Project Assignments
Past Project Examples
Final Projects from Similar Versions of this Class
Final Projects from Earlier Versions of the Class
- Exploring the Memorials at Westminster Abbey
- Overcoming the Challenges of Digital Research
- Web Scraping and OpenRefine
- American Executions from 1606 to 2002
Source analysis (Individual Assignment)
Click here for the course assignment repository
Locate a digital source that is related to you (or your group’s) general research aims. I will allow a generous leeway in terms of how much the source relates to your final topic, so even a source that is indirectly related is acceptable for now. Remember, although researches start off with a topic of interest, they nearly always end up changing their questions.
This exercise is designed to (a) get you thinking critically about an digital source and (b) what are the possibilities and problems of using that source to illuminate your possible research interests. If in the process of doing your source analysis you realize that your research interest might need significant reworking, that is okay. I expect everyone’s topics to change over the course of the semester. The aim of this exercise is to teach you to think about how to approach any digital source.
In a 1-2 page response, answer (when applicable) the following questions…
- Where is your source located (URL? Or traditional media)
- What kind of source is it? (Diaries, records of objects, data tables, etc…)
- Who, or what organization, is responsible for hosting the source (if online), who gathered the information?
- Is there any information available discussing the process by which the information was gathered, or how the digital project was constructed?
- How transparent is the project about the choices they made in gathering and transforming the data for digitalization?
- Do the organizations or individuals involved in gathering and publishing your data set have any stated goals or agendas?
- Do the organizations or individuals involved seem to have any unstated agendas or goals?
- If a 3rd party funded the project, who are they? Do they have any particular perspective?
- Do the datasets involved reflect the viewpoints of particular groups or institutions, and if so, who?
- What kinds of categorizations do you find in the data, and do they seem reasonable?
Proposal and Bibliography (Group Assignment)
Next, I need a short proposal, telling me more about what each group intends to do for their project. This will help me guide you in developing your project.
- In one to two paragraphs, what is your research topic, what question(s) do you want to explore?
- In one to two paragraphs, what is your data source? How will you get it? What kind of work will you have to do to prepare it? What tool(s) will you use to transform and analyze it? Your answer to this should give me an overall picture of how you intend to get from point A to Z.
- Describe what each group member intends to do.
- Finally, I need a bibliography (10-15 sources), with light annotation (2-3 sentences) explaining how this source relates to your project. Bibliographical sources can include…
- Related historical research (of a traditional variety)
- Research/discussion of digital methods you will be using
- Debates about digital theory relevant to your project
- Digital projects employing methods you hope to use
- Digital work that has already been done on your historical topic
- Other (as long as it relates)
Final Pilot Project Template
To learn more about the final project and get the starting template by visiting the template repo