First Formal Essay, World Civilizations 102
Lewis-Clark State College, Spring 2009

Assignment Details

DUE DATE: This is a take home exam and it is due in class on March 3. Unexcused late papers will be marked as such and will receive a full grade deduction for every 24 hour period late. Your paper is late if I don't have it in my hand when I ask for it in class. Papers placed under my office door will receive an additional grade deduction. The simplest thing is to have your essay ready to hand in on the day it is due.


ESSAY LENGTH: This essay is worth 20% of your overall grade and will be evaluated as such. The minimum length of your essay is four double-spaced, typed pages (approximately 1000 words). The maximum page limit is eight double-spaced typed pages (approximately 2, 000 words). Although there is not a direct connection between the number of pages you write and the grade you earn, the more you write the more chances you give yourself to answer the question you have chosen. Below is a rough guideline to keep in mind as you are writing.

At the end of your essay provide a WORD COUNT.


SOURCES: You are expected to utilize all of your class material to develop and support the points in your essay. The more references you make to class readings, lectures, discussions, & videos the better your essay will be documented.

MAPS, IMAGES, GRAPHS, & CHARTS AS SOURCES: other materials such as meaningful maps, images, illustrations, graphs, charts, and tables etc… are excellent ways to demonstrate your points visually and show extra effort on your part. They do not count as pages.

CITING MATERIALS: Various disciplines (History, Anthropology, Biology, Psychology etc...) have different ways of documenting where information comes from. In this class we will use a variation of Turabian/Chicago style, which is what historians use & we will use footnotes. See the following link for a basic Turabian Style Guide. For Microsoft Word users footnotes is as simple as selecting -- insert, citation/reference, footnote. If you use another word processor we may need to chat.

Provide a full bibliographic citation and the page number the first time you use a source.
Loewen, James W. 1995. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. (New York: Simon and Schuster), 31.

Provide the authors last name and page number each time you use the source afterwards.

Loewen, 55.

Be carefully with the Reilly book, as it is an edited work. Reilly is the author of the introductions to each document and the 'reflections' statements at the end. Your citations from the Reilly book will look something like this:

First time using source:
Diaz, Bernal. 1963. "The Conquest of New Spain" in Reilly, Kevin, ed. 2000. Worlds of History: A Comparative Reader (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's), 43.

Each time thereafter:

Diaz, 44.
Only insert footnotes after the period at the end of a sentence. You are expected to include a bibliography (does not count as a page). Treat each document in World of History as a separate bibliographic entry (source). If you utilize material on the web, cite it according to the Turabian Style Guide.

 

DRAFTING ESSAYS: This is a formal essay and I do not expect to see first or second drafts that have been hastily written the night before. One week before class we will have a required peer editing session. You will turn in your peer edited draft, along with your final draft. You should expect at least a full letter grade deduction if your essay does not have a peer edited draft submitted with it.

 

Chose one of the following questions to answer. Don't forget to take a careful look at the grading rubric at the bottom of this page.

1. Using the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters describe and analyze the most important change that occurred at the global level between 1400 and 1800. Be sure to briefly explain your selection process. Conclude your essay with an argument emphasizing why understanding the history of the change you selected might be important for understanding the present.

2. Pick one of the following characteristices (political, economic, cultural, social, intellectual); and using the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters write a comparative history of your chosen characteristic that covers the time period from 1400-1800. What do you learn about the Early Modern World through the lens you chose? Briefly conclude with anything you may have learned about the present through this excercise.

3. Using the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters write an essay that examines and analyzies the 3 characteristics (political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual) that tell you the most about the period from 1400 - 1800? Briefly explain your selection process, then demonstrate your understanding of the characteristics.

4. Using the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters write a history that focuses on the women of the Early Modern Period (about 1400-1800). Be sure to include enough examples to be able to make global comparisons of some kind about the condition(s) of women during this period. Conclude your essay with a 1/2 page argument advocating why it is important to study the history of women of the Early Modern Period.

5. Using the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters write a history that focuses on the Scientific and Technological innovations that occurred between 1400 and 1850. Be sure to include enough examples to be able to make global comparisions of some kind about the condition(s) of science and technology during this period. Conclude with a 1/2 page argument advocating why it is imortan to study the history of the science and technology of the Early Modern Period.

6. Using Adam Smith and Karl Marx as your initial sources, use the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters to write a history of capitalism / industrialization from the 1400 to 1850. What is capitalism? What is Industrialization? How have they interacted and changed over time? What were their strengths during this period? What were their weaknesses? Conclude with a 1/2 page statement indicating what you have learned about economic history after this exercise.

7. (Creative Writing): creative writing is not my thing. But it might be yours. If you can help me think of some creative writing type questions the utilize our class materials, I'd be glad to hear them.

A. Using the sources available to you in Worlds of History and Traditions and Encounters select at least three individuals that have created a primary source in Worlds of History (Bernal Diaz, Nzinga Mbemba, Mao Xiang, Lady Mary Montague, Voltaire, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, etc...) and place them in a setting where they are discussing one of the following:

1. The most important changes at the global level between 1400 and 1850.

2. The primary force of historical change: is change mostly produced by the individual? Society? Ideas? The Economy? Political forces?

3. Surely you can develop a better scenario than either of the two above. But clear it with me first.

8. Come up with your own essay question, but don't surprise me. All customized essay questions must be cleared with me.

 

 

Your essays will be graded in accordance with the following rubric.

Content (Approximately 50%)

Writing (Approximately 40%)

    • Use of topic sentences
    • Sentences flow together smoothly
    • Transitions effectively connect sentences and paragraphs
    • Fragments and run-ons do not mar work
    • Paragraphs used appropriately
    • Limited misspellings.
    • Proper citation system
    • Evidence of "essay drafting" (Peer Review)

Miscellaneous (Approximately 10%)

A few miscellaneous comments from the person who is going to grade your essay