Arts Core Sample Assignment
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ROMA: History
Spring 1999
Professor FM Schweitzer
Microtheme I due on Friday, 19 February
Length: about two typed pages, 500 words Choose one of the following topics:
1. Hakluyt's concept of mercantilism in #2 and show how it is exemplified by one other document
2. Compare the colonized people in Ireland, #3, and Siberia, #6
3. Compare two documents that show European perceptions (one favorable, one unfavorable) of non-European societies
4. On the basis of #8 and McNeill's account, write a formal reply to Jesse Jackson's request for compensation to Africa for slavery and the slave trade, setting forth the arguments for and against
5. How far two of these documents show the ascendancy of Europe over nonEuropeans
6. Explain what the purpose and organizing principle of this course is per McNeill's comments (e.g. in his Preface) and Arnold Toynbee's ideas per the handout on a "panoramic" view and his argument in Document #80A
7. Compare the Aztec society and economy, #1, with China's, #5
8. Compare the disparity between the Europeans and the natives in Smith, #4, and Khabarov, #6
Remember these are topics, not titles: fashion your own title.
I will not place a grade on your theme until you have considered my criticisms and suggestions, and had a chance to revise your essay accordingly. Feel free to consult with me in my office or after class. You can do that as often as you like--but not beyond the due date for Micro-Theme II, 26 March. Each time you re-submit your paper all the previous editions are to be attached, the earliest edition on the bottom. Note that revision of papers is optional but strongly advised.
Do not plagiarize! McNeill, whom you should draw upon, must be acknowledged with quotation marks and page numbers. So too with any other sources you might use, such as the headnotes, general introductions to units, class notes. Using other sources or secondary accounts is optional but unnecessary, and, in any event, the essential basis of micro-themes must be the documents from our anthology.
NOTES FOR WRITING PAPERS
1. Title - you must have a title: relatively short, accurate as to theme, content, viewpoint, one that leaps to the eye
2. Be succinct: plunge in
Do not write an Introduction: "I will analyze..., etc. Take special pains with the opening sentence: in large measure it
determines all that follows; it is at once the most important and the
most difficult sentence to compose
Do not conclude with a summary
Do not divide your essay into separate sections
Do not repeat - repetition is a sure sign of bad
organization and there is not space enough to repeat anything
3. Address the subject directly: not the authors you are basing yourself on
i.e., the focus of the essay is the topic as stated in the title,
not summaries of each of the authors in turn i.e., fashion a single,
cohesive structure out of the material of the documents and text by
creating your own organization and sequence, rather than mechanically
pasting together abbreviated versions of the documents and textbook
segments
4. Quote sparingly or not at all; normally one quotation is the maximum: translate into your own words & phrases
5. Type and proofread; use spell-check, and proofread again; do not use contractions like can't, do not use don't
6. For revisions, read over your micro-theme and my comments: see me in my office, M412, for discussion and clarification; when you revise, do it thoroughly and carefully, not bits and pieces of patchwork.
7. Make a copy to retain, and a copy of each revision, in case of loss.
8 Use a cover sheet that has your name my name title, course, date, and ample space for comment.