Hello Students: In History 400, the Local History Seminar, students will write a longish, primary-source based research paper. In the process, students will learn how to form a thesis, to create a research strategy, to conduct primary and secondary source research, to find and interpret these sources, and to write a coherent research paper. The course provides students with the chance to use their knowledge, and research and writing skills to produce a 15 to 20 page essay (between 7,500 and 8,500 words of text, excluding notes) based on primary sources and secondary literature that they will hand in at the end of the semester.  In the end, I have this advice: Don’t Panic!