I need someone to do me history midterm paper with the extra credit, Before march 19th. – Excelsior Writers | excelsiorwriters.com
– Excelsior Writers | excelsiorwriters.com
The midterm consists of two sets of questions about the primary sources that you must choose from. You will have to carefully read the pertinent selections from the primary sources and write a 2-3 page response to the set of questions you chose.
The paper should generally be no longer or shorter than 2-3 pages in total.
MIDTERM PAPER
Please read the entire assignment carefully before you begin writing and follow its instructions faithfully. Be sure to review the assignment again before you submit
your paper.
(The extra-credit assignment is on page 7.)
In order to make the assignment as easy as possible to understand, I have divided it into six sections: an introduction that explains the purpose of the assignment and tells you which questions you need to answer, the rules for how to format your paper, the questions themselves, eleven commandments for writing and submitting your paper, the extra-credit assignment, and an explanation of how to submit a draft of your midterm paper.
INTRODUCTION: WHY THIS ASSIGNMENT?
Underlying the history of civilization is the search for the meaning of life. It is a search that encompasses the human longing for self-understanding, for justice, and for truth. We can think of this quest as a lively and often contentious conversation stretching from antiquity to the present. I would like you to enter into this conversation by analyzing the ideas of some of the prominent figures we have studied. To do this, please write a paper of about two to three pages about one of the topics below.
Each topic asks you answer three questions about three writers. Remember to answer all three sets of questions for the one topic you have chosen. Keep in mind that although many of the questions are based primarily on the primary sources, you will need to draw on the textbook and your class notes as well. Together these sources offer all the information you need to answer the questions effectively.
HOW TO FORMAT YOUR PAPER
Before you begin, make sure that you understand and obey the following rules for formatting your paper:
1. Use a 12-point font such as Palatino, Times, or Times New Roman. 2. Double space your paper throughout except footnotes or endnotes. 3. Use standard one-inch margins.
4. Do not put extra spaces between paragraphs.
5. Print your answers on only one side of the paper.
6. Answer each set of questions separately; identify each set of answers by its number and letter; e.g., 1a.
7. Do not use a cover sheet. Simply put your name and section on the first page of your paper.
8. Staple your paper together.
THE QUESTIONS
Topic I. Stoicism, Cicero, Jesus
Take careful note of each of the questions I have asked. Before you submit your paper, review your work to insure that you have answered all of them. Please keep in mind that these questions do not ask you to say with which of these figures you agree or disagree.
1. Stoicism (Epictetus, The Enchiridion; Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations)
a. According to Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, what causes emotional distress? What did they advise people to do to avoid such suffering?
b. From what you have learned from the primary sources, the textbook, and in class, what responsibility do you think the Stoics believed human beings owe to their community?
c. According to the textbook, what ultimate end, if any, did the Stoics see for the universe?
2. Cicero (About the Ends of Good and Evil)
a. According to Cicero, what did the Epicureans believe is the cause of emotional distress? What did they advise people to do to avoid such suffering?
b. How did the Epicureans’ understanding of responsibility human beings owe one another differ from that of the Stoics?
c. According to the textbook, what did the Epicureans believe about the ultimate purpose of the universe?
3. Jesus (Sermon on the Mount)
a. How did Jesus tell his disciples to respond when faced with injustice and suffering? What did he teach them to do to avoid anxiety?
b. What responsibility did Jesus believe that human beings owe to one another?
c. According to Jesus, to what ultimate reward, if any, can human beings look forward?
Topic II. Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke
Take careful note of each of the questions I have asked. Before you submit your paper, review your work to insure that you have answered all of them. Please note that these questions do not ask you to say with which of these figures you agree or disagree.
1. Niccolò Machiavelli (The Prince)
a. According to Niccolò Machiavelli, what is a ruler’s only responsibility? What means did he believe a ruler may use to fulfill this responsibility?
b. How did Machiavelli’s view of human nature affect his advice to rulers?
c. According to the textbook, how did events in Italy influence Machiavelli’s political philosophy?
2. Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan)
a. What did Thomas Hobbes believe the purpose of government to be? How much authority did he believe the government should possess?
b. How did Hobbes’ view of human nature affect his view of government?
c. According to the textbook, how did events in England influence Hobbes’ political philosophy?
3. John Locke (Second Treatise on Government)
a. According to John Locke, what is the principal purpose of government? What were his objections to absolute authority?
b. In what ways was Locke’s view of human beings in a state of nature different from that of Hobbes?
c. According to the textbook, how did English politicians use Locke’s ideas in the years following the Glorious Revolution?
