Title: Source Reasoning Lab 3: Newspaper, Race, and Public Narrative
Course: The American West: Power, Place, and Memory > Section: Week 10 · October 26–30, 2026 — Homecoming Week: Racial Regimes, Labor, and Border Violence, 1880–1920

THE AMERICAN WEST

Source Reasoning Lab 3: Newspaper, Race, and Public Narrative

ASSIGNMENT

Source Reasoning Lab 3: Newspaper, Race, and Public Narrative

Purpose
Interrogate how print culture produced racial knowledge and normalized or challenged violence.

Fall 2026 deadline: Friday, October 30, 2026, 11:59 pm Central

Automatic grace period: through Sunday, November 1, 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

Complete a close reading of two newspaper items in class, then write a 500–650 word comparison focused on audience, language, omission, corroboration, and ethical quotation. Finish an unseen transfer question and the common Decision Record.

Submission

File upload with stable links or image citations.

Criteria for success

1. In-class close reading (8)
2. Evidence-based comparison memo (10)
3. Ethics and transfer question (5)
4. Complete Decision Record (2)

AI boundary

AI may not select or interpret passages. Clarity feedback is allowed only after you draft the comparison and ethical choice.

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.