Category: History

Take Home Essay #2
The goal of this assignment is to ensure that you understand the topics and themes covered in class and that you can demonstrate your understanding and your ability to think critically about these topics/themes through your writing skills. For this assignment, you must choose one of the questions provided by me and construct a 2-3 page formal essay that is a minimum of 500 words.  Please read carefully as your essay must include:
Five paragraphs
Typed, double-spaced, 12pt font
Essays must be drawn from course materials (textbook readings, primary source documents, class notes, class discussion, Blackboard discussion boards, documentary/film); DO NOT use sources the instructor has not assigned
At least 1 direct quote from course materials in the essay
All quotes and paraphrased material from class resources must be cited in the text of the essay according to MLA guidelines
Provide a Works Cited page on a separate page after the text of the essay
Follow proper grammar and spelling for formal essays, since clarity and style will be considered (i.e no contractions, first/second person, or slang)
Submit a Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) file to the drop box
Citing Note: If you do not include proper documentation, meaning in-text citations and a Works Cited page, you will receive an automatic F because the work is technically plagiarized. Moreover, if you are using AI to create the whole essay, that too will be considered plagiarized. 
Grading Note: While you can submit this assignment late, late submissions will be marked down according to how late they are. For further information on grading please review the Essay Guidelines and Rubric page.
Due Date: Tuesday May 7th by midnight in this drop box *please indicate when you submit your essay whether or not you want me to make comments on it.
Directions: 
Choose one of the questions below to answer in your essay. Notice that the main question you are answering is underlined.  That means your thesis statement should directly answer the underlined question. 
Essay Questions:
From the outset of large complex societies, humans have found ways to extend their reach and their power over others.  Beginning with the period of the Axial Age, human societies saw an accumulation of power in some of the largest empires on record – specifically the Persian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Indian, Teotihuacan and Mongolian empires examined in class. Therefore, what factors contributed to the rise and continued strength of such large, powerful empires? (Choose at least 3 of the empires listed to discuss)
The traditional story of the exploration and conquest of the Americas was that the Europeans were incredibly intelligent, brave, and resourceful and that they were destined to conquer the “New World.” However, contemporary scholarship on this event shows that the conquest of the Americas was contingent on other historical events that created a unique moment allowing the Europeans to seize the opportunity of exploration and conquest. Therefore, on what factors was the conquest of the Americas contingent and how did they lead to Europeans being the conquerors?
Citations for your Works Cited:
“Ancient Rome – The Ultimate Empire (Ancient History Documentary) by AncientWorld.” 
Dailymotion, Dailymotion, 5 Apr. 2015, www.dailymotion.com/video/x2lrtu7.
Burt, Jessica. “China in the Axial Age.” Progress in the Axial Age. North Shore Community 
College, April. 2024.
Burt, Jessica. “What’s Going on around the Globe?” Foundations of a Global World: Expansion, 
Exploration and Conquest. North Shore Community College, April. 2024. 
Confucius. “Confucius: Analects (5th C. BCE?).” The Website of Prof. Paul Brians, Washington 
State University, brians.wsu.edu/2016/11/10/confucius-analects-5th-c-bce/.
“Darius the Great: Ruler of Persia.” My History Lab, Pearson Education Inc., 2001, 
www.myhistorylab.com.
“Emperor Asoka, from the Edicts of Asoka.” My History Lab, Pearson Education Inc., 2001, 
www.myhistorylab.com.
“Greece: Age of Alexander.” Greece: Age of Alexander| Engineering an Empire (S1, E2) | Full 
Episode, YouTube, 6  July. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwgbUWnzTHU.
Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. The World: A History. 2nd ed. Vol. 1, Pearson Education Inc., 
2010.
Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. The World: A History. 3rd ed. Vol. 1, Pearson Education Inc., 2016.
“From Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn Annals: ‘The Responsibilities of Rulership.’” 
Primary Sources with DBQs, Asia for Educators, 2009, afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm.
Lambert, Tim, director. Guns, Germs, and Steel. Guns, Germs, and Steel: Episode II, National 
Geographic, 2005, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUn6FQQEFvY. Accessed Dec. 2023. 
Marks, Robert. The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative 
from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century. 2nd ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. 
ProQuest Ebook Central, 
ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nscc-ebooks/detail.action?docID=979610.
“Mexica (Aztec) & Tlaxcala Accounts of the Spanish Conquest 1500s.” Edited by León-Portilla 
Miguel, Primary Source in U.S. & Literature, National Humanities Center, 2006, 
nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/contact/text6/text6read.htm.
Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and 
Ideas.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 24, no. 2, 2010, pp. 163–188., 
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/nunn/files/nunn_qian_jep_2010.pdf. 
“Pliny and Trajan: Correspondence, c. 112 CE.” Internet History Sourcebooks Project: Ancient 
History, Fordham University. March 2023 https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/pliny-trajan1.asp. 
Rossabi, Morris. “The Mongols in World History.” Mongols in World History, Asia for Educators, 
2021, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/index.htm. 
“Teotihuacán The City of the Gods.” Performance by Josh Berstein, Teotihuacán: The City of 
the Gods | Digging For The Truth (S2, E7) | Full Episode, YouTube, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liWIh7H-4Nc. Accessed April. 2024. 

