The point of this paper is to gain familiarity with the history and current circumstances of a specific Native nation (not your own) in the United States or Canada. (Or, if you prefer, Australia or New Zealand or another Anglophone country.) You should focus on issues such as pre-contact or earlier colonial political and social conditions, effects of Americans laws and policies, instances of resistance or cooperation, moments of termination and restoration, current reservation boundaries, and ongoing political issues.

This paper should be about four pages long, though maps and other graphics do not count toward that page limit if you choose to include them. Not all of the potential information will fit within four pages, so exercise judgment about what is most important. Presume that your audience has basic knowledge of the general countours of American Indian history and policy in the United States (or other relevant country), and focus on specific details relevant to this tribe/nation. Write clearly and directly, but be as precise as you can. The paper following this one will focus on a particular law or policy, so the greater precision that you develop at this stage, the easier it will be to recognize and talk about that law or policy's impact in this specific case.

Depending on the tribe/nation that you choose, academically oriented information may or may not be widely available. For this reason, tribal websites and Wikipedia are permissible sources of information for smaller tribes about which less has been written. (Contributors to Wikipedia will often be tribal members, historians, or both themselves. If you make use of Wikipedia, however, consult the articles "Talk" page as well to see where controversies currently exist about included information.) You will need a minimum of three sources for this paper, two of which must be academic or academic-like sources (e.g. popular histories) if these exist. Additional sources are recommended, since deeper resources will allow for greater precision and detail.

Your paper should be four pages long, double spaced, in 12-point font, and concisely written. Use either parenthetical citations (e.g. Smith pg. 12) or endnotes. Indicate dates in which websources were accessed. Maps and other graphic information (e.g. tables) do not count toward the page limit.