Assignment: Global Literacy Research and Reflection Assignment - Final Step
Purpose: To assess your ability to interpret the global past, to assess aspects of global diversity, global heritage, and global interdependence, and to select evidence and construct an argument using historical evidence, you will prepare a short essay that pursues a research question and reflects on global literacy and being "enlightened citizens, globally astute leaders, and engaged solution creators." Need Assignment Help?
Research questions and historical evidence must be approved by the instructor in advance of final paper submission. Some factors to consider in developing a research question:
- Global diversity: Does answering the question involve examining more than one region? (East Asia, South Asia, Southwest Asia, Europe, Northern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Austronesia, South America, Mesoamerica, North America) If it doesn't incorporate regional diversity, does pursuing the question involve exploring religious, linguistic, cultural, social, or gender diversity?
- Global heritage: Does answering the question involve examining a cultural, social, or political institution, artifact, movement, idea, architecture, piece of art, or leader of lasting significance?
- Global interdependence: Does answering the question involve exploring interdependence in world history, involving connections either between societies, civilizations, and regions or within them?
Some general topics that have worked well include:
- Pastoralism and agriculture
- Writing and oral tradition
- Religion
- Free and unfree labor
- Gender relations
- Political power and legitimacy
- Trade and travel
Papers work well when analyzing two or three examples from different parts of the world or one example across an extended period (i.e., more than one textbook chapter).
Practical considerations include identifying a question that can be answered using historical evidence, such as maps, images, and primary sources included within Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, with context from the textbook and/or other course materials.
The final paper should be between 750 and 1000 words (typically 3-4 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font). This word count does not include footnotes or bibliography. You must indicate the page numbers from which you gather and/or quote material. Copying from any source without proper citation is plagiarism and will result in a 0 on the assignment. A grading rubric will be utilized on this paper.
What you're submitting: a research paper, 750-1000 words in length that uses examples and sources from within Chapters 1-13 of Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, the student site, and/or Deep Dive options to answer a research question related to world history prior to 1700.
If you use AI: while most students find attempts to use AI to be a time waste, you may use it up to Level 3Links to an external site., but note that you need to use examples from Chapters 1-13, the student site, and/or Deep Dive options and you need to include any prompts and AI-generated results you used for this project as an appendix at the end of the paper.
The Rise of Christianity:
Veronica Williams
Fayetteville State University
History 110
Dr. Taber
The Rise of Christianity.
Theme: There are social, political, and cultural developments that directly led to the emergence of Christianity. These articles converge around the question of how the changes that happened in the Roman Empire allowed Christianity to spread and take over Western Afro-Eurasia.
Working Thesis: The spread of Christianity in Western Afro-Eurasia was affected by the multiple factors such as political and social changes, cultural contacts, and the popularity of Christian beliefs that finally altered the religious and cultural picture of the area.
Description of Example 1:
What is happening in example 1? It is a painting that shows how the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity. What does it have to do with the topic/question that you are answering? Since the Roman Empire was still allowed to enjoy a large portion of the region, the presence of a professed follower of the Christian faith as its leader was useful in continuing to spread it in the empire and preventing the persecution of individuals in the empire who were already subscribing to the Christian faith (Petric, 2025). This religious support was crucial on the growth of the religion.
Description of Example 2:
What is happening in example 2? This is a Socratic text that narrates the story how Helena, the mother of Constantine discovered the cross on which Jesus was crucified and continues on how Christianity was propagated to Africa and India during the rule of Constantine (Rajarajan, 2023). What is its relationship with the topic/question you are answering? This is directly relevant to my topic as it addresses the social transformation that took place in Europe about the emergence of Christianity and how they managed to disseminate it to other regions in the world during its infantile stage.
Description of Example 3:
What is happening in example 3? These are images of mosaics that were discovered in modern day Israel and Northern Africa showing how Christians are treated prior to the time when Christianity was made legal by Constantine. What does it relate to the topic/ question you are answering? This is relevant to my topic since martyrdom of notable people in the early Christianity contributed to the spread it to this section of the world. The presentation of the Christian movement with such charismatic personalities made it popular among the entire population irrespective of the social status.
Preliminary impressions about Global Literacy
Christianity remains among the most popular religion globally up to now; therefore, knowing what happened to the world and how it influenced the society when it initially began will assist me to know the effects it has on the society today (Rotaru, 2023). This links to the becoming an enlightened citizen by exposing historical backgrounds to the world beliefs, sustaining a globally savvy leader in a culturally diverse environment, and prepares an engaged solution creator in handling the current religious tolerance and integration.
Reflection
The paper is devoted to the subject that pre-dates chapter 13, because the emergence of Christianity falls under the umbrella of the Roman Empire that was discussed in previous chapters of Worlds Entangled. I believe that I am prepared to write a paper. It will be nice to provide some additional examples which will allow me to add more content but I am certain that I will be able to write the entire paper with the provided material. There is no need of additional investigation on these samples.