WRITING YOUR PAPER: THE ELEVEN COMMANDMENTS
The purpose of these commonsense commandments is to help you express yourself as effectively as possible. For your convenience, they are divided into three parts. Please make sure that you understand them and obey them as you write your essay and your extra-credit paper. If you have any questions about the commandments, we shall be happy to answer them.
When you have finished your paper, it is essential that you go over your work again, using the commandments as a checklist. Doing so will insure a better paper and a higher grade.
I. ORGANIZATION AND CITATION
1. Answer the questions. History consists of more than random facts about dead people. Historians tell stories that seek to explain what the facts we discover about the past mean. Do not write a history paper that consists of undigested gobs of information.
Because you are writing a short paper, do not begin with an introductory paragraph or tack on an unnecessary concluding paragraph. These will only lead you far afield. Get to the point, offer only facts that are relevant to the questions you are answering, and be careful to tie those facts together in a logical and meaningful way.
Your notes, the textbook, and the primary source readings have all the information you will need for your paper. Keep in mind that the questions ask you, among other things, to analyze the primary sources that you received at the beginning of the semester. Do not use any other version of these primary sources, whether online or in print. Your grade will suffer otherwise.
This is not a research paper. The questions are straightforward and your answers should be likewise. You do not need to go to Wikipedia or to other sources I did not assign to do your thinking for you or to amass irrelevant facts. Such sources are sometimes misleading, often unreliable, and are almost always more difficult to understand than the textbook and the primary sources. This is not an outright prohibition, but you will be wasting valuable time and students who rely on other sources consistently earn much lower grades than students who do not.
Please note. as the next two commandments explain, that if you decide to use another source for any reason, you must cite it, just as you must cite the textbook and the primary sources.
2. Your paper must be your own work (this is not a collaborative project), it must be in your own words, and you must cite your sources. Of course, we expect you to paraphrase or quote the primary sources and the textbook as you answer the questions. These sources offer the evidence you need to support the argument you are making. The same holds true for any other sources you may use. But keep in mind these two very important points:
a. Your paper should be more than a mere compilation of quotations. Only quote material that supports your argument and make sure that you make clear why the quotation is relevant. Do not merely repeat what the quotation says.
b. When you do use someone else’s words or ideas, you must cite your source in a footnote or an endnote even if that source is the textbook. This way, credit is given where credit is due. You do not need to cite your lecture notes nor should you include a bibliography.
3. When citing sources, be sure to use footnotes or endnotes as historians do, following the University of Chicago form as described in Kate A. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. It is different from the in-text MLA and APA forms with which you may be familiar. You will find a helpful summary at http:// www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html.
The correct form for citing a book is: author’s name, title in italics, name or number of edition if other than the first, place and date of publication in parentheses, and page numbers; e.g., Joshua Cole et al., Western Civilizations, Their History and Their Culture, Brief 4th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2016), 243. If you cite the book again, simply give the author’s last name and the page number.
To cite one of the excerpts from the collection of primary sources that we emailed to you, use this form: author’s name (if there is one), title of the excerpt in quotation marks, Primary Sources in italics, and the page number; e.g., “Sermon on the Mount,” Primary Sources, 17; or John Locke, “Second Treatise of Government“ Primary Sources, 36. If you cite the same source again, simply give the author’s last name (or the title if there is no author) and the page number.
If you need to cite a webpage, please use the link to Turabian’s manual to learn the proper form.
Do not use in-text citations. Use only footnotes or endnotes. If you do not know how to insert a footnote or an endnote in Microsoft Word, this YouTube video will explain the process to you. If you are using Apple’s Pages, you will find footnotes explained here
Please make sure that you do not use a footnote or endnote number more than once. Your footnotes or endnotes should be numbered consecutively and in Arabic rather than Roman numerals (1, 2, 3, not i, ii, iii).
Your footnotes or endnotes are the only citations you need. Do not include a bibliography or a works cited page.
Plagiarism, the use of another’s words or ideas as if they were your own with intent to deceive, is a serious offense. If you plagiarize, you will receive NO credit for your paper and I may refer suspected cases to the honor court.
II. THINKING CLEARLY AND WRITING CLEARLY
4. Watch your logic. Do not announce a conclusion without clearly stating the evidence that
supports it. Merely using the word “therefore” will not suffice.
