The final project for this course gives you the opportunity to write a paper on anything connected to Canadian culture that interests you. Your topic could stem from something we've covered in the class, something you learned about in Ottawa, or anything else about Canada you'd like to explore in greater detail. When you're thinking about what to write, cast your net widely. Your paper could be on anything from an historical event or an aspect of Canadian politics, to hockey in Canadian culture or any of the books we've read this semester.

That said, your paper must also have an argument, a thesis that you are setting out to prove with the research that you've done. When using your research, make sure that we still hear your voice and ideas and that you're not simply stitching together many different pieces of information that you've picked up from elsewhere. Finding that balance between simply describing your topic and analyzing what you think is interesting about it. This one of the key things you need to do to write a good research paper.

Your paper will, as I suggest above, need to to involve a fair amount of research. You can use the internet, but you also will need to use the library. At least two of the sources you cite in your essay must be PRINT sources that you located at the library. If you've not yet started to explore the resources our library has to offer, this is your opportunity to do so. You can include images and even multimedia if you wish (you could send your paper to me electronically or even make it a blog posting!), but not to such a degree that it overwhelms your text.

Before you begin researching, you must clear your topic with me. By December the 10th at the latest, submit to me a proposal outlining your topic and the approach you are going to take. Your proposal should also discuss what kind of sources you plan on using and should show me that you've already done some preliminary research on your topic.

Word length: 2000-2500 words (roughly 8-10 pages)
Due date: 12/19, 8:00 AM (at the absolute latest)