Assignments

Weekly Response Papers

Students are required to submit a one-page response to assigned readings before class each week. Students may choose five weeks in which to skip this assignment.

The weekly response papers are worth 10% of the overall course grade.

Student-Led Discussion

Over the course of the term students will be responsible for leading, with a group of one or two other students, an in-class discussion of the assigned materials for a single week.

Student-Led Discussion Guidelines (PDF)

Leading a discussion is worth 10% of the overall course grade.

Short Paper

For the short paper, students will select one of three given topics and write a 4–6 page paper.

Short Paper Guidelines (PDF)

The short paper is worth 20% of the overall course grade.

Final Paper

For the final assignment of the course, students will be asked to write a 7–10 page original research paper on a topic of their choosing. This topic should relate in some way to the history of sexuality and gender in the United States, and to the major themes we have addressed in class over the course of the semester.

Final Paper Guidelines (PDF)

The final paper is worth 30% of the overall course grade.

Selected Online Databases

The following websites include databases that can be utilized as primary source research for the final paper.

ACT UP Oral History Project

AIDS Education Posters Collection, University of Rochester Libraries

Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court's Ruling, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School

CWLU Herstory Project: A History of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union

Digital Public Library of America–LGBT

Digital Transgender Archive

Discovering American Women's History Online

The Feminist Chronicles, 1953–1993, the Feminist Majority Foundation

John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History Digitized Collections, Duke University Libraries

Mabel Hampton Collection, Lesbian Herstory Archives

Out History: It's About Time!

Women's Liberation Movement Print Culture, Duke University Libraries Digital Collections