Public History Capstone: Source Dossier and Defense

Fall 2026 deadline: Friday, November 6, 2026, 11:59 pm Central

Automatic grace period: through Sunday, November 8, 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

Submit an annotated dossier of at least eight primary sources and five scholarly sources. For each, document provenance, relevance, limits, and intended use. Include rights/permissions and access checks, then complete a source defense and Decision Record.

Submission

File upload.

Criteria for success

1. Primary-source base (5)
2. Scholarly conversation (5)
3. Provenance, rights, and access checks (3)
4. Source defense (5)
5. Decision Record (2)

AI boundary

AI may suggest repository search terms. It may not write annotations, invent provenance, assess rights, or receive restricted material.

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.