What other sorts of documents would you want to look at to verify the information in the source?

Primary Source Analysis Paper (His 101 ONLN1 Fall 21)
First primary source paper is due Thursday, October 7 by 11:59 p.m. It should be emailed to me (dcpowell@mc3.edu) as a MS Word or PDF attachment.
Second primary source paper is due Thursday, November 18 by 11:59 pm. It should be emailed to me (dcpowell@mc3.edu)
as a MS Word or PDF attachment. Your second paper will follow these
same directives and you will simply choose a different author and
document to write about.
Extensions without a penalty will only be
granted if you have a doctor’s note or some other form of documentation
to explain your failure to meet the deadline. There are no exceptions to
this policy. Late papers will receive a 10 point deduction and will not
be accepted beyond a week after the original due date
Primary
sources are original or contemporary materials that historians study
when they write about the past. They include writings, artifacts,
letters, official reports, and a myriad of other materials, and they are
the building blocks for our understanding of history. However, in order
to use these materials responsibly, we need to be alert to the
circumstances of the source’s creation and any potential distortions,
inaccuracies, or bias.
Your paper will begin by choosing a document
from the Brophy book “Perspectives from the Past” and there is a list of
approved primary sources from that book at the end of this assignment
sheet. You need to read it carefully and then write a paper about the
document/passage and its author. The paper should be organized around
your answers to the questions below and you need to discuss the passage
and its context with good historical detail. You should start the paper
with a brief introduction that provides some background on the author
and the historical circumstances in which he/she was writing. You should
then organize the paper in paragraphs that correspond to the sets of
questions. Finally, the paper needs a conclusion that offers general
thoughts on the importance or significance of the writing based on your
historical research.
Let me be clear on a couple of things that have
led to student confusion in the past. The passage I expect you to read
and write about is the passage that is located in Brophy, “Perspectives
from the Past.” For example, if you choose to write about Machiavelli’s
The Prince, you need to read and write about the specific section of
that book that is located in Brophy. You should research The Prince and
Machiavelli beyond what is found in “Perspectives from the Past” but you
must talk about this material, and failure to do this is problematic.
Also, the author of the passage is Machiavelli and I am not looking for
you to research or write about the translator or editor of the book that
this passage was taken from.
Your paper should be 3-4 typed pages in
length (it can be longer but should not exceed 5 pages under any
circumstances), double-spaced in 12 point font (Times New Roman) size.
Your name and the name of the document you are writing about should be
at the top of the first page.
The essay should address and answer as many of the following questions as possible:
1.
Who wrote the source? When was it written? What is the historical
context of the source (what previous historical events or developments
may have contributed to the production of the source or the viewpoint of
the author). Research the author and provide some relevant background
information on him/her and the written piece. This should be
accomplished in the first paragraph or two and will serve as your
introduction
2. If it is a history or some account of a person or
event, what were the sources used to compile it? What is the purpose or
intent of the source? Why was the source created? Is it intended to
persuade? Give a factual account of some event? Is the passage from
Brophy taken from a larger piece of writing or book? What was the
purpose or intent of the larger piece of writing or book? Was it
produced for public or private consumption? Who was the intended
audience? In what ways might the targeted audience have influenced the
way the source was written? Body paragraph
3. What are the main
points of the text/passage? What is the author trying to convey to the
reader? What factual information does the author use to support his
views? Use a couple of brief quotes from the text as support. It is
important that you discuss and fully explain the contents of the
passage. Imagine that you are describing the main points of the passage
to someone who has not read it and explain it as carefully as possible.
Use specific arguments or points from the passage to support what you
are saying. Body paragraph
4. What opinions are offered in the text?
What is the author’s point of view? What biases can be found in the
source? Is the author credible? Did he/she have reliable knowledge of
the event or phenomenon? Use strong historical research into the author
and the context of the writing to support what you say in this section.
What other sorts of documents would you want to look at to verify the
information in the source? Body paragraph
5. What topic or topics in
history would this source have been useful in studying? How might
historians have used this document and for what purposes? What is the
significance of this source for historians? What is the historical
significance of this writing for the history of the West in general?
Conclusion
You need to do some research on the historical context of
the primary source and on the background of the author. You are required
to use at least two additional sources as part of this research, and
one can be an online source (Wikipedia, etc…) while the other source
must be printed (book or article – these can, however, be accessed
electronically).
Try to be concise in your writing as you have a lot
of ground to cover in only 3-5 pages (a paper shorter than 3 pages will
