely to find them in section A, but also check other sections, like the Obituary section and the Editorial page. When you find an appropriate article, clip it and attach it securely by staple or tape, to a standard sheet of paper, or, if you find your article online or want to scan the hard copy of your article, you can put it in an email with a link to it. Also put your name and class name, the date, and include the publication and page from which you got the article if you are submitting a hard copy. Then write a paragraph explaining what the article says that specifically mentions the primary history of your class and another paragraph explaining what parts of the article require some knowledge of the primary material of your class to understand. Remember, you are expected to turn in ten news articles if you do this optional assignment (or any combination of articles and projects totaling ten), so get started sooner than later even though the articles are not due until the start of the final exam. The idea here is to learn the history behind the stories in the news today to enhance your appreciation of the fact that knowing the past is relevant for understanding the present and acting upon the future. So keep your eyes open for historical items and write about them if you want to complete this assignment! You can turn in your articles, either individually or in total, anytime you like during the course term, but you should try and turn things in sooner than later and preferably at least one week prior to the due date in case an article is rejected and you need to do another.