A pdf version of this page is available here:
For information on the various stages related to this project see: Research Project Overview
The aim of this assignment is to create a blog which details the course of a witch hunt in early modern Europe. You should pretend that blogs existed in the 16th and 17th centuries and use this medium to demonstrate how a given community reacted to a witch hunt in their area. The articles should therefore be from the point of view of people who participated in the witch hunt and must include aspects of the witch trial itself and those involved in it (accused, witnesses, and judges/magistrates).
We’ll be using a platform within our course website for you to submit your entries. I’ll provide more information closer to the final submission. Your draft should be submitted in Microsoft Word format.
Guidelines
- You must use both written and visual materials in your blog.
- You must use AT LEAST one primary source and AT LEAST five secondary sources in your research.
- You can use sources that we’ve read in class or from the same collections of sources that we’ve read if you want. You will need to do additional research however in order to complete this project.
- The total length of all entries is 4000-6000 words. You can have some entries that are shorter and some that are longer.
- You must provide a “Works Cited” page at the end of your blog listing all of the sources you have used for your project.
- You do not need to use footnotes/endnotes or citations because of the blog format, but it must be clear in your blog that your entries are based on research done by you.
Picking your area and starting your research
Decide what geographical area your witch hunt is going to take place in. It can be anywhere in Europe or North America (Western Europe, Eastern Europe, New England, or Northern Europe). The town, village or city in which your witch hunt takes place can actually exist or you can make it up. Once you have decided on the geographical region of your witch hunt, that will determine the following aspects:
- the type of trial procedure (inquisitorial, jury system, Inquisition, church courts etc.)
- the kinds of accusations
- the people accused of witchcraft
- the types of witnesses
- the types of evidence allowed
- whether or not torture was used to gain confessions
- the outcome and the sentence (if convicted)
- if convicted, the method of execution
Remember that witch hunts that take place in England, for example, were quite different from witch hunts in Germany. You will need to do some research to understand and accurately depict a witch hunt in your given region.
For assistance in finding source material, see: Final Project Resources
****a note about secondary sources*****
Try to use secondary sources that have been published recently rather than older works on a topic as ideas about the subject may have changed significantly as new primary sources were discovered. This is especially true for the history of the witch hunts where more recent work has soundly refuted many claims made by older historians.
Step One: Primary and Secondary Source Analysis (due January 27th)
Purpose and Overview
This part of the final project is to kickstart your research and provide a foundation from which it can develop. As history projects are based on the analysis of primary and secondary sources, this assignment is designed to help you examine ONE primary source and ONE secondary source related to your broader topic.
For more information see:Â Primary and Secondary Source Analysis
NOTE: Given the due date for this project, you will need to start on it as soon as possible in order to find appropriate resources AND obtain them in time (likely through Interlibrary Loan) to complete your analysis.
Step Two: Proposal (due February 10th)
After completing the source analysis for your project, you should now have a general idea of where to take your research and some of the ideas that you would like to explore in your project. For this step of your project, I’d like you to submit a proposal according to the guidelines below. The proposal serves two functions: it provides you with a foundation from which to work on your project and it serves as a space through which I can help guide your research.
For more details see: Proposal
Step Three: Draft (due March 17th)
You must write a number of articles/entries for your blog with a total word count of 4000-6000 words. These articles should be written from the perspective of someone participating in the witch trial. Some must be transcripts from the witch’s trial but they can also include interviews with witnesses, the judge or the accused, news articles discussing the mood of the town during the witch hunt, gossip columns about those involved in the trial etc. These articles must be based on research that you have done, although you should be creative. Just make sure the historical information is accurate. They SHOULD NOT be quotations from your primary or secondary sources.
For your draft, submit these entries in a word document to Blackboard (this type of submission will allow me to comment on them). For your draft, you should include:
- All entries for your blog that you plan to use.
- Works Cited page of your sources (primary and secondary) formatted according to the Chicago manual of style.
- Parenthetical citations (author/date).
Step Four: Presentation (TBA)
his presentation should be up to 10 minutes long and should discuss:
- The story of your blog, including where your witch hunt in taking place, when it takes place, and who it involves.
- Your central primary source and how you are using it to develop your story.
- 2-3 of your secondary sources and how you have used them to develop your argument
- Why you decided to focus your research project on your topic and what you discovered about it during the course of your research.
Step Five: Final Submission (due April 14th)
For the final step of your project, you will be submitting your entries via our course website. I’ll provide more details later on via our course website.
After reading through my comments on your articles and incorporating my suggestions, you will need to put your blog together with visual and written materials. Don’t forget to include a Works Cited entry!