November 30th, 2020 
Short research paper: The MLA-formatted 5-7 page research paper that includes a clearly defined position, argument, and evidence (from primary and the secondary sources). Topic: The topic of the paper is based on the required reading/book titled The Captured: A True Story of Abduction on the Texas Frontier by Scott Zesch.
Author Scott Zesch uses the story of Indian captives to open a window into the experiences of Texas pioneers. For this paper, you must place the stories of Adolf Korn and the others who were taken as captives within a larger historical context. What do their experiences tell us about Native American culture? What do they tell us about pioneer culture? Why did the Comanches take captives? Assess how the stories of the captives and their captors fit into larger patterns in the history of the United States West. Conclude your paper by explaining what The Captured tells us about the American frontier. MLA formatting example.
Remember that this is a research project and not a book summary or report. I don’t need you to summarize the events of the book but to place the theme of the book to test through a detailed research question. For instance, your paper may focus on the following research question: “Why did the some bands within the Comanche Empire resort to kidnapping the European kids during the late 1840s in Texas?” or “How challenging was the borderland experience of the early Polish migrants in the Dakota territory during the 1880s?” In other words, you need to come up with your own research theme while exploring Zesch’s publication. Use it as an exploratory scaffold to help you find your own research question. In addition to Zesch’s book use at least nine other authored publications (journal articles and books). Do not use editorial sourcing one may easily find while using history.com, Wikikipedia, or Khan. The library and its resources is here to aid you in this process. Use the listed databases such as the Jstore, Ebsco, and alike to find full length academic and peer-reviewed publications.
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