Historical+Investigation+Introduction

Practicing the Historical Investigation's First Steps with appreciation to J. Ergueta, W. Franklin, K. Hendrix, D. Morton, and B. Woods Late May and Early June 2011

1 To select a broadly focused question, read first this "geopolitical" expert's three essays:

Friedman, George. “Geopolitics of Israel: Biblical and Modern.” Stratfor Global Intelligence. http://app.response.stratfor.com/e/es.aspxs=1483&e=290353&elq=de04a7e7dcc04b659b6437a22581e620

Friedman, George. “Israel's Borders and National Security.” Strafor Global Intelligence. 31 May 2011 http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110530-israels-borders-and-national-security?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110531&utm_content=readmore&elq=d27e362ffc9c443294d3884e3e70ed19 accessed I June 2011.

Friedman, George. “Redefining Policy: The Case of Israel” chapter six in The Next Decade. New York: Doubleday. 2011.

2 Search widely through these four data bases to find experts' articles on your broadly focused question. Go to the school's library/media center website to access these data bases. The user name and pass word – wfss - is the same. Remember to seek “full text” articles.” Pick two or three articles that are most helpful, read them, and write a complete (Chicago Style) bibliographical entry.

Expanded Academic ASAP World Geography Student Resources in Context Modern World History (Facts on File)

3 Develop and write a “focused” question. Recognize how you arrived at this question differently for the historical investigation than you did when you sought a contestable thesis statement for the argumentative essay.

Remember, please, that historical investigations invite us to read a lot, think a lot, and write a little. With that in mind, I trust you will read these three papers by George Friedman plus a lot that you find in the data bases.

All that I am asking you to write and to submit by Thursday, June 9th is:
 * a broadly focused question inspired by anything in the George Friedman papers;
 * complete bibliography entries for two or three full text scholarly papers or articles that you find in one of these four data bases;
 * a more narrowly focused question that you develop after reading these additional articles.