Write an essay of no more than 1000 words critically analyzing how we are doing as a nation.  Are we repeating our historical mistakes?  Are we revisiting problems that were solved or changed in the past?  In your opinion, have we made progress as a nation, as human beings even?

Your goal in this assignment is to create an innovative and creative assignment for a college-level History course. You need to clearly explain the overview, outcomes, instructions, skills used, and grading structure of the assignment. The final submission needs to be well-edited, correctly formatted, and proofread. You are scored on your creativity, clarity, professionalism, and scope. Although this is a separate assignment, your score replaces the GIP. Therefore, your grade will be recorded in the GIP grade column. 
Submission Instructions
-Create an interesting and innovative assignment that would be suitable for a college-level History course. 
-You will submit your paper through this assignment page on Canvas.
-All submissions must be in .doc, .docx, or .pdf extensions. 
-Submissions must be proofread and edited. Professional appearance and formatting counts!
-This assignment is due on the same date and time as the GIP. 
Formatting and Necessary Fields
1. Your submission must contain, at the very least, these four fields: Overview, Instructions, Objectives/Educational Skills, and Grading Rubric 
2. Fill out the corresponding fields with detailed information. Be descriptive. Give examples, if necessary. 
3. Separate and format the fields to your liking. Make your submission look professional and polished. 
Explanation of the Fields
-Please watch the following video for further clarification of the Overview, Instructions, Objective/Educational Skills, and Grading Rubric.
-Objectives are generally in two parts. The first part is just what will be done. For example,  “The student will do _____.” The second part is the outcome. Here, it is more like, “By doing this the student is using ______ skills.” You can write this however you wish, but make sure to explain what part of the assignment uses which skills. 
-Here is a large, but by no means comprehensive, list of Educational Skills. Your assignment should include quite a few of these:
******time management, critical thinking, group work, public speaking, written skills, verbal skills, planning, multitasking, collaboration, editing, organization, note taking, peer review, source evaluation, data analysis, research, studying, test taking, academic argument, presentation, reading comprehension, statistical analysis, teaching, tutoring, and goal planning*****

Grading Rubric
-Since this is an optional assignment with lenient grading, I am keeping the rubric fairly simple. When it comes to making your rubric for this assignment, though, you should carefully consider how you place the points. The GIP is worth 200 points (this replaces its score), so the scoring rubric will equal that amount. Please do not just copy this rubric. Think about it and create your own. 
Your grade on this assignment comes from how well you complete these four directives: creativity, clarity, professionalism, and scope. Each has equal weight of 50 points. 
Creativity: The uniqueness, originality, innovation, and/or stimulation your assignment.
Clarity: How well you explained the overview, instructions, objectives, and grading rubric of the assignment. 
Professionalism: Proofreading, formatting, and overall editing of the assignment submission.
Scope: The detail, information, and general boundaries of the assignment. How well your assignment incorporates various Educational Skills. 
These categories are subjectively scored. Each will receive points ranging from 0 – 50. Here is a breakdown of these points:
A: 45 – 50 points. An excellent submission in this category. Exceeds expectations. Great insight and ideas, very well written, engaging, thought-provoking, and/or original. 
B: 40 – 44 points. A good submission in this category. You explained your points, the submission was well-written and largely free from errors, there was extra information, and innovative ideas. 
C: 35 – 39 points. A satisfactory submission in this category. You completed the assignment to, at least, the minimum standards. Your submission was decently written, there may be a few grammatical and syntax errors, but, for the most part, it was proofread and professional. Satisfactory ideas and originality. 
D: 30 – 34 points. A  poor submission. You submitted the assignment but it had several issues and/or errors. This could include incomplete fields, irrelevant information, basic ideas, etc. 
F: 0 – 29 points. You know why you received this. 

