HISTORY: WORLD CIVILIZATIONS TO 1500 WILLIAM SKILES, SPRING 2014
TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT - GUIDANCE HANDOUT
You have considerable freedom to select which period of history you would like to explore as well as which text you would like to use. This handout is designed to give you some guiding ideas as you consider writing your paper.
You have a variety of genres to choose from as you decide which primary sources to analyze. You can examine a diary, journal, a work of social or political commentary, government reports, collections of letters, and religious or educational texts, among others. You should NOT select a secondary or tertiary source (a source written by an historian or a textbook). A good place to begin looking for a primary source is our primary source book, Sources of World Societies, by Ward and Gainty. Here you will find the names and titles you can use, but you will have to use the full text for analysis in
your term paper.
You are free to select a primary source from our period, that is, world history up until 1500 CE. Please check with me if you have any questions or if you would like further guidance in selecting a source.
Possible topics for study include:
1. Characteristics of early human civilization.,
2. The impact of religion in human societies
3. The implications of the expansion of the Hellenistic world
4. The impact of empires upon human society
5. Life in the Romanjtepublic/Empire
6. Causes for the spread of Christianity or Islam
7. Social life in Imperial China
8. Characteristics of Mesoamerican culture
9. The causes and achievements of the Renaissance or Reformation
10. Implications of exploring the world ':
These are just some ideas, and you are free to check with me to pursue other topics. Consider how your text helps explain the history of your chosen topic. Refer to the Term Paper Assignment handout for strategies to analyze your text.