Introduction
This is your main research and writing assignment for the course and, as such, involves a number of the themes and interpretative issues on which the readings concentrate. This assignment is due at the end of Lesson 11 but it is recommended that you start now and work on it through the course.
The Moostoos documents are tricky and the sooner you begin to get a handle on what occurred, the better. Investing time at the beginning of the course (and thus providing yourself with the opportunity of reflecting on what you’ve read), will be beneficial. The anxious rushing around just before you submit an assignment rarely has much value—except perhaps in reinforcing the lesson that rushing around is a horrible way to finalize an assignment and proof-read your draft. This will take more time than you expect so the sooner you get started, the better.
Beyond not doing the assignment and not reading the documents, there’s no wrong way to approach the Moostoos case. A timeline of events or a list of the players and their relationships to each other can be a great help. Work up some notes that reflect your understanding of what occurred. However, in doing so, don’t become wedded to those notes. You may misunderstand something at the outset and then later the penny drops and you have an “A ha!” moment where things suddenly make more sense.
What you’re doing is imposing your thinking and your comprehension on the documents. In so doing, you may be able to start putting elements of the story into distinct categories or boxes. For instance, maybe the newspaper reports from Edmonton can be safely set aside because they are too removed from events (or too prejudicial). Maybe constructing a version of events from the NWMP perspective, as distinct from everyone else, might provide you with a better handle.
The sooner you start familiarizing yourself with the documents and the history they relate the sooner you can start identifying, shaping, and then polishing your understanding of the issues at play.
The length of this assignment is 3000 to 3500 words, not including citations or bibliography.
Provide an introduction that sets out your research question, your plan of attack, and your thesis statement indicating what you believe an interpretation of the available evidence supports. Then you might have a section in which you broadly summarize the events as they occurred in the documents. This shouldn’t be a lengthy and detailed summary; the primary goal is to demonstrate that you have mastered the “facts” of the case. The core of your essay should be centred on the two, three, or four themes (the number is entirely up to you), that you believe are central to understanding the dynamic within the case.
Essentially, if we are limited to three themes in building our understanding of the Moostoos case, what would those themes be? The core of your essay would then be the identification of those themes and then your provision of evidence from the documents, demonstrating the importance, weight, and relevance of those themes.
Before you begin to write, you then sketch out your four themes and the paragraphs that will develop those themes. For example, one of your themes might be the North-West Mounted Police and their handling/mishandling of the Moostoos case
An effective essay clearly demonstrates the logic of your thinking, your understanding, and your interpretation. Have you presented a compelling demonstration of the evidence in these documents?
The assessment of your essay takes into consideration questions such as:
“Is there a clearly stated research question?”
“Does the introductory paragraph contain the necessary elements of a research question, plan of attack, and thesis statement?”;
“Does the essay actually follow the stated plan of attack”;
“How effective is the use of primary evidence in the essay?”;
“Is the use of evidence and argumentation compelling?”;
“Is the overall writing clear, precise, and grammatically sound?”;
References
Annual Archaeological Report 1903. 1904. The Killing of Moostoos the Wehtigoo. (Summary of legal proceedings held at Fort Saskatchewan and Edmonton, July – August, 1899.) Appendix to the Report of the Minister of Education, Ontario, Toronto: King’s Printer, pp. 126 – 138.
“From Less Slave Lake.” Edmonton Bulletin. April 8, 1899
“Indian Murder Trial.” Edmonton Bulletin. August 10, 1899
“Indian Murder Trial.” Edmonton Bulletin. August 14, 1899
“Local.” Edmonton Bulletin. May 1, 1899
“Local.” Edmonton Bulletin. July 17, 1899
“Local.” Edmonton Bulletin. August 3, 1899
“More Indian Murders.” Edmonton Bulletin. June 12, 1899
“The Queen v. Napesosus and Pay-i-uu,” Provincial Archives of Alberta, 83.1 (Edmonton Supreme Court Files) SC.OS (criminal), case number 157
“Waspica Lakes.” Edmonton Bulletin. April 16, 1896
