I’m working on a sociology question and need guidance to help me learn.

Essay #1

In an essay of 3-5 pages (recommended) double-spaced, address ONE of the following options:

LINKS: Letters of a woman homesteader : Stewart, Elinore Pruitt, 1878- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Option #1: Using material from the assigned selections of Letters of a Woman Homesteader and the documents and readings listed below (available from the main course page), develop an essay that answers the following question:

How do the letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart document and/or obscure the realities of rural life in the West at the beginning of the twentieth century?

Readings for Option 1:

• Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters of a Woman Homesteader (Chapters 1, 2, 7, 9, 13, 18, & 20)
• Sherry Smith, “Single Women Homesteaders,” Western Historical Quarterly 22, no. 2 (May 1991): 163-83.
• Either of the following primary sources:
  • Homesteader Accounts
  • Wallace Stegner, “The Making of Paths”

Option #2: Using material from assigned sources listed below, develop an essay that addresses the following question:

How do the letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart and the memories of Wallace Stegner document or conflict with the stories of children’s experiences in western settlement as presented by Elliott West?

Readings for Option 2:

• Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters of a Woman Homesteader (Chapters 1, 2, 7, 9, 13, 18, & 20)
• Wallace Stegner, “The Making of Paths”
• Elliott West, Ch. 7 “Child’s Play, from The Essential West