Scenario
You work for Quantigration, Inc., a semiconductor manufacturing plant headquartered in the United States. Capitalizing on advancements in its product, Quantigration has aggressively expanded and acquired fabrication plants and workers around the world.
In an effort to be more of a thought leader (an organization that is viewed as authoritative and influential in its industry), the company is starting a new public blog, and the organizers are currently taking proposals for regular columns.
Your manager, Gregory Russo, wants to propose a regular history column that focuses specifically on manufacturing. As a bit of a history buff, he wants to share his passion with others and thinks it could distinguish the company’s voice from that of its peers.
Gregory has already started a proposal and gathered lots of research on some potential topics for an accompanying sample article. Unfortunately, he just got assigned to an important project with a tight deadline and doesn’t have time to put it all together. He’s given you access to his notes and asked you to finish his proposal and write a sample article to be submitted to the organizers.
Directions
Part 1: Column Proposal
Gregory has already started a proposal but has asked you to finish it because he doesn’t have enough time. Using the partially completed draft in the Deliverables section, fill out the areas that he has marked. He’s specifically asked you to:
- Using your understanding of historiography, explain how a company perspective like Quantigration’s can affect the study of the history of manufacturing. In other words, how might historians examine these blog posts in 20-30 years?
- Outline a research process for future bloggers to follow
Part 2: Sample Article
In addition to the proposal, Gregory wants to submit a sample article to the company blog to be used as the first in a series. He’s already gathered some research on two topics and would like you to write a sample article on one of the topics he’s chosen.
- Start by looking over Gregory’s research and choosing the topic that interests you most. You can review the primary and secondary sources he has gathered in the Gregory’s Research document in the Deliverables section. He has gathered information on:
- The Triangle Shirtwaist Company
- The Ford Assembly Line
- Read through all of the sources on your chosen topic and start to consider information or ideas that stand out to you so that you can develop a research question. Gregory has asked you to develop a research question that is “appropriately sized,” meaning:
- It is more complex than a yes-or-no question, or something that can be answered with a fact (For example, “Who founded the Ford Motor Company” would be too small. “What was the impact of [factor] on [outcome]” would require further interpretation of the evidence.)
- It provokes discussion and leads to more questions
- It can be explored using the sources he’s provided
- Choose at least four sources from your chosen topic to support your article. Gregory has asked you to include authoritative sources of information, and to use a balance of primary and secondary sources.
- Write a 4- to 6-page (1,000- to 1,500-word) article on your chosen topic. Your article should synthesize perspectives from your sources, both primary and secondary, to form a cohesive historical narrative. It should also effectively communicate this narrative in a way that is supported by evidence from your research. Gregory recommended using the following outline to structure your article:
- State your research question.
- Write a brief description of each source and its author, identifying it as primary or secondary.
- Write a narrative description of the events supported by evidence from your research. (This will be the largest part of your article.)
- Finish with a conclusion in which you restate your research question and offer a tentative answer.
What to Submit
Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:
- Part 1: Column Proposal (Short responses, based on Gregory’s draft)
Finish Gregory’s email to the blog organizer using his draft letter as a basis. - Part 2: Sample Article (4–6 pages, or 1,000–1,500 words)
Write a sample article on one of the topics noted in Gregory’s research. The Gregory’s Research Notes document contains a collection of resources that Gregory has gathered for this sample article.
