The growing pressure on dual nationals who have the option to play for either the United States or Mexico national soccer teams. Highlighting the challenges and complexities that these players face and how do it affects American culture.

Submit a final, 30–35 page senior thesis.

Your thesis should be grounded in a clear argument that is thoroughly supported with evidence and analysis. Your own scholarly voice should shine throughout the paper; while the scholarship of other authors will be present (particularly as you explain relevant historical contexts, existing scholarly research, and other forms of background), your scholarly analysis of primary source documents should be the heart and soul of this paper. Your footnote citations and bibliography should demonstrate the depth and breadth of the interdisciplinary research you conducted as you crafted this paper all semester long.

• Includes, in this order:
  1. Title page (see below for formatting guidelines)
  2. Acknowledgements Page
  3. The full paper
  4. Bibliography
  5. Appendix (as needed; this is the place to place any images, maps, charts, graphs, explanations of sources or methodologies used, or other information you want your reader to know or see but which does not fit within the narrative of your paper)
• Incorporates and addresses all of the following components (you may integrate all five components into a single narrative, or you may use bold sub-headers to indicate the transition between each section):
  1. Introduction — What is the topic of this thesis? What is your argument?
  2. Historical and Intellectual Background — What background information does the reader need to know in order to contextualize and thus make sense of your thesis’s main component (the heart-and-soul of your paper!), your analysis of a body of primary sources?
  3. Analysis of your Body of Sources — What is the specific story, example, event, person, company, film, book, or other aspect of American life, culture, or history that your thesis will explore deeply through a detailed examination of primary sources (e.g. interviews or surveys you conduct; data sets you interpret; close readings you conduct of newspaper articles, literature, films, or other cultural products)?
  4. Conclusion — What does your case study teach us about your topic? What is the significance of your thesis research (the “so what”) for our understanding of American culture?
• Overall, the final paper you submit should take into consideration the revision suggestions of Prof. Gold McBride and anyone else who has helped you along the way (roommates, partners, parents, etc.) — yet ultimately it is your original piece of scholarship. (In other words, you get to make the final decision about what to include, exclude, edit, argue, and write — not Prof. GM, and not anyone else!)

Formatting & Style:

• The entire paper—including the title page, acknowledgements, main paper, and bibliography—should be written in Times New Roman font in size 12, 1” margins on all four sides, and double spaced (with paragraphs indented, and no extra space between paragraphs).
• Begins with a title page that includes: the paper’s title, your name, Prof. GM’s name, American Studies 191, and the term (Fall 2022). (Other than incorporating these components, the precise formatting of the title page is up to you!)
• Page numbers in Times New Roman, size 12, located in the upper-right-hand corner of every page
• Section titles (if you are using them) written in bold text and left-justified (i.e. not indented). Add an extra space (one blank line) before each section title.
• If the paper includes block quotes, they are formatted like this:

Indented one extra tab from the left margin; single spaced; 12 point font; not bold or in italics; no extra space above or below the block quote; no quotation marks around the block quote; the next line of prose after the block quote should not be indented but flush with the left margin; and with the footnote at the end of the block quote.¹

• Any images, maps, charts, or graphs used in the paper should be located in an Appendix (NOT in the body text), and should include a caption that labels the images sequentially (e.g. “Figure 1,” “Figure 2”), briefly describes the image (e.g. “This is a map of the UC Berkeley campus as of 1898, when Phoebe Hearst held her design competition.”), and includes a citation for the source where you acquired the image.
  • If you would like to see an example of a well-formatted Appendix, check out the sample Wine Thesis; their Appendix begins on page 36 of the PDF.

Citations:

• Footnotes typed in Times New Roman, 10 point font.
  • Consult the Chicago Manual of Style for any questions about how to format a specific genre of source. if you can’t find the answer there, email Prof. GM!
• No extra space between each footnote.
• In the body text, footnote numbers placed at the end of the sentence and after punctuation, like this.² For a quote, format the footnote “like this.”³
• A bibliography at the end of the paper (after your conclusion and before any appendices, if applicable) that lists in alphabetical order all the sources you consulted for your paper, including the primary and secondary sources cited in footnotes plus any other sources you read but didn’t end up footnoting.
  
  • NOTE: If you used multiple articles from a newspaper, you need only list the name of the newspaper in your bibliography, rather that listing every article individually.

✅ Create a title page for your thesis that includes this information (the formatting is up to you!):

• • • The paper’s title
    • Your name
    • Prof. Gold McBride’s name
    • American Studies 191
    • Spring 2023

✅ Finalize your Acknowledgments page

While an acknowledgments page is common in books, it isn’t something that we, your professors, generally ask students to include in their final paper and project submissions.

However, because a senior thesis is such a huge accomplishment—and because you have worked so hard to get here!—I think it is so important and meaningful to save a space in your final thesis to thank the people who helped you get here.

✅ Confirm that your paper is approximately 30–35 pages in length; slightly longer or shorter is okay! (Note that the paper length refers to the paper itself, not the entire document, which will include additional components such as the the bibliography and appendix.) 

✅ [AS NEEDED] If your paper utilizes section headers, confirm that section title is left-justified (not indented) and the title text is bold.

✅ Confirm that your paper adheres to the formatting and style requirements described in this tutorial: Times New Roman font in size 12, 1″ margins on all sides, etc.

✅ Confirm that you have inserted and formatted footnote citations for all the sources you referenced in your paper. (If you need help formatting Chicago-style footnotes, review this tutorial.)

✅ List all of the sources you consulted in your thesis research (including any sources you didn’t end up citing in the actual paper) in an alphabetized bibliography. (If you need help formatting Chicago-style bibliographic entries, review this tutorial.)

✅ [AS NEEDED] If your paper includes visuals (e.g. drawings, photographs, graphs, tables, and/or maps), create an Appendix that contains all of the visuals (do not include visuals within the body text; all visuals should be in the appendix). Arrange the visuals in the order they are referenced in the paper. For each visual in the appendix, please include

• The visual
• A sequential indicator: Figure 1 for the first visual, Figure 2 for the second, etc.
• A caption that briefly describes the image (1–2 sentences)
• A Chicago-style bibliographic citation that indicates where you accessed the source