1. a clear, concise examination of the problem to be studied;
2. a statement of the project's argument or hypothesis;
3. a consideration of the larger issues at stake in the project, both for the immediate topic and for the field at large -- that is, ask yourself what arguments do the bigger historical texts tend to focus on? some general books you could be using are:
   • John B. Boles, The South Through Time: A History of an American Region, (1999)
   • William J. Cooper, Jr. and Thomas E. Terrill, The American South: A History, (1990)
   • Margaret Ripley Wolfe, Daughters of Canaan: A Saga of Southern Women, (1995)
   • Christie Anne Farnham, ed. Women of the American South: A Multicultural Reader, (1998)
   • John B. Boles, Black Southerners, 1619-1869, (1983) AND Jay R. Mandle, Not Slave, Not Free: The African American Economic Experience since the Civil War, (1992)
   • Lawrence N. Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness, (1977)
   • Lawrence Harold Larsen, The Urban South: A History, (1989)
   • Dewey W. Grantham, The Life and Death of the Solid South: A Political History, (1988)
   • John B. Boles and Evelyn Thomas Nolen, eds., Interpreting Southern History, (1987)
4. an account of how the resources (both primary and secondary sources) that will be discussed address the topic of the project;
5. a narrative account of the project's structure with a basic outline of the project; and
6. a selective bibliography of those primary and secondary resources that will matter most for the paper.

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