The assignment
In order to focus student research goals, we assigned each student a role (activist, worker, soldier, or peasant) and a limited time period (February-March, April-May, June-July, August-September, October-November). We then gave them a list of books and on-line sites where they could find primary sources for their particular group in their time line. Delimiting the students’ roles and time periods allowed us to gain greater coverage of the whole sweep of the revolution. This group of documents and analysis are not and cannot be considered complete. Rather they represent a best practice of sampling to give both the students involved in the project and later viewers some insights into the complexity of this revolution, in terms of both numbers of actors and variety and complexity of issues.