Midterm Question

LSIC 179, Our Stories: Autobiography in American History

Due to Dr. Pearson in class October 15, 2007

Craft a well-considered, well-organized answer to the following question.  Answers should be no more than four pages long. Double space your answers, using Times New Roman or Garamond, 12-point font.  Use 1 inch margins all the way around your paper.  I expect an argument that begins with a thesis and includes superior analysis supported by specific examples/evidence drawn from our readings and class discussion.  Because this is a take-home exam, I have high expectations with regard to grammar, punctuation, organization, and articulation of your arguments.  Use only the sources that have been assigned and discussed in class thus far.  Do not waste your time conducting outside research.

As we have discussed in class, autobiography is the most complicated of human histories, because authors only present what they want the reader to see.  Using specific examples from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and at least two other sources that we have read and discussed in class, discuss this idea of self-representation.  How do the authors of your chosen sources represent themselves?  As historians, how do we determine the author’s agenda, and how can we use these autobiographies as tools of historical research?