Second Formal Essay, World History 102
Lewis-Clark State College, Spring 2008

Assignment Details.

DUE DATE: This is a take home exam and it is due in class on May 6. 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. If you want your essay back, turn it in with a self-addressed stamped envelope and I'll send it to you when I'm finished with it.

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.

6 pages: you have written 50% more than the absolute minimum amount for the course essay requirement. If your essay is polished & well documented, you have given yourself a chance to cover enough material to earn a 'A' on this essay.

5 pages: you have written 25% more than the absolute minimum amount for the course essay requirement. If your essay is polished & well documented, you have given yourself a chance to cover enough material to earn a 'B' on this essay.

4 pages: you wrote the absolute minimum amount for the course essay requirement. If your essay is polished & well documented, you have given yourself a chance to cover enough material to earn a 'C' on this essay.

No essay of less than four pages will be accepted.

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, English, Sociology, Anthropology 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, 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 careful 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 your essay is due 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. Describe and analyze the most important change that has occurred at the global level since 1800. Conclude your essay with a one page argument emphasizing how understanding the history of the change you selected would help others better understand the present. (Since 1800 means I don't expect any essays on The Columbian Exchange or the Slave Trade).

2. Write a history of globalization since 1800. Does it appear to more of a political, economic, social or cultural phenomenon when looked at historically? What does a 200 year historical perspective of globalization tell us about the contemporary world and the process of globalization. ?

3. Write a professional recommendation for the Academic Dean at LCSC who has asked for your input concerning the role of HIST 102 in the LCSC general education core. Make an argument for or against requiring HIST 102 for all students at LCSC based on on what you learned during the second half of the semester. Was the knowledge you gained about the world you live in, during the second half of the semester, significant enough to justify making HIST 102 a General Education Requirement at LCSC. [The major challenge to answering this question will be making sure you are able to address it by using examples from our primary and secondary sources to illustrate your points.]

4. Analyze the current U.S. foreign policy towards Iraq as part of a larger historical process. First, describe the general process over the course of at least 100 years. Then, explain how the contemporary situation in Iraq fits into this process. Conclude your essay with a one page statement on what history can teach us about the present.

5. Compare the study of historical problems through individuals to the study of historical problems through social movements. What types of light do they shed on each other? Conclude with a 1/2 page statement indicating what you learned about history from this exercise.

6. Explain and analyze the New Imperialism, the over-all anti-colonial reaction to it and evaluate the impact of colonialism on the 21st centuries. Do you your findings indicate that colonialism was/is primarily an economic, cultural or political relationship? Conclude your essay with a 1/2 page argument that colonialism was in general a positive/negative experience from the perspective of the colonized and a 1/2 page argument that issues of colonialism are/are not relevant to the modern world.

7. Select any two chapters from Worlds of History chapters 8 -14 and, using the documents included in those chapters, create a narrative that demonstrates how the issues in each chapter are better understood when examined together.

8. Creative writing is not my thing. But it might be yours. If you can help me think of some better creative writing type questions the utilize our class materials, I'd be glad to hear them. Below aremy rather feeble attempts.

A. Select at least three individuals that have created a primary source in Worlds of History (Gandhi, Lenin, Luxemburg, Aung San Suu Kyi, etc...) and place them in a setting where they are discussing Worlds of History as part of their book club. Create a dialogue in which each of the historical characters discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the book.

B. Same set up, but the conversation is focused on some contemporary event

C. Surely you can develop a better scenario than either of the two above.

11. 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%)

  • Addressed question
  • Strong thesis statement in introduction
  • Thoughtful introduction
  • Creative and strong conclusion
  • Topic sentences linked to thesis
  • Balance of descriptive content (what happened) and analytical content (why it is important)
  • Contains points to support thesis statement
  • Sufficient evidence to prove points
  • Use of map to convey sense of geography
  • Adequate number of citations from:
    • At least two primary sources from Worlds of History
    • At least on secondary source from Worlds of History
    • Traditions and Encounters
    • Any Optional Readings You May Have Done
    • Class Videos
    • Class Notes

Writing (Approximately 40%)

    • Word Count
    • 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

  • Although there are many ways to do it, most of your essays would benefit from a statement in the first paragraph that begins "In this essay I will demonstrate...." and then you need to remember to stick to that statement as you proceed through your essay. Pick something to prove and work with your sources to illustrate your points.
  • Your essay should be organized as a discussion of the historical evidence, both primary and secondary, we have looked at this semester. Make sure you understand what a primary and secondary source is. Don't just mention the evidence or footnote it -- discuss it. And make sure your evidence gets beyond chapter 1 of your texts.
  • Wikkipedia, or any other encyclopedia/dictionary, is NOT a source. It is a good place to start learning about your topic, but I do not expect to see it in your footnotes unless you are
    • 1. comparing the encyclopedia entry to our other sources for intellectual purposes
    • 2. intentionally trying to give me signals that you did not do the assigned readings.

  • I have provided you all the sources you need for this assignment and I expect you to use the assigned sources.

  • When grading your essays I often check the footnotes first and evaluate your discussion of the sources before reading your essay. Make sure that discussion is there.

  • I expect you to write every word of your essay that is not in quotes. Copying and pasting ANY material from the internet as your own writing will result in a zero on this assignment.

  • If you have more to say than the max. page limit allows -- then revise and wordsmith. Say more with less -- that is what separates the A's from the B's. And I stop reading after 2,000 words of text (eight pages).