The assignment: is a 1200-1500 word academic essay. In this assignment you will choose and frame your own question based on the topics covered in the syllabus. In order to write this assignment you have to use suggested readings on the syllabus. All of them are available in the University library. The purpose of this assignment: is push you to respond individually to the materials by encouraging you to come up with you own questions; think about the readings; reflect on discussions of the readings; help you develop your analytical writing, and to explore new ideas and approaches. The structure of the assignment: The submission of the assignment is staggered: you first sumbit the research question that you will choose and formulate; then you submit the first draft followed by the final draft. At each stage you will be assisted by your instructors to develop and write your assignment. You will also be attending cumpulsory writing worshops to help you with each stage of writing. Due dates for sumission: to be strictly observed. Failure to submit on time will affect your grade. Feb 13, 5pm: Have to decide on a question by this date. Sumbit it to your TAs. March 13, 5pm: First Draft. To be sumbitted to your TAs. March 27, 5pm: Final Draft Writing Workshops Schedule: the timing will be announced. The workshops are mandatory. Attendance at the workshop will count towards your course grade. Feb 17-18 Pre-writing Workshop March 16 Writing Workshop March 18 Post-Writing Workshop How to do the assignment: Step1: Choosing the question: The essay that you are writing is the answer to the question that you will choose and frame. Start with looking over the syllabus and finding a topic that interests you. Go
to the library and look up the suggested bibliography on that topic.
Flip through a few books to see what kind of question you would like to explore. Step 2: Formulating the question: Take care to frame an analytical question and NOT a descriptive question. The difference between the two is: Example 1: Analytical question: What kind of role did enviornment play in the decline of Harrapan Civilization? Descritive question: Why did Harappan Civilization decline? Example 2: Analytical Question: Did the Beatles owe their fame to their youth? Descriptive Question: How did the Beatles become famous? Step 3: Researching the question: Go back to the library and research the theme and the question. The First Writing workshop will help you with researching your essay. Step 4: Formulating the thesis: The thesis is the answer to your question. For instance, if you choose to do the question Did the Beatles owe their fame to their youth?, one of the possible thesis could be Yes, the Beatles owed their fame to their youth but also to the power of their songs, their relevance to politics of 1960s and to their media managers. Step 5: Writing the essay: The essay comprises of an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. The second writing workshop will you sturcture your essay. General aspects of Grading: When grading written assignments, we are looking for quality of analysis as well as mastery of content and form. That is, the finished product should be original, well-argued, display a knowledge of the readings, and be well-organized, clearly written, and grammatical. Criteria for Evaluation: Thesis: The thesis must articulate a clear, original answer to a question. The thesis must appear in the first paragraph, and must
do more than just restate information from the readings. We are
not checking up to see if the student has done the reading; instead, we need to see that they have thought about the readings and applied them to what they have written. Organization: the structure of the paper must be analytical, not narrative (it cannot simply summarize the readings and lectures). The BULK OF THE PAPER must demonstrate, using specific quotations and details/evidence from the readings, why she thinks what she thinks. Evidence: for each point the essay makes, it should show the reader why it says that by offering specific quotations, details, or examples from the readings. Remember this is a History assignment and the Historian is bound to the traces of the past. Style: essay should be written clearly and elegantly, should avoid basic errors, should use active rather than passive verbs, and must footnote all quotations from the readings. Note that essays must use footnotes or endnotes, not parenthetical citations. What do grades mean? A paper that advances a clear specific thesis, is well organized, backs up points with suitable evidence, keeps mechanical errors to a minimum, and does its footnotes correctly is a good, solid B. A paper that almost does so is a B-. A paper that is satisfactory, but is missing something significant is a C range paper. An unsatisfactory paper that made an effort is a D. A paper that does an outstanding job in each of these criteria or goes beyond them is a B+ or A range paper. Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Reiterate that academic honesty does not consist simply in the avoidance of outright cheating on exams, but more generally represents a set of standards all of us must follow in our academic work in order to protect the integrity and effectiveness of that work, and to preserve the ideals and essence of teaching, learning, and research. This implies, for instance, never submitting as our own scholarly work which we have not personally produced in its entirety, not collaborating with others on assignments and projects that are not specifically designed as collaborative efforts, and
learning how to acknowledge properly all sources we may use in
our written work. The latter includes not only proper documentation style for direct citations, but also references when we paraphrase sources and acknowledgements when we employ or develop ideas we have found in the work of others. These practices apply to sources of any type, from books to newspapers, from lectures to materials available on the Internet, and so on.