STAGE 2: Brasil in WWII
History 465 Assignments
Stage 1: Instructions
The topic will be Brasil’s role in the conflict (WWII) is frequently overlooked in terms of the BEF. You may want to focus on questions of foreign policy. The 3rd Reich had a concept of “southern cone” strategy that failed in its ability to woo ethnic Germans and/or German speakers in Brazil and Argentina. Why did Brazil declare war? Brazil had a military authoritarian government that seemed closer to Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Germany. What were the legacies of the conflict inside Brazil? How were veterans treated? Why did Brazil refuse to contribute troops for the military occupation?
Introduction/Geographic and Historical Factors;
Political Factors; Social and Economic Factors;
Military Strength and Capabilities; and
Significant Outcomes/Conclusions
Stage 2: instructions
Students will prepare an analytical annotated bibliography consisting of a minimum of six sources. At least two of these must be Primary Sources. (For your Final Paper, you must use at least eight sources, three of which are Primary Sources.) The required citation style is Chicago Manual of Style. For an example of what elements to include in your citation, go to Course Content and review the resources in the Chicago Style module. Submit your Annotated Bibliography in MS Word or docx format.
What Is an Annotated Bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief paragraph called the “annotation.” The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
There are two types of annotated bibliographies. The “descriptive” annotated bibliography summarizes a source, describes why it is useful for researching a particular topic or question, and describes the author’s main arguments and conclusions. The “analytical” annotated bibliography includes the same elements, but it also analyzes what is written or argued. It critically examines the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument and conclusions.
This assignment will require you to research and write an analytical annotated bibliography. Your annotated bibliography will include bibliographic entries AND a narrative explanation of the source and how it will be used to answer your research question. Wikipedia, About.com, History.com, Ask.com and any online sources that do not contain source citations and author information are not allowed as sources for this assignment. These are sites for the general population and not considered appropriate for college-level work. Do not use them.
If you need help with this assignment, you should review this source from the UMGC Writing Center: https://www.umgc.edu/current-students/learning-resources/writing-center/writing-resources/evaluating-sources.cfm.
The library tutorial focuses on the APA format, so note that the required citation style is Chicago Manual of Style. For web-based resources, provide a complete citation for the site, including the URL and your date of access. For an example of what elements to include in your citation, go to Course Content and review the resources in the Chicago Style module. In the Sample Citations section, look under Online Journal Articles and note that you need to provide the name of the database you found the article in and your date of access. Submit your paper in MS Word or docx format.
Analytical Annotated Bibliography Components:
Begin each annotated bibliography entry by identifying the source in correct Chicago Manual of Style documentation.
A brief description of the author’s topic, thesis, and methodology. In other words, in what academic discipline does the work fall in (history, literature, social science, women’s studies, cultural studies, etc.)? What kind of evidence does the author draw upon?
A concise outline of the main points in the text.
A statement about the author’s goals and his/her intended audience. Are there any clear biases?
MOST IMPORTANTLY–Your critical evaluation of the text’s usefulness for the investigation of your topic. What are the strengths of the source? What are the deficiencies or limitations of the source?
Did the article help you to further understand the topic? If so, explain how. If not, explain what information might have been helpful.
Explain how each of your sources compares to the others. Are there any general trends you see in your selected books and articles?
The narrative description (Annotation) for each of your sources should be at least 1-2 paragraphs in length in order to adequately address all required aspects of analysis.
There is a sample annotation included in our Course Writing Resources. https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/613207/viewContent/24214519/View
There are numerous websites that will show you how to construct an annotated bibliography. UMGC also has a guide to writing an annotated bibliography (requires Flash Player to view the video) https://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/bibliography_tutorial.cfm
If your article has an abstract DO NOT CUT AND PASTE IT AND SUBMIT IT. That is plagiarism and will result in an investigation of your paper for a possible violation of the university’s academic integrity policy. Read the article and do your own summary.
This assignment can be time consuming so do not let it get away from you. If you have any questions, please contact your instructor.
You should seek resources that can help you address all five different areas of assessment required for your paper. The details are in “Project Descriptions” in the syllabus. The five areas are:
1) Introduction/Geographic and Historical Factors
2) Political Factors
3) Social and Economic Factors
4) Military Strength and Capabilities
5) Significant Outcomes/Conclusions.
Stage 3: Instructions
Students should prepare an outline of your paper. Your subject country must be at the top of your outline. Your outline should be organized topically using the five analysis areas required for the Final Paper. Although your outline does not need to be written in complete sentences, it will be graded for spelling, capitalization, and other relevant grammar. For each area of analysis provide at least four supporting sentences or bulletized comments of pertinent information relevant to the components of each specified area of analysis:
Introduction/Geographic and Historical Factors: What aspects of geography influenced your nations participation in the war? What historical ties or antagonisms contributed to your participation? What recent national history, particularly in the 25 years prior to the war led to participation in WWII? Geographic issues such as contested borders, unique natural resources, access to critical sea lanes, ground transportation systems etc.
Political Factors: What was your nation’s pre-war form of government? Was it stable? Unstable? What were the major political parties? Who were the leaders of your country at the beginning of the war? At the end? What nations were your allies? What, if any, had been the major impacts of the FIRST World War been on the country? In what ways may political issues have contributed to your participation? If occupied, describe any government in exile, or collaborationist government. Social and Economic Factors: Assess the social structure of your nation.
Were there frictions between ethnic or religious groups? What type of economy did your nation have? What were the major economic resources or industries which may have influenced your nations participation? If your nation was a colony of another power at the time of the war, were there independence or nationalist movements?
If your nation had previously been the territory of another nation, were there lingering ethnic or political frictions? What impact had the recent Global Depression had on the country, if any? Military Strength and Capabilities: Describe your armed forces at the time that war broke out for your nation.
How big were they? Key military leaders? What was their level of modernization? Did they have a particular advantage or disadvantage? What significant actions did they participate in? What was their status by the end of the war? Losses? If your nation was overrun/occupied, did they continue to resist or contribute to the Allied or Axis cause? How? Significant Outcomes/Conclusions: Identify at least four significant outcomes for your nation due to your participation in the war. Focus on the post-war period of about twenty-five years from the end of hostilities for your nation. Did your borders change? How did they change? Did your political system change? How? Did your political alignments change? How?
Were there major changes in your social or economic structures? What were they? What were your nation’s civilian and military losses in the war? In summary: What was your relative influence, power, and condition in the world at the end of the war, as compared to the outbreak of hostilities for the nation?