Research Assignment: The First World War as Seen Through the Pages of The New York Times
News of the First World War in Europe quickly crossed the Atlantic and made headlines in The New York Times, as well as other major newspapers. Newspaper records offer one means of learning about the conflicts from reporters who were, if not on the front lines themselves, perhaps just a few steps removed from the conflict.
Zahnow Library has full digital access to The New York Times covering 1914 to 1918. This will provide the raw data for the work described below.
Step 1:
To take the first step, do the following: 1) Identify the month of your birth; 2) Identify a span of seven days during that month (e.g., September 1-8); 3) Identify a year between 1914 and 1918, to attach to your span of seven days (e.g., September 1-8, 1915). (This initial seven-day span cannot go beyond November 11, 1918, the official end of hostilities between Britain, France, and Germany.)
Step 2:
Then, access The New York Times Historical database (provided by ProQuest) made available through Zahnow Library. The New York Times Historical will be listed among the databases provided on the left menu bar of the library’s homepage.
Be sure that New York Times Historical “Advanced Search” has been activated on the ProQuest search screen, and then insert ONE day from the seven-day period you have chosen to review, by clicking on Publication Date and then Specific Date. (You do not need to enter any key words for searching at this point.) Hundreds of article listings may appear as the database is scanned for the date you have selected. Click on any one of the articles that has been displayed, and then go to the “Browse this issue” command at the right of the screen.
You will now find navigation aids allowing you to access any page of The New York Times for the date in question. Your goal from this point onward is to get a sense of the diversity of events that are taking place in your chosen seven-day period of the war. The front page is often a good place to find the major articles for a given day and thus to begin your search for articles appropriate to this assignment. Other pages may contain valuable articles, as well. Experiment in using the navigation buttons available to identify articles of interest. With the steps above, you should be able to peruse the content of The New York Times for each of the days in your selected seven-day span.
Step 3:
Select THREE diverse articles on the nations of Europe and the war that you find either to be of personal interest or that you believe contain critical information regarding the war. Articles focusing on the United States and its relationship with those fighting the war will be common. However, since this is a course focused on Europe, it is important that any article you choose focus primarily on an event taking place in Europe, or focusing directly on a nation of Europe (including the Ottoman Empire). All three articles may be from one day in the seven-day period, if you would like, or from a variety of days within the seven-day period.
Step 4:
Prepare written summaries of the three articles. Each summary should be approximately 150 words, be written in clear and concise language, and address the topic as well as the substance of the article. It is understood that some articles will contain detailed information you may not be able to immediately interpret. Do your best in reviewing the material. Combine all article summaries in a single file and paste the information on the title of each article and its publication date (available from New York Times Historical) above each article summary. Upload the combined file to Research Assignment Step 4 on Canvas, available as a part of Module 10.
Step 5:
Your instructor will review your summaries and respond to you indicating which one of the three articles might be effectively used for your continuing research and writing. Your instructor is involved at this step to ensure that there is diversity among the research themes for those in the class. In addition, your instructor may be able to offer some insight into the topics for which there will be better secondary research materials available. Your instructor may meet briefly with you to go over the final topic with you in class in Week 11. [Given the number of student papers, this may also be replaced by just a set of written comments on a printout of the three summaries.] A separate Grade Book item for Step 4 may be established.
Step 6:
After having received word from the instructor on which article can provide a solid base for continued research, you may begin work on your short research paper, which will be about 1750 words. Search for additional Times articles related to the topic of the article you have chosen. For instance, if your article focuses on a particular battle, you should seek out at least THREE additional New York Times articles that provide additional perspectives on that specific engagement. You may break the initial seven-day framework you used in your search and look for articles from a wider timeframe, if it is appropriate. For instance, if your topic focuses upon the first Battle of the Marne in September, 1914, additional articles on the earlier German movement through Belgium in August 1914 may be of help. If your initial article focuses on a particular new type of weapon, such as the Zeppelin, you might seek out additional articles regarding that specific weapon over a longer span of time (e.g., 1915-1917). A research paper might then be focused upon either the battle or the weapon.
Step 7:
Choose secondary sources to assist in the writing of your research paper. Secondary sources will allow you to understand the significance of your topic beyond The New York Times articles you have collected. They will allow you to see the “big picture” as understood by historians. You should select secondary sources with an eye to their ability to help you tell the overall story of the event or development upon which you are focusing. You may gather a wide variety of secondary sources but are required to make substantive use of at least TWO of the following sources available through Zahnow Library.:
E-Books (Zahnow Online):
Gatrell, Peter. Russia’s First World War: a social and economic history. New York: Routledge, 2014.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/svsu/detail.action?docID=1733950
