HIST112W FIRST PAPER: SUGGESTED TOPICS AND INSTRUCTIONS
Due Date: JANUARY 28 MONDAY of WEEK 4, hand in at lecture to TA
Paper
Format: typed, double spaced, 3-5 pages, (20% of grade)
plus separate title page with name, date, title of paper, etc
NO PLASTIC OR CARDBOARD COVERS, PLEASE
Late policy: Late papers will be graded down -.1 per day overdue (weekend -.2).
Drafts:
Since this is a W course, you will have the opportunity to submit a rough draft
to your section leader;
TA’s will set their own deadline for accepting and returning drafts. Please
note that 1) drafts will be
commented on but not graded, and 2) submission of drafts is encouraged but not
required. If you need help,
you may consult with your section leader during office hours, or arrange an
individual appointment to discuss
your paper. You can make an appointment with History Department Writing
Lab, located in Smith 210,
where History graduate student tutors who are available to help with papers.
Information by and about the Writing
Lab is included with syllabus. Phone 543-5692 E-mail: hwc@u.washington.edu
Topics: Choose one of the following topics, which draw on primary
readings assigned in the first section of the course
from Geary, Readings on Medieval History. In each case, begin by
carefully re-reading the texts, looking for specific
pieces of evidence, and building up an interpretation of the document, either
in relation to another historical document
or to its historical context.
1.
What image of German society is presented in Tacitus'
writing an ethnographic account of these non-Roman, northern people?
2.
Tacitus'
the English Church and People (Geary, p. 224-236) is written by an English
Christian describing the conversion of his own people.
How do their different religious and cultural perspectives influence their historical
analyses of the societies they are studying?
3.
During the early middle ages, monasticism emerged as the "narrow path"
-- the most rigorous, but also the most certain --
means of achieving salvation. Using the Rule of St. Benedict (Geary,
pp. 168-198) and the “Life and Miracles of St. Benedict"
from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great (Geary, pp. 199-220), discuss
the image of holiness represented by St. Benedict, and
how the monastic life helps in overcoming obstacles to salvation. (Depending
on your approach, you are free to concentrate more
on the Rule or the Dialogues.)
4.
What image of kingship is presented in Einhard's Life of Charlemagne?
(Geary, p. 282-296) What are the qualities that, in the
author's view, made Charlemagne a great ruler?
5.
Drawing on the Carolingian Capitularies (Geary, pp. 297-320), discuss
the extent and limits of governmental authority under
Charlemagne. What did the government attempt to do? What kinds of
issues were included in his legislative and judicial decrees?
6.
Compare the image of kingship presented in Einhard's Life of Charlemagne
(Geary, p. 282-296) with the actual exercise of
governmental authority reflected in the Capitularies (Geary, pp. 297-320).
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COMMENTS ON WRITING A HISTORY ESSAY FROM PRIMARY DOCUMENTS HIST112
Many
of you have your own tried and tested ways of writing papers, but many students
have questions about the process of
organizing and writing a history essay, especially how to formulate a thesis
statement. What follows are my own suggestions,
which are certainly not the only or the required way to proceed. A
major point I want to emphasize is that, when you begin
working on your essay, you will not yet have a thesis statement (in most cases).
You need to find a thesis, or an issue about
which you can make an argument in the process of working on the material.
So, if you feel unsure about how to get from a
document to a paper, let me make the following suggestions.
GENERAL
PROCEDURE: After choosing a topic, reread sections
of the text book that are relevant; also review lecture notes if
applicable. This is part of placing the topic or question in its historical
context, which is a crucial part of history papers. "Context"
does not mean giving a synopsis of all of medieval history in one paragraph,
but rather indicating how specific movements or events
(rise of monasticism, fall of the Roman Empire etc.) influenced your topic.
Gathering
material:
Re-read the documents on which your essay will draw.
Look for
themes, issues, examples that relate to your topic.
Keep a list
of these as you read.
Take notes on each theme or issue, using separate pages or index cards for each
theme.
Include brief quotes, summary or statement, specific examples, plus page # to
refer back.
Think
about how the themes, issues &/or examples are connected. Try to formulate
a series of questions, problems, that help you to
think about the material. you have pulled together in notes.
Make
an outline. In the best possible scenario your notes may start
to take shape on their
own, as connections in the material may suggest themselves
to you. At times they have
been known to go so far as "jumping off the page" at an author, but this cannot be guaranteed.
