CHST603 The Third Reich
ESSAY INFORMATION AND SUGGESTED THEMES
Outline
Should consist of one double-spaced page with a description of your proposed essay, an argument if you have one and/or your approach to the subject and the significance of your topic to the Third Reich if not obvious. (Approximately 250 words.)
A one or two page annotated bibliography should accompany the essay description. This should consist of the author, title, publisher, city, and year of publication of the book, journal article, or other source and what the source offers for your essay.
You will be assessed on the uniqueness of you subject and the depth of your sources. The use of academic articles, many of which are available online through the Ryerson Library is encouraged. (These are not considered "websites.") If you are not familiar with academic article databases like JSTOR, go immediately to a librarian at the Ry Library and ask them to show you how to use these databases. You can access them from home and many (but not all) articles are available for downloading in full text.
You may at any time after submitting a proposal, change your approach, sources, and even completely change your topic but check with me first if you change your topic.
Essays should be 2,500 words in length (approximately 10 pages of 12 pt text double spaced), they should be based on a minimum of five sources (not including course texts), and should not be based on unapproved Internet websites, (2 marks deducted for every Wikipedia or like citation), encyclopedias, course textbook, etc. If you intend to include websites, provide their URLs in the proposal for approval. Print material, or primary sources available via an internet website, are not considered "websites."
Essays must have a bibliography and footnoted citations in the MLA/Chicago style. Essays that do not provide a page number in the citations (or no citations) will be automatically failed. See Course Outline for preferred citation style and this link for citation formats www.aresearchguide.com/8firstfo.html
The best essays will attempt to resolve some kind of
controversy or historical debate and will often feature sources that are
contradictory. As a historian you
should critically engage your sources and attempt to resolve these
contradictions with your own analysis and opinion. History is as much interpreting events as recounting events
of the past—why and how things happened are as essential to a
history essay as an account of when and what happened.
The past is not a “done deal”—it is constantly changing every time
it is written about.
Suggested Essay Themes
Here are a few ideas and themes describing some possible
topics for an essay.
1. A biography of a
lesser known Third Reich military figure, party functionary, politician, business
figure, writer, journalist, or civilian, male or female, who
might have made a contribution to the history of the Third Reich.
2. An
exploration of a particular theme, policy, crucial moment or aspect in the
biography of a more prominent figure. For
example, Hess's decision to fly to England,
Speer's appointment as Minister of War Production; the decision to implement the
Final Solution; to invade Russia. Do not attempt to write a complete biography of a major figure—pick a
decisive moment in their life or a particular theme.
Remember—you only have 10 pages!
3.
A particular battle or campaign, significant to the outcome of the war,
to military tactics or technologies. Explore
the historical debates about a battle and the elements attributed to its
outcome.
4.
An exploration of a military technology and/or the individual designer
behind it, a development in military management—logistics, medical care,
prisoner-of-war policy, recruitment, transport, espionage, aerial surveillance,
naval issues.
5. A look at a particular social, business, or political institution—the Catholic Church, the Hitler Youth, Hitler Maidens, the SS, the Gestapo, the Reichsbank--again, you probably cannot write an essay on the whole history of the institution--address a particular policy or period or problem in the institution's history.
6. A foreign policy issue or foreign relations with a particular country or a particular period or diplomatic figure, conference, crisis.
7. A look at cultural institutions of the period—music, art, theater, literature, cinema.
8.
A look at a service or institution in the
Third Reich: nursing, hospitals, orphanages, social policy, policing,
health care, communications, railways, banks. How did they
impact the conduct of the war? What effect did the war have on them?
9.
The role of professionals in the Third Reich:
doctors, lawyers, journalists, scientists.
10. A study of a war crimes trial, a particular crime or type of crime, a perpetrator--individual or institutional, legal aspects of the crime, the war crime trial process.