be penalized but I won’t penalize a paper longer than 5). Use as much
evidence from the document and your research as possible to support what
it is you are saying in the essay.
You need to provide citations
that tell the reader where you found the material in your essay, and I
prefer that you use the Chicago/Turabian format, however, I will not
penalize you if you use MLA or APA. A paper that provides no in-text
citations or footnotes and only provides a list of works cited or
bibliography will be seriously penalized. The reader needs to know where
you found the material you use in a paper! If you do not use
Chicago/Turabian, you must also provide a works cited page. If you use
Chicago/Turabian I do not need a bibliography as nearly all of the
information in the footnotes or endnotes is identical to the information
in a bibliography.
Here are some links if you want to try the Chicago/Turabian format
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocChicago.html
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/
This is a website that can help you with formatting your citations.
http://www.eturabian.com/turabian/index.html
This is a link to instructions on how to insert a footnote or endnote in MS Word.
https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/Insert-delete-or-edit-footnotes-and-endnotes-54a7235b-6488-4b88-8ee7-f3d66d3372d9#bm2
Your
paper will be evaluated and graded based on the quality of your
writing, and points will be deducted for errors in spelling, grammar,
and sentence structure. If your writing is confusing and difficult to
understand, your grade will suffer.
• Make sure that you put your
paper through a spellcheck, but understand that this is not going to
find all errors (it is not going to find a properly spelled word that is
incorrectly used)
• Proofread your paper after it is completed. Try
reading the paper aloud to spot confusing, poorly worded sentences and
other errors, and have someone else read it to find mistakes that you
might not be able to see. The college provides access to free, online
tutoring that is accessible through Blackboard (link labeled “Tutoring”)
and you should consider submitting your rough drafts to a tutor to get
advice for improvements.
• While you are encouraged to use a couple
(2-3) short quotes, the rest of the paper must be in your own words
(simply changing a few words around is not acceptable and constitutes
plagiarism). A paper with plagiarized sentences or passages will result
in an F for the assignment. If a significant portion of the paper is
plagiarized, you will receive a ZERO for the assignment. If you have
questions about what constitutes plagiarism please consult the following
link: http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/. There are a lot of online resources that will explain it to you.
• Write your paper in the simple past tense and do not alternate verb tenses.
•
Choose a document that you understand and avoid documents that you
don’t. Make sure that you can answer most, if not all, of the questions
above before you settle on a source.
• Organize your paper in
structured paragraphs – one paragraph for each set of questions, and
include a brief introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph.
• Don’t write in the first person.
Finally,
your paper will be graded holistically based on how well you accomplish
the directives of the assignment and the quality of your writing and
research. Please email, call or come see me if you have questions about
the assignment or its requirements.
For your second paper you will
simply select a different passage from the Brophy, Perspectives from the
Past book, and follow the same instructions.
Dr. Powell
Approved List of Primary Documents from Perspectives from the Past:
Herodotus, The Histories: Manners and Customs of the Scythians – pg. 55
Herodotus, The Histories: The Second Persian Invasion of Greece – pg. 100.
Thucydides from The Peloponnesian Wars – pg. 106
Aristophanes, “Lysistrata” – pg. 122
Plato, “Apology” – pg. 131.
Plutarch, Lives – pg. 174
Tacitus from “Germania” – pg. 185
Seneca, “On the Brevity of Life” – pg. 193
St. Benedict from The Rule – pg. 221
Gregory of Tours from History of the Franks – pg. 226
Bede, A History of the English Church and People – pg. 253
Einhard from The Life of Charlemagne – pg. 262
Ali Ibn Al-Athir – An Arabic Account of the First Crusade – pg. 297
Heloise – Letter to Abelard – pg. 302
Guibert of Nogent, On the Uprising of the Laon Commune and the Murder of Bishop Gaudry – pg. 309
Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica – pg. 316.
Hildegard of Bingen, Letter to the Clergy of Mainz – pg. 317
Jan Hus from The Church – pg. 398
Vasco da Gama, Reactions to Indigenous Peoples, 1497-1498 – pg. 410
Christopher Columbus – Letter on His First Voyage – pg. 414
Baldesar Castiglione from The Book of the Courtier – pg. 422.
Niccolo Machiavelli from The Prince – p. 430
Martin Luther from On the Jews and Their Lies – p. 450
John Calvin from Letter to a French Seigneur, 1548 – pg. 460
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, “The Spiritual Exercises” – pg. 463
Saint Francis Xavier – “A Letter from India” – pg. 466
Reginald Scot from Discoverie of Witchcraft – p. 486
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne from “Of Cannibals” – p. 499
Thomas Mun, from England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade. pg. 517
Adam Smith from The Wealth of Nations – pg. 544
Nicolus Copernicus, from Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs – pg. 556

now
its 2 essays the second paper will follow these same directives and you
will simply choose a different author and document to write about. Both
papers should be 3-4 typed pages in length (it can be longer but should
not exceed 5 pages under any circumstances), double-spaced in 12 point
font (Times New Roman) size. Your name and the name of the document you
are writing about should be at the top of the first page.

Last Completed Projects