Slavery: Plantation Sugar Economy in Puerto Rico

Guidelines are in Blackboard folder “Research paper”. The paper must be between 6-8 (cover & references pages do not count) original work, computer-typed and double-spaced on font 12 letter size paper, Chicago or MLA style with no less than five references. The student must select a topic from the list suggested in the guidelines and produce the paper using primary sources (newspapers, interviews, reports, etc.) and secondary sources (books, journal articles, visual media, etcetera). Maximum secondary sources are 3. The main textbook should be used as background reading.
Puerto Rican History to 1897
Research Paper guidelines
1. Select a topic that addresses any of the subtopics in the syllabus.

2. Formulate a question(s) that is going to set the framework of your paper

3. Conduct a preliminary research on sources about your topic. You must use at least
three sources and a maximum of five. The sources should include primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include: interviews, documents, official/government reports, documentaries, films, organization publications, newspapers, and etcetera. Secondary sources include: books, scholarly journals, and other printed documents. NOTE: Internet sources are not acceptable unless it is a reputable website such as an archival record or digital document. For example, many documents on Puerto Rican politics are available online. Be aware
of citing these sources properly, providing in the bibliography page website and date of access. DO NOT USE “Wikipedia” (only article “History of Puerto Rico”)

4. Once you select your research topic write a research statement (see item 2) and an
outline. The outline is a “blueprint” of how you are going to develop your paper.
A complete research paper should include a title, an introduction, body of work/analysis, a conclusion and a bibliography. The format of the bibliography must be consistent and follow the guidelines of the MLA or Social Science standards (See MLA citation on Blackboard).

5. Your narrative must be clear and you must substantiate your arguments by integrating the sources available on the topic. Your sources must be acknowledged within your narrative by using either footnotes or parenthetical citation.

6. Research methods and sources: You must begin your research online using the Hunter University library and the Centro for Puerto Rican Studies library collection.

7. Students are going to present outline, research question and preliminary bibliography on May 2 and 9.

8. The paper must be between 7-8 pages (cover & references pages do not count) original work, computer-typed and double-spaced on font 12 letter size paper, Chicago or MLA style with no less than five references.

Suggested topics:
Biography: (you can work on a person that contributed to the evolution of Puerto Rican historyand Culture). For example, Ramón E. Betances, Mariana Bracetti, Segundo RuizBelvis, Eugenio María de Hostos, Ramón Power y Giralt,Lola Rodriguez deTió, etcetera.

Colonial Inequalitiesand Survival: Cadiz Constitutions,Culture:plastic Arts (Francisco Oller or Campeche) or Literature

Political or cultural Resistance: the Lares Rebellion (Grito de Lares), Quest for Autonomy

Slavery: Plantation sugar economy, slavery, abolitionism,etcetera