Snoop Dogg’s Influence in California
Your topic should do the following things:
1. Discuss a particular person/place/thing/event that has been significant in California History. Discuss the role of Catholic missionaries in the early colonial period of the state.
2. Let’s say that you discover the writings of Junipero Serra. This would qualify as a primary source and would be an excellent starting point for your paper.
3. How does this topic fit into a discussion about life during the earliest years of contact with the indigenous populations in California? How was Serra’s influence significant? Explain his goals, as well as what he did to influence the future of the state.
4. What have professional historians written about the topic? You should look in Jstor and/or Project Muse (databases available via our library) to determine how much scholarship exists on the topic.
By scholarship, you must find articles written by academics or other credentialed people (usually Ph.D.s) in a certain field.
If a person meets any of these criteria, they can be considered legitimate authors:
A. What academic degrees does the person hold? From what universities? (If you cannot find this information, this is a bad sign. Also, if you are not familiar with the university, it’s wise to look it up and make sure it is a legitimate school.)
B. What does this person do for a living? Does s/he teach? Write/research? Run a foundation? Work in private practice?
You should be able to locate any of this basic information quickly in a general biography which should be easily available on any professional person.
C. What other books/articles has this person authored?
D. What personal experience does the author have with the topic?
