Olivia Cueto – Final Project Proposal

OliviaFrank

Action item- Space:

  • At home
  • Reason: Due to the fact that my project is a research-based experience, the majority of my work can be done at a home/any location that I have available.
  • Notes: I plan to do my project primarily at home however if I feel that I want to have a change of scenery to allow myself to get a break from indoor research I will be able to move around wherever I choose.

Action item- Connections:

  • The connection I have so far is a family friend who worked at the Pentagon who I will be able to work with while doing research.
  • Reason: Although my project doesn’t necessarily require any outside connection/ interviewee, I think it would be beneficial to have conversations face to face about personal experiences.
  • Notes: My family friend is willing to help me with research and is very much open to doing an interview if I’d want to do that.

Action item- Materials/research:

  • (3-4) articles/ documents – found through the national archives website
  • (2-3) books – some ideas so far are Glory and The-Dream, A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War, and Trapped in the War on Terror. However, these can be easily changed as I begin to research.
  • (2-3) documentaries. Some of the documentaries I plan on watching include The Fog of War, the Ken Burns WWII documentary, and The Hunt for Bin Laden.
  • Reason: The project will be an examination of the provocations of, the United States’ response to, and the evolution of United States war strategies.
  • Notes: I plan to use podcasts, interviews, and videos to help break up the amount of reading and annotating I will be doing.
  • Resolution: Because I am not tied down to any specific resources, based on what I learn as I get deeper into my research I can easily switch out/ include more sources on the specific (2-3) events per war that I plan to focus on.

Other Action items:

I recently found an online course titled “Masters of War: History’s Greatest Strategic Thinkers” which is taught by Andrew R. Wilson who is a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, and I think it could be a great addition to my project.

Additions to my plan:

If I choose to do this online course, it may mean that I will have to take out some of the books, websites, and documentaries I initially planned on doing.

As was recommended in my project pitch, I plan to focus on 1-2 specific events during the Vietnam War, WWII, and GWOT. This will give me the opportunity to get better, more thorough information.

Main goals:

  • To become more informed on the strategic thinking that goes into developing plans ( specifically during times of war)
  • I hope to gain a foundational understanding of how the country’s militaristic strategies have evolved through experience and time.
  • To improve not only my research skills but also take this time to learn how to manage and organize such a large-scale project with such a long period of time to be able to work on it.

Timeline:

I plan to spend a “school day” amount of time per day to work on my project. This to do so, I would wake up around 8-9am and work until around 3-4 pm depending on the day.

I also plan to continue after-school activities such as boxing and outside of school art studio time as well.

  • April 10-15= websites completed
  • April 20-26= first WWII book read
  • April 26- May 1= second WWII book read
  • May 7= first Vietnam book read
  • May 14= second Vietnam book read
  • May 20= first GWOT book read
  • May 26-27= second GWOT book read
  • May 30= begin a research paper

Documentation:

I plan on writing a research paper to document what I’d learned during the trimester. I think I will spend a few weeks writing the paper and include textual evidence with the sources I’d used as well. Within the paper – I will quantify the costs and casualties of each war. (I’ll convey the evolution from a war of brute force and one main target to a war more focused on communism as a whole, and one today, fought through technology, and cyberterrorism.) The research paper will not only consist of pure data, but it will challenge me to create my own analysis of how our strategies have actually developed over time. In a way, I’d have to become the strategist.

One thought on “Olivia Cueto – Final Project Proposal”

  1. Olivia, this is excellent. Obviously, your project will grow and transform as you start to puzzle through it.

    I wonder if it would be useful for you to do some preliminary research on the military strategies of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Certainly, whatever strategy we employ was built on the shoulders of those civilizations. I did a quick search and the History Channel has some videos and writing about this. Just a thought.

    I wonder if your family friend would be able to put you in contact with other people? As your project takes shape, it’s worth asking.

    As an aside, I like how you keep the opportunity open for you to go do your research elsewhere – you’re right, staying in one place too long will give you cabin fever.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to toolbar