To complete Response 1, use the material from the Introduction to Nevada, Native Americans, and Spanish Colonization page. Complete all parts of the assignment.
For all the responses this semester, you may submit a formal written response appropriate for the prompt or create a video, oral response, or presentation. So long as you complete the assignment, demonstrate understanding of the course material, and cite sources, you may choose whichever format you think will help you most effectively present your learning.
Part I: Primary Source Report
Identify and analyze one primary source from this module. You may choose any of the primary sources from the module. (Primary sources are documents, images, songs, etc, from the time period under investigation. They are listed in the module under the Primary Sources heading. Please see What Are Primary Sources?) (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
Answer the following questions for your primary source:
Identify the source (Tell me which source you are analyzing)
When was this created? (Your answer should be within the time frame of the material in the module)
Who created it? ((Hint: The person who created it would have been alive during the time period of the material in the module)
What function/purpose did it serve when it was created (what is it?) and who was the intended audience?
Summarize the key points of the source.
What is the historical context for this source? What important events and issues of the time period influenced and shaped its creation?
Provide some analysis of the source: What is your interpretation of the source? How should we understand it?(Distinguish between fact and opinion in the source, discuss the reliability/bias/perspective of the author, and compare the author’s point of view with that of others included in the module)
What kinds of things can we learn about the past from this source? What is the significance of the source? (How does it help us understand the past?)
What kinds of additional information do you need about the historical context, the creators of this source, or the source itself in order to fully understand it?
Please contact me with any questions!
Part II: Briefly respond to TWO (2) of the following
Part A: Based on the introduction to Uncovering Nevada’s Past and the material from The Historian’s Craft in Module 1, answer the questions Reid and James pose on the second page of the introduction in relation to your own life: What are the most meaningful aspects of the past to you? What record of these things will be available to historians in two hundred years? Would it be possible to construct an accurate picture of your life from these remaining traces of you? Why/why not? What do your answers to these questions tell us about the historian’s craft? (Minimum Length: 250-500 words.)
Part B: Based on Chapter 1 in Uncovering Nevada’s Past, Chapter 1 in Nevada: A History of the Silver State, and your experience with Nevada, analyze how Mark Twain perceived Northern Nevada’s physical environment and how present-day residents and visitors view the region. What are some of the reasons for these different opinions? (Minimum length: 250-500 words.)
Part C: Based on the two videos under the An Introduction to Nevada and Native Americans heading, discuss what you learned about Nevada, the Great Basin, and Native American peoples and cultures. How do scholars know what they claim to know about the past? What are some of the challenges we face in reconstructing the past? What evidence and sources are included in the videos? How do these videos help us understand Nevada history? What questions do these videos raise about Nevada history? (Minimum length: 250-500 words)
Part D: There are three maps included on the Nevada, Native Americans, and Spanish Colonizers page. What do you think these maps tell us about American/Nevada history and the present?
Part III: Secondary Source Analysis
For this short response, you may select from any of the written secondary sources included in this module under the Secondary Sources heading (Green, Ch 1; Green, Ch 2; McDonald; Berry and Gross).
Provide a succinct but detailed response that analyzes the following. For each response (except Title and Author), you should have at least five sentences of specific content. (Please contact me with any questions!)
Title and Author:
Summary of Argument (what was the author arguing, and how did the author make and support the argument?):
Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources the author uses (give several examples of both if possible):
Unique Contribution of Article (i.e. what is the significance? how does this help us understand Nevadan/American history? what do you get from this source that you did not know before?):
Perspective (i.e. how did this reading change what you knew about Nevadan/American history and why? What specifically did you learn from this reading?):
Three Things to Remember (What are the three most important takeaways from this reading? Hint: If you had to summarize the three key points for someone who did not read this, what would your three points be and why?):
Part IV: Question/Thesis
Based on the material you engaged with in this module, develop a broad and open-ended question about some aspect of Nevada, Native American, and/or Spanish Colonizers. Your question should allow you to write a thesis (an argument-driven interpretation) in response. Then, develop a one-to-two-sentence historically defensible argument/interpretation (thesis statement) in response to your question(s). (See the guides to thesis statements in the course modules. Please ask me questions if you are unsure of your question and thesis)
Part V: Reflection
How did the course material and your work on this response influence your understanding of Nevada history? What is the significance of this topic and why is it important that we understand it today? How does the framework of settler colonialism help us understand this history? What connections can you make between this material and the present? What questions do you have?
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