Karibella.W
Melissa.S
Composition II
30 January 2025
Research Portfolio
I. Topic Brainstorming and Research Question
Topic: America’s separation from Britain and Ukraine’s separation from Russia.
Research Question: How does America’s motivation to break away from Britain compare and contrast with Ukraine’s motivation to separate from Russia?
• Why do these two topics matter to you? What do you find interesting or compelling about them?
These two topics matter to me because, firstly, I am American, and without Americans’ motivation to form their own country, I probably wouldn’t be here. The second topic matters to me because the history of Ukraine is often overlooked, and I think it is important to learn and tell the history. I find these two topics share so much because at their hearts, the people just wanted to be free from tyrants, even though there are differences between the two nations’ histories.
• Why should this information matter to others? What would you say if they asked, “So what?”
If one said “so what” to my topic, I would reprimand them for their ignorance and foolish choice of thought and words. I would then educate them on the importance of learning the history of the world. Learning the history of one’s nation and the other nations of the world is very important, as it can teach us and help us better understand humanity. Studying the past helps us to learn how to prepare for the future. All around the globe, people are separated into groups based on race, culture, lineage, language, and other factors, but we have to remember that everyone is the same. When we study what motivates a group of people to declare independence and stand as a free nation, we can be enlightened as to what it means to be truly free and why do humans wish to have freedom.
• In the space below, create a Venn diagram or a comparison-contrast chart for your topics.
| America | Both | Ukraine |
| Was a new and young nation | Wanted to be free | Is an ancient nation and culture |
| Had never previously been free | Wanted recognition as a sovereign and independent nation | Had been fighting for independence for centuries |
| Involved a war | Both made a declaration of independence | Did not directly involve a war in the year of the Declaration of Independence (1991) |
| Had some struggles but over time flourished and has grown to one of the most powerful nations | Both desired economic freedom | Struggled but grew to be more and more independent. |
| A revolution was held | Both had other nation(s) to back them up/help | Population voted |
| Was in late 1700s | Both have lasted as independent nations | Was in late 1900s |
| Had to start from scratch with government | Both had the people leading the independence movement | Had a previous “government” and a puppet president |
| Is widely studied | Both had large, powerful and well-known nations ruling over them | Is not widely studied |
• What specific comparison(s) will you make about the two topics?
I will compare the two similar motivations the countries had to declare independence specifically that they both wanted economic, religious, and social freedom and to be recognised as a sovereign and independent nation.
• What specific contrast(s) will you make between the two topics? I will contrast the two topics by focusing on Ukraine’s want for cultural freedom while America was more driven for economic freedom. Additionally, Americans led an uprising and war while in Ukraine, independence was decided by vote because a nation was already established.
• Is your research question clear and specific? Would your audience understand what you aim to communicate? Will what you have to say likely meet the paper’s length requirements?
I believe that my research question is clear and specific because it focuses on a more centralized issue within the greater story. I will be able to meet the length requirements because there is much to say about each nation’s motivations by providing history and context for each. Additionally, talking about the many similarities the two countries share will provide plenty of words.
• What other questions may be necessary to answer?
I may need to understand the historical context of both country’s situations and to learn the exact dates of things. Additionally, I think I should include some historical context in the essay itself to clarify things for readers.
• What argument may develop from your research as you compare and contrast these two topics?
A possible argument that may develop may be that no nation deserves to be cast under a shadow, and no matter the time or place, every human deserves to be free.
• What types of resources will you require? What specific information will you need to develop your ideas?
I will need to read further on the exact details of Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence and specific timelines and details of that year and time period leading up to it. For America, I will need to find resources detailing what led up to the revolution to study the attitudes of people before the war and I will need to familiarize myself with the dates of things and the timeline.
Additionally…
What do you think? I personally am very excited to write this essay. I get to learn about my country’s history (which I do know pretty well), and I get to learn and tell the story of another country’s history. Following each section of the Research Portfolio, I will add my own extra writing (outside of the school writing) to expound upon a detail that I find needs explaining.
I think looking at the constitutions and declarations of independence for both countries can provide a really interesting view as to what people wanted. From examining what people do/did we can begin to understand what they wanted. For example, I ate watermelon and cake for breakfast. From examining my actions, one can conclude that I was hungry and probably not paying attention to what qualified as a quality breakfast food.
(True story, but in my defense, that day turned out to be a very nice day so maybe we all need to eat watermelon and cake for breakfast more often 🙂
In the American Constitution, there is an amendment that says that everyone has a right to own a gun or weapon for self-defense. This was because the British went around taking everyone’s guns so nobody could fight back. See there? The Americans made reactive rules to prevent what they had experienced from happening in the future. In the Ukrainian Declaration of Independence, the first article reads, “Article 1. Ukraine is the sovereign and independent, democratic, social, legal state.” One could conclude that this was the first article because Ukraine had not been viewed as a sovereign nation before.
By reading and examining the rules that were made, I can show what people wanted. I will also, of course, find other materials detailing opinions from the timeframes, but those are a bit harder to dig up. I am very excited to continue sharing my work, and I hope you enjoyed my work! Thank you for reading!
