America’s twentieth century “small wars.”

Small Wars Essay 

You will research, interpret, and write about one of America’s twentieth century “small wars.”  The first step is to propose a war to study.  Include just the following in your proposal:

 • Your name, assignment, etc. of course.

 • The name of the war (there may be several different names)

• The year(s) during which it took place

• The location(s) of the war

• A bibliography of five books and peer-reviewed articles about your chosen war

For example, were I to write about our current war in Yemen (which I would not do since it is occurring in the twenty-first century), I would include the following:

Yemeni Civil War

2015-present

Yemen

A bibliography of five texts using the Chicago bibliographic format for the entries

Limits on which war you may study:

• Must have occurred during the twentieth century, though it may have begun before or continued after.

• Must be a “small war.”

• The US must have been a participant in the war

Finding Texts and Writing a Bibliography

An important first step in your research is identifying and locating proper scholarly sources about your small war.  During this part of the project, you will gain experience with the following:

 • Using history databases to identify texts

• Evaluating the appropriateness of texts

• Using the bibliographic format of the Chicago Style for a bibliography

Evaluating Texts

Select only high-quality scholarly texts.  Certainly use the following:

• Articles from peer-reviewed academic journals.

• Books by historians.

• “Edited volumes,” which are collections of articles by more than one historian

• Memoirs of participants can be okay as well, but keep in mind that participants may not have the whole picture and may have a personal stake in presenting the story a particular way.  Be critical of them, just as you might for any other source.

Do not use the following:

• Websites

• Encyclopedias

• Newspaper or magazine articles

• Dissertations or theses.  Instead, look for articles or books by the author.

• Conference presentations.  Instead, look for articles or books by the author.

• Book reviews.  Instead, read the book itself.

Use a range of sources.  If your war occurred decades ago, then get texts written over a span of decades.  Certainly don’t use just older texts.  Use a mix of books and peer-reviewed articles.

 You may not find many books or articles on your specific war.  In that case, try to find books on the history of the country where the intervention took place or more general books on military history that have at least a chapter on your war.