Topic Exploration Worksheet All historians have areas of interest that they choose to study. This is what you will be doing in your final paper! First, however, you must decide what will be the focus of your paper. In this activity, you will be exploring your chosen topic and then narrowing your focus. Finally, you will begin thinking about your sources and how they might connect to your paper. Answering these questions below is the first step in writing your final paper! Step 1: Select your topic and focus question! Read the topics from the list on page 2 of this document and choose the topic and focus that interests you. Fill out the box below. What’s your topic and focus question? Topic: Focus Question: Step 2: In 50 words or more, state why you chose the topic and focus question that you chose. It could be how the topic is of interest to you and that you have studied it previously, or it could be a subject that you want to learn more about something of which you do not have knowledge. Step 3: List the two primary source and two secondary sources that you have chosen in the boxes below. Source Type Source Name Primary Source #1 Primary Source #2 Secondary Source #1 Secondary Source #2 Step 4: In 50 words or more, describe your initial thoughts about how your sources relate to your chosen topic and focus. Make sure to provide specific examples from each of the four sources that illustrate how they will help you answer your focus question. This will help you begin to think about the form of your paper! Topic instructions: Select a topic from this list (see descriptions located in your Blackboard course). Once you have done this, select your specific focus and sources from the next list. 1. This Land is My Land 2. Revolutionary Ideas 3. The New Nation 4. Going Underground 5. All Men Are Created Equal 6. In Her Place 7. Splitting Up 8. Fighting for Peace Focus and source instructions: Now that you have your topic, select your desired focus option. Then, it will list the sources that can be used for this topic. Choose two primary and two secondary sources. Think about your choices and then fill out the worksheet on page 1! 1. This Land is My Land a. Focus Question: Analyze the major causes of the tensions between the Native Americans and the European colonists in the 16th-18th centuries. Primary Sources: 1. Lion Gardener, “Relation of the Pequot Warres”, 1660 2. John Mason’s “Brief History of the Pequot War” 3. Indian Complaints about English Settlers, 1675 4. Edward Randolph’s Report of King Philip’s War, 1675 Secondary Sources: 1. Philip Ranlet, “Another Look at the Causes of the King Philip’s War” 2. Alden T. Vaughan, “Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of the War of 1637” 3. James Drake, “Restraining Atrocity: The Conduct of King Philip’s War” b. Focus Question: Evaluate the impact of the Pequot War on either the Europeans or Natives. Primary Sources: 1. Indian Complaints about English Settlers, 1675 2. Edwa ...

1. Topic Exploration Worksheet
All historians have areas of interest that they choose to study.
This is what you will be doing in your final paper! First,
however, you must decide what will be the focus of your paper.
In this activity, you will be exploring your chosen topic and
then narrowing your focus. Finally, you will begin thinking
about your sources and how they might connect to your paper.
Answering these questions below is the first step in writing
your final paper!
Step 1: Select your topic and focus question! Read the topics
from the list on page 2 of this document and choose the topic
and focus that interests you. Fill out the box below.
What’s your topic and focus question?
Topic:
Focus Question:
Step 2: In 50 words or more, state why you chose the topic and
focus question that you chose. It could be how the topic is of
interest to you and that you have studied it previously, or it
could be a subject that you want to learn more about something
of which you do not have knowledge.
Step 3: List the two primary source and two secondary sources
that you have chosen in the boxes below.

2. Source Type
Source Name
Primary Source #1
Primary Source #2
Secondary Source #1
Secondary Source #2
Step 4: In 50 words or more, describe your initial thoughts
about how your sources relate to your chosen topic and focus.
Make sure to provide specific examples from each of the four
sources that illustrate how they will help you answer your focus
question. This will help you begin to think about the form of
your paper!
Topic instructions: Select a topic from this list (see descriptions
located in your Blackboard course). Once you have done this,
select your specific focus and sources from the next list.
1. This Land is My Land
2. Revolutionary Ideas
3. The New Nation
4. Going Underground
5. All Men Are Created Equal
6. In Her Place
7. Splitting Up
8. Fighting for Peace

3. Focus and source instructions: Now that you have your topic,
select your desired focus option. Then, it will list the sources
that can be used for this topic. Choose two primary and two
secondary sources. Think about your choices and then fill out
the worksheet on page 1!
1. This Land is My Land
a. Focus Question: Analyze the major causes of the tensions
between the Native Americans and the European colonists in the
16th-18th centuries.
Primary Sources:
1. Lion Gardener, “Relation of the Pequot Warres”, 1660
2. John Mason’s “Brief History of the Pequot War”
3. Indian Complaints about English Settlers, 1675
4. Edward Randolph’s Report of King Philip’s War, 1675
Secondary Sources:
1. Philip Ranlet, “Another Look at the Causes of the King
Philip’s War”
2. Alden T. Vaughan, “Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of the
War of 1637”
3. James Drake, “Restraining Atrocity: The Conduct of King
Philip’s War”
b. Focus Question: Evaluate the impact of the Pequot War on
either the Europeans or Natives.
Primary Sources:
1. Indian Complaints about English Settlers, 1675
2. Edward Randolph’s Report of King Philip’s War, 1675
Secondary Sources:
1. Adam J. Hirsch, “The Collision of Military Cultures in
Seventeenth-Century New England.”
2. Michal L. Fickes, “’They Could Not Endure that Yoke’: The
Capitivity of Pequot Women and Children after the War of
1637”

