Unessay

For your final project you will creating an “unessay” on a topic of your choosing related to the history of the western United States. An “unessay” consists of any format besides a traditional final paper. You can create a sculpture, restaurant menu, board game, meme collage, podcast episode, piece of historical fictional - whatever you want! Regardless of the format, your unessay will be evaluated on the quality of its interpretation, research & evidence, communication, and creativity. Unessays must present a historically based analysis or interpretation that is supported by both primary and secondary sources. The interpretation must be clearly and compellingly articulated (written, painted, sung, etc.), and the very best unessays will take a creative approach to conveying their analysis.

Each unessay must include:

• A 500-word introduction that provides an overview and explanation of the project’s interpretation. Think of this as the written text you might read at the start of a museum exhibit. Make sure to include a title for your project.
• An annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources, in which you explain how the source informed your unessay in 1-2 sentences.

You should submit your unessay to this Dropbox link in the form of a single zipped folder that includes your unessay along with your introduction and annotated bibliography as Word documents. If your unessay is a physical project (food, painting, board game, etc.) please take several photos of the project and include them inside your zipped folder. If you are not sure how you should submit your unessay, please email me and we will figure out a solution. Instructions on how to created a zipped folder.

Due Monday, December 2nd by the beginning of class (2:50PM)

See below for examples of student unessays completed in other history courses: