As noted in the course introduction, this class does not require a full research

As noted in the course introduction, this class does not require a full research paper but does feature some “lab” activities designed to help you with the steps required for the types of papers that will be required of you in upper level course. This lab is an exercise in getting an overview of the topic and identifying the major “issues” that make for interesting research.
The Lab Exercise: step-by-step approach
Select a topic or issue of your own choosing from the periods covered by this class. It can be the same topic you chose for the “Finding Sources” Lab Exercise, or you may select something different. As before, it can be anything that is relevant to the cultures and periods covered in the course. BUT, it needs to be something for which there is a legitimate issue; that is, some aspect about which there are different opinions among scholars.
Do some initial research by finding sources (if you use the same topic as the previous lab, you may have good ones already). The key here is getting sources that provide an overview of the topic and identify issues on which there are different views. Generally, reference articles (encyclopedias or specialized collections) are the best for this. Sometimes online sites like Wikipedia are very helpful in identifying issues, even if they can’t serve as a good bibliography source and can lead you to other sources.
Create an outline for presentation and discussion of the issue. This should have: A) an overview of the topic (major points, not written out discussion) and B) identification of alternate points of view, including some context for why it matters.
Add a bibliography of the sources used to determine the issues and views. No annotations are needed (at this point, but will be needed for the final Lab!) and no footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical notes are required (but the latter would be a nice touch if you are up for it).
The topic
The topic is extremely flexible. Refer to the instructions for the previous lab (this is more important than you might think) and be creative. It will be helpful if you can get curious about the thing you want to investigate.
What you need to produce
Create a Word document with: 1) your outline (the main thing) with coherent points (I need to be able to follow your presentation) and 2) your bibliography in a standard format.*
*[from the previous Lab: There are various academic “styles” to choose from and my main concern is that you are consistent with the style you choose. If you have learned MLA (English) or APA (Sciences/Psychology) you may use that. You may also consult my “Very Short Research and Writing Guide” (see link in module) for examples in Chicago/Turabian (used for Humanities).]
What to turn in
Submit your Outline and Bibliography in a single document as an upload on the Canvas assignment page in Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF format.