UNIT 15 • STAGE 6 OF 7

My Research

Build your personal source list using the source card pattern , the same flex layout from Stage 4

← Stage 5 Unit 15 Stage 7 →
UNIT
STEP 1

Building My Research

Stage 6 adds the My Research section: a structured, personal source list for the nation you have been documenting across this unit. The section is almost entirely yours to build. The CSS is pre-built. The structure is provided. You supply the sources.

The source card uses the same horizontal flex pattern introduced in Stage 4. The left column holds a short source type label ("Nation," "Federal," "Academic," "Archive"). The right column holds the full citation and a brief note about what the source documents. The same flex-shrink: 0 and flex: 1; min-width: 0 logic that made the fact markers work makes the source type labels work.

What counts as a source for this section?

The My Research section documents your sources, not the pre-built content. Look for: the official website of the Tribal nation you have been researching, one federal record (National Archives Dawes Act records, the DOI 2022 report, or a specific treaty), one academic or published source (Meriam Report, Deloria & Lytle, Indian Land Tenure Foundation research), and one archive or digital collection if you found one. Four sources is a complete section. Six is thorough. Replace the placeholder cards with your actual sources.

STEP 2

The Source Card Pattern

The source card is a direct application of the flex layout from Stage 4, with a different visual treatment. In Stage 4, the .fact-marker was a large number at 50% opacity. Here, .source-type is a small text label at full opacity. The flex mechanics are identical.

// Source list container and individual card. .source-list {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  gap: 16px;
}
.source-card {
  display: flex;
  gap: 20px;
  align-items: flex-start;
  padding: 20px 24px;
  background: var(--bg-card);
  border: 1px solid var(--gold-border);
  border-radius: 10px;
}
// Left column: fixed-width type label. Right column: citation content. .source-type {
  font-size: 0.625rem;
  font-weight: 700;
  text-transform: uppercase;
  letter-spacing: 0.12em;
  color: var(--gold);
  flex-shrink: 0;
  width: 64px;
  padding-top: 2px;
}
.source-body { flex: 1; min-width: 0; }
.source-title { font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 700; color: var(--text-light); margin-bottom: 4px; }
.source-meta { font-size: 0.8125rem; color: var(--text-muted); margin-bottom: 8px; }
.source-note { font-size: 0.875rem; color: var(--text-dim); line-height: 1.6; margin: 0; }
  • flex-shrink: 0; width: 64px on .source-type: Same principle as .fact-marker in Stage 4. The label column is fixed at 64px and cannot shrink. The citation column gets all remaining space.
  • padding-top: 2px on .source-type: Small optical adjustment. The uppercase label's cap height sits slightly below the citation title's baseline. 2px of top padding aligns them visually.
  • .source-meta: A subtitle line for author, date, publisher, or URL. Styled in var(--text-muted), the dimmest text color in the system, so it reads as reference information rather than content.
  • .source-note: One sentence about what you used this source for. Not a summary of the source, a statement of how it supported your research. "Documents the pre-allotment land base for White Earth Reservation" is more useful than "A history of White Earth."

Source type labels

Use short, consistent labels: Nation (official Tribal website), Federal (U.S. government record, report, or archive), Academic (published book or peer-reviewed source), Archive (digitized primary source collection). Keep each label to one word so the column stays narrow and consistent.

STEP 3

Your Task

The My Research section is pre-built with four placeholder source cards. Replace each placeholder with an actual source you used while researching your Tribal nation for this unit.

  • Replace the REPLACE text in the section title with the name of the nation you researched.
  • Replace each placeholder source card with a real source: its title, its author or publisher, its date or URL, and one sentence about what it documents.
  • The four pre-built placeholders use four different type labels: Nation, Federal, Academic, Archive. Keep those types if your sources fit; change the labels if they do not.
  • Add additional source cards if you have more than four sources. The .source-list stacks them automatically.
STEP 4

Why a Source Section Belongs in a Research Website

Every claim in this site comes from somewhere. The design has been precise about sources throughout: the stat callouts name the Meriam Report, the fact items cite the DOI 2022 report, the Red Lake callout cites Wilkins and the nation's own website. The My Research section makes your sources visible in the same way.

A research website without a source section is a presentation with no footnotes. The source section is not a formality. It is the part of the site that shows your reader how you know what you know. The source card layout is designed to make that readable: the type label tells the reader what kind of authority the source carries, the title and meta tell them where to find it, and the note tells them why you reached for it.

Stage 6 Complete!

My Research is built. Stage 7 adds the final section: Today. The unit closes with a look at where things stand now , what was reclaimed, what remains, and a footer with the era series banner marking Unit 15 as current.

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