History 258 Industrial Revolution in America
Spring 2000

Guidelines for Research Reports

Oral (10-12 minutes):
  1. Review why you chose your topic and the research strategy you adopted--with reference to relevant assigned readings, including Haskins and Jeffrey, Understanding Quantitative History.
  2. Explain how you classified, sorted, analyzed data.
  3. Present your results thus far, perhaps illustrating with appropriate tables or charts.
  4. Discuss historical significance of your findings in light of your reasons for selecting the topic.
  5. Invite questions, suggestions from the class about your work.

Written (4-5 pages):
  1. Review why you chose your topic and the research strategy you adopted--with reference to relevant assigned readings, including Haskins and Jeffrey, Understanding Quantitative History.
  2. Explain how you classified, sorted, analyzed data and give rationale for your methodological choices.
  3. Present your results, illustrating with appropriate tables or charts.
  4. Discuss historical significance of your findings in light of your reasons for selecting the topic and the material covered in this course.
  5. Discuss methodological limitations of your research and ways you would extend the project if you had more time.
  6. Evaluate your overall experience using quantitative analysis in this course, with emphasis on the research project. What role do you think quantitative analysis should play in historical research and writing? What kinds of questions and studies do you think it is best and least suited for.