MidTermFall08

Power in the Ancient World: Mid Term Paper

Five (5) page paper is due on October 10th (Friday) by 4pm. Deliver papers to my office, 403 Muller. You can slip them under my door.

Essay Question:

Picking a single case study that interests you, analyze how a particular event, person, political system, religious text, work of art (the options are endless) from the ancient or early modern world has been employed by modern people (roughly 1492 to present) to further a political or social cause. Why did the moderns use this particular ancient example? In what ways did it lend legitimacy to a particular set of modern political or social agendas? How did the moderns reshape the facts of the ancient past to fit with their own political or social vision? Or were they true to the ancient past? Be mindful that “reshaping” of the past can be done by changing facts but also by omitting facts.

Requirements:

· Five pages, double spaced

· Paper must have a title that conveys the argument of the essay

· Footnotes and Bibliography

· Clear thesis paragraph

* SIX SOURCES (exclusive of class materials)

What is a research paper? “A research paper requires you to gather your own sources of information. It is one of the most creative tasks you will do as a history student. Since you choose your own material and draw your own conclusions, the product is uniquely your own. Because a lot of independent work is involved, research is often the most challenging history assignment.” [1]

Theme vs. Topic: “A theme is more narrow than a topic. A topic is the general subject you will investigate (the influence of Islam on the Kingdom of Mail; the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr.). A theme is some important point about the topic that you wish to make.”[2]

Citation: Endnotes or Footnotes: “Documentation means telling your reader where the material in your paper comes from; documentation says to the reader, in effect, ‘here is the source for the information.’ Documentation usually takes the form of footnotes or endnotes, but it can also include illustrations, diagrams […].”[3]

Bibliography is a list of ALL sources that is at the end of the paper.

Citation Formats

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/research/writingciting.php

Footnote/Endnote (Turabian or Chicago)

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/research/noodlebib.php

Bibliography

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/research/turabian.php

On-line Sources

http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/depts/history/links/

Peter Stearns, “Why Study History?”

[1] Jules R. Benjamin, A Student’s Guide to History (New York: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2001): 75

[2] Benjamin, 76.

[3] Benjamin, 121