The assignment requirements:

For this assignment, you will create a pictorial essay addressing some aspect of the historical engineering of water—its use, management, treatment, etc.—in the American West.

Your pictorial essay will be a 900- to 1,300-word essay illustrated with primary source images and published on the course site as a blog post. In addition to the five images, your essay should draw on at least two text-based primary sources and three text-based secondary sources. I encourage you to use more sources, however,  to best support your thesis statement.

Your essay should make an argument about the historical engineering of water resources. It should have a thesis statement regarding the habits, beliefs, and values represented in the engineered structures or systems. It should use images as illustrations that support the thesis statement.

How do you know if your thesis statement is an argument?

Here’s one simple way I find works for students 90 percent of the time. Answer these two questions:

• If you were to put the phrase “I think I can prove that” in front of your thesis statement, would it still make sense? If so, it may be an argument.
• Is it possible for someone to argue against your thesis, or to argue a different version of it? If so, it’s likely an argument.

You want to be sure your thesis statement is neither a statement of fact nor so obvious and easy to argue that it’s not worth writing an essay about. For example, “Californians have damaged pristine valleys in their quest to secure water resources” is not an argument; it is a statement of fact.

However, “Californians’ damage of pristine ecosystems to create artificial water reservoirs reveals that, despite the state’s bluster about its progressive environmental policies, its people and politicians prioritize urban environments over ecological needs” is indeed an argument. Someone could easily argue quite the opposite: “While Californians’ early 20th-century management of water resources suggests the state valued urban and agricultural interests over the environment, by the late twentieth century, Californians’ values had shifted 180 degrees, even as they still sought to deliver large amounts of water to cities and large farms.”

Both of those thesis statements could be successfully argued through reference to primary and secondary sources.

Where should you put your thesis statement?

That’s up to you, but I’ll be looking for it near the end of your first paragraph. It’s good to state your thesis early so your reader can better understand the point of your essay.

What kinds of sources can you use to support your argument?

Images, obviously, but also all kinds of texts and documentaries. See below for more information on sources.

Stay away from Wikipedia for this one, though sometimes a Wikipedia article’s reference section can turn up some good sources.

Where can you find primary sources?

All over the Internet, if you use a little imagination in your search. But some great places to look for primary sources are:

• JSTOR, where you can often find commentary from the era you are considering. Click on “advanced search” to limit articles to a specified date range.
• The Library of Congress, which offers a host of photos, maps, and other images, as well as (if you can find relevant ones) films from which you could use stills for this project.
• The Internet Archive also contains a huge number of primary sources, particularly books and film.
• The National Archives lets visitors browse for topics or use the search bar at upper right. Here, for example, are the results of a search for irrigation.
• Albertsons Library’s primary sources guide for students in history classes
• CSU Fresno offers a list of primary source repositories for California history. Of particular note are
  • the Online Archive of California
  • Calisphere
  • the Oral History Center at the Bancroft Library: look especially at the Subject Areas list, which includes many topics relevant to water resources—including one titled “Water Resources in California.”
  • the California Digital Newspaper Collection (Here’s a sample article that turned up under the search “aqueduct”: “Joyous City Greets King Water.”)
  • the California Heritage Collection

Where can you find reliable secondary sources?

• To find commentary from historians, search the the Albertsons Library online article databases. Try a couple of them.
• Check the “peer-reviewed” box when it’s available to limit your secondary sources to journal articles that have been reviewed by experts and revised by the author based on the experts’ feedback.
• Search the library’s holdings for books and ebooks. Follow the instructions here to view ebooks available from Albertsons Library.

Where can you find images?

You can search for relevant historical images at the resources listed under “Where can you find primary sources?” above.

You also can search the Flickr Commons, resources made available by cultural institutions around the world. Be sure to use the Commons search bar partway down the page rather than the one at the top of the page.

How can you interpret images?

Review Module 2, which examined how historians use images and other texts to make sense of the past. You can also use the Prownian method to a certain extent.

How should you cite your sources?

Use the Chicago Manual of Style citation format, using the same formatting described in the instructions for your group assignment on Aztec sacred structures.

Where can you get help?

I’m is happy to help in person during my office hours, by appointment (virtually or face-to-face), or via e-mail. The campus writing center also might serve as a resource. I also encourage you to swap drafts with others in the class.

When is your pictorial essay due?

It needs to be posted on the class blog by 11 p.m. on Saturday, April 2.