A. Oral History Research Paper
a. The major research and writing assignment is a 1250 – 1650 word independent oral history research paper (approx 10 pp.), double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, 0.5” margins on all sides of the page.
b. In order to receive a high score, you must do in-person interviews with someone who has direct experience and knowledge of women’s sports in an era of the 20th century other than the current age. (i.e. please do not interview someone about the 2000s!)
c. This assignment will be scaffolded, so that you can hand it in at intervals and stay engaged with the course as you go.
d. Interview an individual (family member or close family friend) who is at least one generation older than you.
e. From the information obtained through this “oral history,” place the individual’s life – and their physical activity/physical education/sport experiences – in socio-historical context.
f. Your job is to explain what their leisure/physical education/sport experiences of your interviewee looked like, and why their experiences looked the way they did in relation to the surrounding culture and the historical moment. In other words, to explain how the person’s athletic or physical activity experiences were shaped or influenced by a) their identity (class, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, physical disability), and b) the time period/place they lived, as well as how a) and b) relate to each other.
g. To help guide you, you can directly answer the questions:
i. How did the time period shape their leisure/physical education/sport experiences?
ii. How did the person’s identity shape their leisure/physical education/sport experiences?
iii. How did their leisure/physical education/sport experiences shape the person’s identity?
iv. How did their leisure/physical education/sport experiences, as well as the leisure/physical education/sport experiences of their peers, shape the time period?
h. It is NOT necessary that the person have been an athlete.
i. All essays must:
i. Identify/introduce interviewee;
ii. Summarize the interview;
iii. Include citations of secondary (academic) sources related to the historical moment and place in which the interviewee lived;
iv. Include a bibliography, introductory paragraph, thesis statement, and body paragraphs;
v. Paper length is 1250 – 1650 words. Endnotes are in addition to this word requirement. In other words, I expect that the TEXT of the paper (final draft) will be a minimum of 1250 words / maximum of 1650 words. No exceptions to this word requirement – failure to follow the word min/max will result in a significantly lower grade.
vi. To support your interview and contextualize the experiences of your interviewee, please find high-quality historical research and scholarly sources and reference them in your paper. By high-quality research and scholarly sources, I mean you must use evidence from at least three of the following categories:
1) Any carefully observed direct observation of sports
2) Any interviews or conversations with sporting people (this could be contemporary people, to offer contrast with your interviewee)
3) Any literature (short stories, novels), television shows, or films about sports in historical or contemporary society
4) High-quality survey data regarding attitudes and behavior regarding sports in historical or contemporary society
5) High-quality statistics (demographic, economic, etc.) regarding sports in historical or contemporary society
6) Any research done by scholars of sport.