5. Beware of broad generalizations. Remember that not all philosophers or all theologians all or all the members of any group believed exactly the same things. Phrases such as “throughout history” usually indicate sloppy thinking.
6. Write simply and directly. Proofread your work carefully. Your spelling and grammar should be as impeccable as is humanly possible. This means, among other things, that your paper should have no sentence fragments, no run-on sentences, and no plurals formed with an apostrophe; e.g., There were two soldier’s.
Please pay special attention to the following rules. They will help you to express your ideas persuasively and precisely. If you ignore these rules your grade will suffer.
a. Do not use vague, awkward, and misunderstood expressions such as “factor,” “due to,” “focus,” “lifestyle,” and “in terms of.”
b. Do not use the word “intellectual” when you mean “intelligent.”
c. Do not use the word “simplistic” when you mean “simple.”
d. Do not use the verb “quote” when you mean the noun “quotation.”
e. Do not use the word “impact” when you mean “have an impact on.”
f. Do not use the word “societal” when you mean “social”
g. Do not use the words “versus” or “contra” when you mean “against.”
h. Do not use the term “time period.” “Time” and “period” are synonymous, so write one or the other.
i. Do not use contractions; e.g. write “cannot” rather than “can’t.”
j. Do not use a semicolon when a comma or a period would be more appropriate.
k. Do not refer to historical figures by their first names unless they are monarchs or have no last names.
l. Be careful when using the phrase “based on.” “Based on Oration on the Dignity of Man, Pico della Mirandola believed X” means something very different from “Based on my reading of Oration on the Dignity of Man, I think that Pico della Mirandola believed X.” In most cases, it would be wise to avoid using “based on” altogether. Simply say, “Pico della Mirandola believed X,” and then provide the evidence for your assertion.
m. Do not begin a sentence with “also.”
n. When writing about the past, it is usually best to write in the past tense. Whatever tense you use, do not wander from the past to the present and back again.
Murky prose, bad grammar, and consistently poor spelling will obscure your meaning and will lower your grade.
7. Do not use what I call dangling pronouns. If, for example, you write “In Kant’s book he says,” it is not clear to whom the pronoun “he” refers. Instead, write something like: “In his book, Kant says.”
8. Do not write long convoluted sentences or resort to obscure language. Do not use many words when a few will suffice. Do not use words you do not understand.
9. Avoid the passive voice as much as possible. “The Epicureans believed” is more compelling than “It was believed by the Epicureans.” At all cost, stay away from the phrase “considered to be” and phrases like it unless you understand how to use them. If, for example, you write, “John Locke was considered to be an influential philosopher,” you are suggesting that he might not have been an influential philosopher. You are also raising the inevitable question, “Considered by whom?” If Locke was an influential philosopher and you think it is important to say so, say so and be done with it.
III. REMINDERS ABOUT FORMATTING AND SUBMITTING PAPERS
10. Remember to use a standard font, standard margins, and to staple your paper together. Your paper should be printed in a twelve-point font on one side of each page, double-spaced throughout except footnotes and endnotes (no extra spaces between paragraphs), with one-inch margins. Your paper must be stapled together. We will not accept papers that are not stapled.
11. Your essay and your optional extra-credit paper (the extra-credit assignment is below) are due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 20. If you submit your paper after this date,
there will be a penalty of 5 points for each day your paper is late unless you have a documented excuse. We shall notify you by email if we have not received your paper. This is the only reminder we shall send. Please note that although you may email a paper if it is late, we will not accept papers submitted by e-mail alone. If your paper is late and you send it by email, you must make arrangements to submit a hard copy as soon as possible.
EXTRA-CREDIT PAPER
Watch the BBC documentary “The Real Versailles” (https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=SjqQNd5ttw0). Then, in a double-spaced printed paper of about two pages stapled to your midterm paper, answer the following questions.
1. Apart from providing more information, how does the documentary’s discussion of the reign of Louis XIV and the role of Versailles in Louis’ reign differ from the textbook’s?
2. What are the three most significant things that you learned from the documentary about Louis XIV and Versailles that you did not learn in class or from the textbook. What makes them significant?
If you do this assignment, up to five points may be added to your paper grade.
SUBMITTING DRAFTS
If you would like us to review your work, you may email a draft of what you have written about one of the three people you are discussing. Should you decide to do so, please keep the following five points in mind:
1. You may only submit a draft of your answers to the questions about one person. If you have not answered all the questions, you are welcome to submit the part you have finished. You may submit your draft only once and only to one person.
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Humanities