You will be given broad latitude in selecting a topic for your final, so long as it pertains to urban history in the United States. Let me suggest two approaches you might consider.
Thematic Approach
Select a broad historical theme and apply it to US urban history in particular. Relevant themes which we have, or will, touch on in some detail include: migration and immigration; gender and women; urban economies and urban growth; class, work, and/or unions; race and ethnicity; politics; policing; New York City, Chicago; suburbanization; technology.
You’ll note that all of these topics are rather broad, intentionally so. You’ll want to narrow the topic, first in chronological terms. That is, if for example you are going to discuss New York City, you do not want to discuss it from 1650 to the present, but rather during a more limited period of time. You would also probably focus more on certain aspects of the city’s history.
Narrow Topic/Event Approach
Rather than choosing a broad theme and narrowing it, you could choose a more discrete topic, such as a particular event or small topic relevant to urban history. For example, we discussed the Boston Massacre in significant detail and more recently the Haymarket Affair (in less detail). Either of these events, and thousands of other famous occurrences in US cities, would be fair game for a topic.
Sources
Regardless of project format, you will need to base your work on historical sources, both primary (historical documents and other sources from the relevant time period) and secondary (academic history written by historians). Your starting point for primary and secondary sources should be material that was or will be handed out in class, all of which is available in Blackboard.
You must draw on a minimum of two primary source readings and two secondary source readings. At least one of the primary source readings and one of the secondary source readings must come from outside of class materials. This is not a research paper, but you will need to locate at least one outside secondary source and one outside primary source, though you may well want/need more (additional sources might make the project easier to complete).
The proposal is a critical part of the project and should include: a short summary of the proposed project; an outline of the content (including sources) you plan to include; a rough timeline for completion; and a description of the attributes you believe the completed project should have in order to earn an A grade. You will receive feedback on your proposal to ensure that we have a mutual understanding of what a successful completion of your final project will look like.
Citations
Historians use the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) citation method, but for this paper you can use either CMOS or MLA, whichever is easier for you. Purdue Owl remains one of the best online resources for citation matters. The introductory page for CMOS is at https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/chicago_style_introduction.html and for MLA is at https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html so please use those web pages as your primary guidance for citation. The paper must also include a bibliography. It doesn’t need to be annotated, just list the sources cited in your research according to CMOS or MLA format (I will upload more info on that to Blackboard later). Remember to arrange entries alphabetically by authors’ last names. I will be looking for proper citations but not obsessing over perfection, and I’m happy to take a look at initial work to see if you are on track.