If your themes do not "fall into place" on their own, then you
need to take charge and impose
your own interpretative scheme or argument
on the evidence you are dealing with.
Arrange
themes, issues, material in a logical order,
one that develops from
point A to point B in a coherent manner. Once you find a "logical
order"
(and remember, there are always many more than one logical orders that can
be imposed on, or seen in, any group of documentary materials) you are close
to being ready to "say something" about the material, that is ready
to:
Formulate
a thesis statement, at least a tentative
one; it can be worked on, revised, refined etc in the course of writing your
paper.
Generally, this statement is presented in the first paragraph, but usually that
first paragraph is written (or rather re-written) last,
as your ideas evolve.
Write
a draft of the paper, beginning with
your tentative thesis statement and following the outline that you made above
. (Everything
can be changed as you go along, of course.) Conclusion should re-present
the thesis statement in somewhat (but not too) different.
Reread
and edit your own paper for grammar,
wording, syntax, sentence structure, etc. Notice how evidence, central
argument,
examples and/or thesis are presented, whether the essay reads smoothly and well.
Pay attention to word choice, repetitious phrasing,
agreement of tense (past vs present), number (singular vs plural).
REMEMBER: ALL GOOD WRITING IS REWRITING.
Recommended
for purchase:
Struck and White, Elements of Style: good, SHORT and very helpful little
book on
how to write more
effectively, clearly and tersely.
HIST112 INSTRUCTIONS ON PAPERS: FORMAT FOR CITATIONS
GENERAL
FORMAT: Papers should be typed, double spaced; no plastic or
cardboard covers, just a title page
with your name, paper title, date, course, section, and TA’s name.
The
basic purpose of scholarly citations is that any reader should be able to track
down your sources for direct
quotes and for ideas or information taken from a specific source. Professors
& TAs know what books you are using,
but complete citations are required for each primary source. The general
rule about citations is to follow a consistent format,
including all relevant publication information. You may follow any consistent
format (historians use Turabian's University of
Chicago Manual of Style, but other systems are also fine).
Endnotes
and footnotes differ only in where they are located; footnotes are at the foot
of the page, while endnotes are at the
end of the paper. Either is fine, though endnotes are generally easier,
unless your computer program makes footnotes just
as easy. Also, note that endnotes do not need to be on a separate page,
so long as there is still room on your last page.
For
this course, we are suggesting the following simplified format, where a complete
citation is first given in a note, and later
citations are indicated by page numbers in parentheses.
For
the first citation of a work, give the complete reference, either in a footnote
(bottom of page)
or an endnote (at end of paper), using a numbered note1, as follows:
1
Cornelius Tacitus, Germania, in Patrick Geary (ed.),
citations to this work will be indicated in parenthesis in the text.
If your essay draws on only one primary source, you can simply indicate page numbers in parenthesesafter quotes or other citations, as follows: (p. 70)
If your essay draws on two or more sources, you must give a full citation (like the one given above) the first time you cite a given source, as follows:
2
Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, in Patrick Geary (ed.),
3 Bede, History of the English Church and People, in Patrick Geary (ed.), Readings in Medieval History (1997), pp. xxx.
When
there is more than one source, you should use the author or editor's last name,
or a short version of the author or title (for instance,
Tacitus, Einhard, Bede, Gregory of Tours, or Capitularies) to indicate which
of two or more sources you are citing, as follows:
Second
and subsequent references to note #1 above if using more than one source:
(Tacitus, p. 70) or
(Geary, p. 70).
versus
Second and subsequent references to note #2, above:
(Einhard, p. 270) or (Geary,
p. 270)
DO'S AND DON'TS (Liz Johnson, TA)
DO
Italicize
or underline book titles, including abbreviated titles.
Put quotes that are four lines or longer in block quote format (no quotation
marks if blocked)
(single space the quote and indent both sides
OR single space and use smaller font size)
Cite your sources, using footnotes/endnotes &/or parenthetical citations
[(title of book, pg #) or (name of author, pg
#)] SEE ABOVE
Use first person plural (we) or third person (he/she/one).
Don't
use contractions
(don't, won't, would've, it's, he's, etc.)
use its'-no apostrophe on "its" when used as a possessive
it's = it is its
= possessive [its' doesn't exist]
use second person (you) or first person singular (I)
split infinitive verb forms-ex. "to quickly go" should be "to
go quickly"