October Assignments

Remember, all assignment are due the date they're posted under.

October 6th

Reading: Stearns, Chapter 6 (the chapter on ancient India). WHR, "Crito" and "The Republic"

Writing: This is a two week writing assignment due on the 13th but you need to have a working draft by class next week. Just upload it in your google drive file so I can take a look at it and make sure you're on track. If you upload, you get the 100. If not, you lose ten points every day that passes.

Ok, so what do you need to do?

Your options include Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism, or Paganism (if you choose this last one, we'll need to discuss your parameters a bit). A successful essay will address such things as the religion's origins, cosmology, doctrines, religious authorities, scriptures, religious buildings, religious practices (morals, festivals, pilgrimages, etc.), general cultural location and whether or not it had an influence on a major civilization and how. Finally, if relevant, one should consider the religion's inner doctrinal turmoil. Note: while these religions persist into the present day, limit the scope of your paper to historical developments before the birth of Christ.

You are to cite at least three different sources including one primary source (internet sources are fine, but book sources earn you brownie points). Wikipedia can be very helpful. You are free to use it; however, you are not free to quote or cite it. You are to use Turabian (also called Chicago) citations for all your sources. You can easily find instructions for how to do this online.

Your word count ought to run between 1500-2000. You may be tempted to go over. Don't. Good writers learn how to focus, get to the point, and write succinctly. With practice, you'll get the hang of it.

To this end, a word of advice: keep your introduction and conclusion short. Get us introduced to your topic in time in place, and then address your major topics that you will address. Since this is an encyclopedic, informative style essay, you need not worry about a thesis.

Penultimate note: You will be sharing your final product with each other to supplement one another's study guides. It wouldn't do us any good, really, to have six or more essays on Hinduism so we will operate on a first come first serve basis. If you want a particular world religion, email me pronto.

A final word of advice pertaining to the art of historical thinking: as you study your respective world religion the big question that should be going through your head is not, "Do I agree?", but rather "Do I understand?" Your goal is to walk around in the shoes of your subjects and understand their beliefs from the inside; indeed, one of the highest compliments a historian can receive is that he understands his subject the way his subject understood itself. If you can master this disposition towards the past, you will avoid many a historical error. More on the art of history, though, at a later date...

Posts: Please make one post for each of the WHR readings. As with last week, make one posting for each of the primary sources in your reading journal and then follow the following guidelines: identify the genre of the text, its origin (who wrote it and when? This may require a little research) the purpose of the text (why was it written?), the gist of the text (a short summary of two or three sentences), and finally an interpretation: what sort of things does the text tell us about the past (it would behoove you to use some of the topics/categories we discussed first day of class to organize your thoughts on this point).

In particular, what do you think of Socrates decision to stay in Athens and accept the death penalty? Is he a dupe, a good patriot, or a tragic casualty to principle?

Study Guide: Stearns, Chapter 6.



October 13th

Reading: Stearns chapter 9; WHR, "The Politics"

Writing: Finish your religion paper assigned last week.

Posts: As with last week, make one posting for each of the primary sources in your reading journal and then follow the following guidelines: identify the genre of the text, its origin (who wrote it and when? This may require a little research) the purpose of the text (why was it written?), the gist of the text (a short summary of two or three sentences), and finally an interpretation: what sort of things does the text tell us about the past (it would behoove you to use some of the topics/categories we discussed first day of class to organize your thoughts on this point).

Some extra questions I want you to answer for "The Politics" reading. According to Aristotle, what is the nature of man? What is the nature of the State? What is the ideal forum of the state? What is justice?

Study Guide: Stearns chapter 9.

October 20th

Reading: Stearns, chapter 8. WHR: Epicurus, Epictetus, Cato

Writing:

A short assignment this week. Please identify a major architectural achievement from before the birth of Christ and write a short biography of it (1200-1500 words). Who built it? When was it built? Where was it built? What does the structure look like? What is significance of the structure's design? And most importantly, why was it built? These questions are merely meant to get you thinking and are by no means definitive or exhaustive or indicative of your paper outline. I'd recommend choosing a structure that you A) find interesting, B) fits in well with a civilization or topic from your study guide. You should use three sources.

Posts:

Take a break! None.

Study Guide:
Stearns, chapter 8.

October 27th

Readings: Polybius, Cicero, Res Gestae. Anything from Stearns needed to answer the take home exam.

Writing: Finish your architecture paper.

Posts: Here we will try something slightly different. The International Baccalaureate program has a great system for analyzing documents. We will give it a spin here with the above three readings. Follow the link below. While we'll get to discuss this in class a bit, use this to guide your analysis. Basically this system is broken down into four parts: Origin, Purpose, Value, Limitation (OPVL). You will be required to do similar analysis on the actual exam, but this is a good place to start especially with the documents selected. http://www.minnesotahumanities.org/Resources/A%20Guide%20for%20Using%20Primary%20Source%20Documents.pdf

Take home test day: a rare exception to the rule above, this assignment will be handed out the day of class. Instead of spending a week on a prompt (taken from past exams), or giving you a timed essay (which you will eventually need to do), I will give you a week to answer one of a selection of questions. It should not be too arduous as we will have covered in lecture and readings most of the topics. It may require you to do some outside work, though.