4. 2. Revolutionary Ideas
a. Focus Question: Compare and contrast the main arguments of
the Patriots and Loyalists.
Primary Sources:
1. Reports of Mob Attacks on Loyalists
2. A Loyalist Poem, “The Patriots of North America”
3. Thomas Paines’s Common Sense
4. A Loyalist Tract
Secondary Sources:
1. Benjamin A. Irvin, “Tar, Feathers, and the Enemies of
American Liberties, 1768-1776”
2. Keith Mason, “Localism, Evangelicalism, and Loyalism: The
Sources of Discontent in the Revolutionary Chesapeake.”
3. Wallace Brown, “The American Farmer During the
Revolution: Rebel or Loyalist?”
b. Focus Question: Analyze the main reasons for the outbreak of
the Revolutionary War.
Primary Sources:
1. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
2. A Loyalist Tract
3. Charles Inglis’ reply to Common Sense
Secondary Sources:
1. Michael A. McDonnell, “A World Turned ‘Topsy Turvy’:
Robert Munford, The Patriots, and the Crisis of the Revolution
in Virginia.”
2. Anna Alden Allen, “Patriots and Loyalists: The Choice of
Political Allegiances by the Members of Maryland’s Proprietary
Elite.”
3. The New Nation
a. Focus Question: Analyze the weaknesses of the Articles of
Confederation. How did the Constitution serve to address these

5. weaknesses?
Primary Sources:
1. Federalist #15
2. The Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of
Pennsylvania
Secondary Sources:
1. Robert A. Feer, “Shay’s Rebellion and the Constitution: A
Study in Causation”
2. Donald S. Lutz, “The Articles of Confederation as the
Background to the Federal Republic”
b. Focus Question: Evaluate the “spirit of compromise”
involved in the ratification of the Constitution.
Primary Sources:
1. Objections to the Constitution
2. The Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of
Pennsylvania
Secondary Sources:
1. Robert A. McGuire and Robert L. Ohsfeldt, “Self-Interest,
Agency Theory, and Political Voting Behavior: The Ratification
of the United States Constitution.”
2. Robin Brooks, “Alexander Hamilton, Melancton Smith, and
the Ratification of the Constitution in New York.”
4. Going Underground
a. Focus Question: Analyze the motivations for the development
of the Underground Railroad.
Primary Sources:
1. Fugitive Slave Act
2. Reward for Return of a Slave
3. Levi Coffin’s Underground Railroad Station
4. The Slave Policy
Secondary Sources:
1. Larry Gara, “The Underground Railroad: Legend or Reality”
2. Gayle T. Tate, “Free Black Resistance in the Antebellum Era,

6. 1830 to 1860”
3. Stanley Harrold, “On the Borders of Slavery and Race:
Charles T. Torrey and the Underground Railroad”
b. Focus Question: Evaluate the effectiveness of the
Underground Railroad in assisting slaves escape and remain
free.
Primary Sources:
1. The Conductor’s Diary
2. Levi Coffin’s Underground Railroad Station
Secondary Sources:
1. Nilgun Anadolu Okur, “Underground Railroad in
Philadelphia, 1830-1860”
2. Larry Gara, “The Underground Railroad: Legend or Reality”
5. All men Are Created Equal
a. Focus Question: Evaluate the key arguments of the
abolitionists, making sure to discuss the economic, social, and
political impact of abolition.
Primary Sources:
1. Fugitive Slave Act
2. Dred Scott
3. Three Grand Mistakes
4. Reward for Return of Slave
5. Caution to African American’s in Boston
Secondary Sources:
1. Jane H. Pease and William H. Pease, “Confrontation and
Abolition in the 1850s”
2. John S. Vishneski, III, “What the Court Decided in Dred
Scott v. Sandford”
3. Alix Oswald, “The Reaction to the Dred Scott Decision”
4. Stephen Middleton, “The Fugitive Slave Crisis in Cincinnati,
1850-1860: Resistance, Enforcement, and Black Refugees”
5. Robert J. Loewenberg, “John Locke and the Antebellum

