Assignment Instructions: History of

Science and Technology in 10 Objects

Due: Friday, April 12, 2024, at 11:59 PM

Assignment Prompt: Alan Moss and Keith Skinner’s History of Crime in 100
Objects (The History Press, 2022) tells the history of Scotland Yard. Using a
similar method of material culture, your task will be to create a small museum-
quality exhibit for the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC that
tells the history of science and technology in no fewer than 10 objects. The
National Museum of Natural History has given you a display case measuring 84”
tall x 36” wide x 36” inches deep. The case sits in the middle of an exhibit hall and
can be viewed from all four sides.

Your exhibit should be a well-organized, thesis-driven argument or 12science and

technology is a huge topic. You, however, are limited by the space of your display
case. You will need to make choices on the best way to limit the scope of the
exhibit while still telling the history of science and technology.

The objects and text should work together to make a point (your thesis). Do not
rely solely on text to explain what the objects mean and how you are using them.

The key is to use objects (material culture). In other words, the items you use must
be tangible. Scientific theories, gaseous elements, light, radio waves, or
astronomical events such as an eclipse or supernova, would not be considered an
object. You cannot touch them

You may assume that you have an unlimited budget and that any museum will lend
an object to you. That means you can (and should) look in online museum catalogs
to help you find potential objects. The Smithsonian’s online database can be found
at https://collections.si.edu/search/. The Science Museum London’s online
database can be found at https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/.

You should provide an introductory paragraph of no more than 150 words. Each
object should have a caption of approximately 35 words. Do not exceed 50 words
on the object captions. Every object needs a citation.

This assignment is best completed in PowerPoint or another slide presentation.

Begin with the Exhibit Title (title slide) followed by your exhibit introduction
(slide 2). After that, place one object per slide along with its caption, citation, and
dimensions. You will need to save your slide presentation as a PDF because
Blackboard does not handle images very well. Additionally, image files are often
very large. You will want to reduce the file size (but not necessarily the image) as
much as possible before inserting it into your presentation.

Objects must fit within the space stated above. A steam engine from the industrial
revolution will not fit in the space provided. Therefore, you must provide the actual
object dimensions. For this reason, it really is best to use objects from museum
databases.

A sample assignment from another class will be posted on Blackboard, but keep in
mind that this sample had slightly different requirements. It may be helpful to visit
a museum exhibit to see how the exhibit title, introduction, and object captions are
designed. The Natural Curiosities exhibit on the third floor of the University of
South Carolina’s McKissick Museum is a good exhibit to visit. The McKissick
Museum is on the Horseshoe. Admission is free.

Expectations:

1. Please address the assignment prompt in a slide presentation containing at

least 10 objects. You may include more, but you must include at least 10.
All 10 objects must fit inside a display case measuring 84” tall, 36” wide,
and 36” deep.
2. Before starting the assignment, please review Sections 7.9, 15.1 and 15.2 of
Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 9th Edition,
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018); Dr. Risk’s “Keys to a
Successful Assignment,” and the descriptions of an A, B, C, D, and F paper
located on pages 4 and 5 of the course syllabus. Each of these were assigned
as required reading in Week 1. You can find them on Blackboard in the
Week 1 content folder.
3. You are not expected to research this, but rather provide an original
interpretation of the history of science and technology using at least 10
objects. You will need to cite the source of the images you use. Additionally,
if you directly quote or paraphrase another source in your introduction or
individual captions, you will need to cite them using Chicago style
footnotes. You can find information on footnote citations in Chapter 14 of
the Chicago Manual of Style. USC’s Thomas Cooper Library has a
 subscription to the Chicago Manual of Style located at
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/sc.edu?url=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.chicagomanualofstyle.org%2Fbook
%2Fed17%2Fpart3%2Fch14%2Ftoc.html. You will be required to login to
your library account to use this resource. If you have questions, just ask. If
you use a citation generator, such as EndNote, Zotero, or any other online
citation generator to assist you with your citations, you are still responsible
for making sure your citation is correct. Failure to properly cite your
sources will result in a referral to the Office of Academic Integrity for a
potential honor code violation. Students who are found responsible for
violating the honor code will automatically receive a zero for the
assignment and potentially fail the course.
4. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) programs on this assignment is a
violation of the USC Honor Code. Students are expected to do their own
work. While ChatGPT is the most well-known artificial intelligence
program, artificial intelligence can come from many sources including, but
not limited to, ChatGPT, DeepL Language Translator, Google, Grammarly,
and Microsoft CoPilot. If you regularly use programs such as these to assist
you with your writing, please be aware that your assignment may be referred
to the OSCAI for a potential honor code violation. Use of artificial
intelligence is not authorized in this class. If you are not a strong writer and
need assistance with editing for grammar, it is highly recommended that you
use the USC Writing Center.
5. Please save the document as a .pdf file. The document itself should be in an
appropriate-sized font for ease of reading.
6. All assignments must be submitted via Blackboard and processed via
SafeAssign. We cannot accept assignments via e-mail under any
circumstances.
7. One of the most important things you learn in college is time management.
Slide presentations are to be uploaded to Blackboard no later than 11:59 PM
on Friday, December 8, 2023. There will be a specific link in the
‘assignments’ section of Blackboard for you to upload your assignment. We
do not accept late assignments. The link to submit assignments is set to
disappear at the assignment deadline to prevent late assignments.
8. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure their document has been
successfully uploaded to Blackboard and is in the correct format. Blackboard
will send you a confirmation e-mail stating the assignment uploaded
successfully. Save your confirmation e-mail from Blackboard until after the
assignment has been graded. Your confirmation e-mail may be the only
proof you have of submitting the document if Blackboard does not show a
 document upload on our end. A successful upload does not guarantee the
document is in the correct format. Blackboard will accept any format, but
SafeAssign will not. Blackboard will still send you a confirmation e-mail
even if the document is in the incorrect format. If your document is not in
the correct format, we will not be able to open it and you will receive a zero
for the assignment. As stated in the syllabus, there is a known issue with
Blackboard corrupting files if the file is open on your computer when you
attempt to upload it. Please be sure to save the document and close it
completely before attempting to upload the assignment.

If you have trouble submitting your assignment, contact Bb Support at (803) 777-
1800, M-F 8am-6pm. You may also submit a help desk ticket at
https://scprod.service-now.com/ but be advised you may not get a response before
the assignment deadline.