Title: Source Reasoning Lab 4: Oral History, Memory, and Silences
Course: The American West: Power, Place, and Memory > Section: Week 12 · November 9–13, 2026: Crisis and Mobilization in the West, 1920s–1945

THE AMERICAN WEST

Source Reasoning Lab 4: Oral History, Memory, and Silences

ASSIGNMENT

Source Reasoning Lab 4: Oral History, Memory, and Silences

Purpose
Evaluate memory as evidence while respecting narrators and collection context.

Fall 2026 deadline: Friday, November 13, 2026, 11:59 pm Central

Automatic grace period: through Sunday, November 15, 2026, 11:59 pm Central; no permission is needed and no penalty applies. Work is not accepted after the grace period without pre-approval or extenuating circumstances.

Task

Annotate an approved oral-history segment in class, then write a 500–650 word memo on narrator position, interview context, memory, corroboration, ethical use, and evidentiary limits. Finish an unseen transfer question and the common Decision Record.

Submission

Text entry or file upload.

Criteria for success

1. In-class segment annotation (8)
2. Evidence-based reasoning memo (10)
3. Ethics and transfer question (5)
4. Complete Decision Record (2)

AI boundary

Do not upload oral-history media or transcripts to AI. No AI during in-class work or for analysis of testimony.

Decision Record

1. State your initial claim or plan before substantial AI assistance.
2. Name the most consequential interpretive choice you made and explain why.
3. Identify one plausible alternative you rejected and the evidence behind that decision.
4. Name evidence that changed, narrowed, or complicated your thinking.
5. State one claim you cannot fully establish with the available evidence.
6. Record AI use: tool, purpose, what you accepted, rejected, and verified—or write ‘No generative AI used.’

Process checklist

- My question or thesis is specific, contestable, and historically situated.
- I identify creator, date, audience, purpose, and collection context for key primary sources.
- I corroborate rather than asking one source to prove more than it can.
- I distinguish evidence from inference and acknowledge uncertainty.
- I cite sources and rights information; media includes captions, alt text, or a transcript.
- If I used generative AI in a permitted way, I include the required process disclosure.

Evaluation

This assignment is evaluated on four levels—Exemplary, Proficient, Developing, and Beginning—across the listed criteria. Ask for clarification before submitting if the purpose, task, or criteria are unclear.