7. Defense of Slavery”
6. In Her Place?
a. Focus Question: Analyze the changing role of women in
society. Be sure to discuss the economic, religious,
demographic, and/or cultural influences and highlight the
reformers who helped shape the movement. What were the
goals of the early women’s movement?
Primary Sources:
1. Eliza Bixby’s letter to her brother
2. How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes
3. Woman’s Present and Future
4. The Ladies of Trenton Assemble
Secondary Sources:
1. Elizabeth Cometii, “Women in the American Revolution”
2. Barbara E. Lacey, “Women in the Era of the American
Revolution: The Case of Norwich Connecticut”
3. John L. Brooke, “Spheres, Sites, Subjectivity, History:
Reframing Antebellum American Society”
4. Regina Markell Morantz, “Making Women Modern: Middle
Class Women and Health Reform in 19th Century America”
5. Thomas Dublin, “Women, Work, and Protest in the Early
Lowell Mills: ‘The Oppressing hand of Avarice Would Enslave
Us”
7. Splitting Up
a. Focus Question: Evaluate the arguments given by the south
justifying secession. Contrast these arguments with those in
favor of maintaining unity.
Primary Sources:
1. The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States
2. The Rebuke of Secession doctrines
3. The Secession of Virginia and the American Civil War: The
Illustrated News, May 18, 1861

8. 4. Northern Interests and Southern Independence: A Plea for
United Action
Secondary Sources:
1. Hudson Meadwell and Lawrence M. Anderson, “Sequence
and Strategy in the Secession of the American South”
2. William S. Hitchcock, “The Limits of Southern Unionism:
Virginia Conservatives and the Gubernatorial Election of 1859”
3. Frank F. White, Jr., “A Soldier Views the Secession Crisis”
8. Fighting for Peace
a. Focus Question: Compare and contrast the war efforts of the
Confederacy and Union. What were the strengths and
weaknesses of each side?
Primary Sources:
1. Confederate soldier’s letter home about shortages in camp
2. “Four Years Under Marse Robert”
3. “Life in the Confederate Army”
4. A Woman’s War Record, 1861-1865
5. Union Soldier’s letter to his sister on the comforts of camp
life
Secondary Sources:
1. Richard H. Shyrock, “A Medical Perspective on the Civil
War”
2. Alan Farmer, “Why Was the Confederacy Defeated?”
3. William O. Brown Jr. and Richard C. K. Burdekin, “Turning
Points in the US Civil War: A British Perspective”
4. The National Museum of Health and Medicine, “To Bind Up
the Nation’s Wounds”
Overview
Shady Acres Healthcare System was initially established in the
early 1970s as a not-for-profit entity. Its humble beginnings
included two community clinics, a nursing home, and a mobile

9. immunization unit. Total employees numbered 107. Since then,
it has grown to have a respectable portfolio which boasts seven
community clinics, four skilled nursing facilities (one of which
is the largest in the state at 275 beds), two assisted living
facilities (both moderate size), a home health care unit, a 120-
bed hospice facility, a pharmacy distribution service, and a
large laboratory capable of enormous growth (currently running
at only 33% capacity). There are 742 total employees today.
Reputation in the community is excellent; however, there have
been some recent complaints about the downturn in quality in
the community clinics.
Newer health systems in the area have actively recruited some
of the staff and have offered them more money and better
benefits.
All licenses and accreditation are in good standing.
SAHS has not integrated EHR on the level of its competitors.
Recent employee surveys demonstrate a continued high level of
satisfaction.
Current Financial Situation
The community where SAHS operates is not unlike most areas
in the contiguous United States. The housing slump and levels
of unemployment have increased the numbers of individuals
without insurance. Also rising are the numbers of homes being
converted to apartments and duplexes. Current housing prices
are falling. The process of gentrification (revitalizing
communities with new dollars) has slowed significantly in the
last five years. In summary, the market has slumped, and trends
do not indicate any signs of rapid improvement.
As a result of the downturn, the community clinics have seen a
sharp rise in use. The current system of SAHS, which was
written in the initial bylaws, allows individuals seen at these
clinics to pay on a sliding fee scale. Unfortunately, as a result
of this policy, the system has been losing money ($75,000 per
month) operating these clinics. Until recently, all four of the
skilled nursing facilities have been operating at a profit. The
changing case mix has increased the number of individuals on

10. state assistance, and the rates paid recently dropped. The
flagship skilled nursing facility, at 275 beds, is still operating at
a profit; however, current trends have noted a decrease in net
operating income.
The two assisted living facilities continue at a small profit;
however, a lack of marketing efforts has made them the best
kept secret in the community. Both the home health care and the
hospice facility are showing signs of decreased
occupancy/census as a result of the lagging economy.
The pharmacy distribution service operates at a respectable 40%
net operating income (NOI) and continues profitability trends.
The laboratory operates on an as-needed basis only and as such
is break-even only.
In all, SAHS remains profitable; however, if current trends
continue, the system will be non-profitable in 18 months.
To Do:
analyze Shady Acre Health Systems (SAHS) in order to:
1) determine the current issues SAHS is facing,
2) devise plausible solutions to these issues,
3) recommend a course of action.
· Evaluate organizational strategies and approaches that
contribute to creating a culture of quality and safety through
leadership, priority setting, and a commitment to systems
thinking and organizational roles, processes, and structure
· Construct effective organizational processes that will
transform the health service organization and enable it to meet
the needs of a diverse clientele
· Analyze the multifaceted relationships of the triangle of health
service delivery: quality, cost, and access
· Determine the various political and social forces that are
influencing the direction of health service delivery