Based on the readings  below, to what extent (and why) should we regard the French Revolution as transforming societies and peoples? 
Why, in your view, do these scholars offer such diverse explanations? 
WORKSHOP READING Lynn Hunt, ‘The World We Have Gained: The Future of the French Revolution’ in The American Historical Review
Article 
by Lynn Hunt
Lynn Hunt, ‘The French Revolution in Global Context’ in The age of revolutions in global context, c. 1760-1840
Chapter 
by Lynn Hunt
C.A. Bayly ‘The ‘Revolutionary Age’ in the Wider World, c. 1790–1830’
Article 
by Bayly, C. A.
Textbook
David Bell, ‘Questioning the Global Turn: The Case of the French Revolution’ in French Historical Studies
Article 
by David A. Bell
01/02/2014 
Textbook
I have attached these readings down below. Please only use these sources. 
Your essay will need to determine which aspects of the readings are most relevant to the question and why. Your essay’s structure and argument should reflect your own considered response to the question based on what you have read.
Each essay prompt consists of two parts: the initial question addresses the content and argument about the topic; the second question asks you to reflect on why there is variation (sometimes considerable) among the scholars you have read. Think of the first part as the central core of your essay. It will be your attempt to sort out the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of history and explain what historians have found significant. Think of the second part (‘Why, in your view, do these scholars offer such diverse explanations?’) as an invitation to reflect briefly on issues of method and historiography. Why did your scholars arrive at conflicting or converging conclusions about the topic and to what extent does this derive from their interpretive methods, types of evidence, chronological or geographical focus, etc?

RESPDOND TO STUDENTS POST (150 WORDS OR LESS)
STUDENTS POST:
I am generally an optimistic person and reserve skepticism for the idea that people are stuck in a box and cannot change. However, based on what we’ve learned in this course, I am not entirely optimistic that Japan (the government) can resolve its issues any time soon due to the reliance on traditions that are causing more harm than good.
The Japanese powers that be struggles to bring women into important conversations, decisions, and spaces. When half of a population is irrelevant, essential voices and abilities are cut off from joining the collective “pool of progress”. Further, the hard-line Japan has put down against accepting foreigners as essential to economic growth, or even as citizens, is another unnecessary roadblock toward progress (Wingfield-Hayes, 2023). In addition, the work culture has quite literally killed people from stress related diseases and made it extremely hard to dream of having a secure family. The snail’s pace at which the nation has made any progress out of their economic hole gives me an inkling into the seriousness of the situation as far as my negative outlook towards their future.
That being said, we know Japan has crawled out of impossible craters before with a drive and a focus that is admirable. If Japan can find that drive and a willingness to loosen its grip on harmful traditions, I believe they’ll dig their way out of these issues. Economic reports find that the country has shown progress and potential for 2024 (Kapron, 2024).
I truly hope that younger generations can turn things around for Japan. However, if they continue to avoid risk by avoiding change, the outlook is bleak.
Works Cited:
Kapron, Z. (2024, February 20). Japan’s stock market outlook is bullish for 2024. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zennonkapron/2024/01/04/japans-stock-market-outlook-is-bullish-for-2024/?sh=5b2d8ee974d0
Wingfield-Hayes, R. (2023, January 20). Japan was the future but it’s stuck in the past. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63830490
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ORGINAL POST FOR REFERENCE:
What is the future of Japan and Japanese Society?
For the final week of JAPN333, we think about the issues facing Japan today and what might happen be Japan’s future.  The Japanese people have faced critical turning points in their history in the past and succeeded in overcoming obstacles.  Does Japan today have the will and resolve to address and solve its problems?   Is the future of Japan positive or negative?  What are the positive signs?  What are the negative signs?
Click on “Start a New Thread” to respond to this topic.  After you post your response, please reply to at least TWO of your classmates.

Age of abolition topic: 
Sarah vs. Boston schools 
Cotton gin 
Fugitive slave law (1850)
Sojourner tuner
Gabriel rebellion summer and spring of 1800
slavery. 
There is no doubt that the fight to end slavery was a base cause of the American Civil War. Using your own Age of Abolition topic and one of chart out what you see as the most important events of the Age of Abolition that led to the breaking point in 1861. To be clear, this will mean a total of 5 topics from the Age of Abolition presentations, including your own
Your paper should consist of a short introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, and begin with a declarative statement that identifies how you will answer the given question (i.e. the thesis). you are not required to cite material in this last essay unless you use an outside source
All 5 topics should be included in the essay .

“The Fated Sky: Astrology in History.  Simon & Schuster, 2006.  ISBN-13: 978-0743268950
Start by citing the book.  Include the author, title, place of publication, publisher, publication date, and edition (if applicable).  Use the Chicago Manual of Style for the citation (see below). 
Include information about the author: his authority, reputation, and qualifications. 
Make reference to the genre of the book?  Is it a work of fiction or non-fiction?  What does the author consider the book? 
Make reference to the point of view in which the book is written (first person, third person, etc)?
Include a description of the content of the book.  Make reference to the organization (chronological, retrospective, topical, etc).  
Now summarize the content of the book.  Note: Do not devote more than two pages to this.
Analyze!  What does the author do well?  What does the author not do well? 
Analyze! Does the book provide a window into an era?  Why, or why not?
Include a conclusion which gives your overall assessment of the book.

I will provide files of all the instructions and all four questions that are to be answered! Please keep in mind that each question should be answered in at least 300 words! Questions must be answered in full 5-paragraph format. If no parenthetical citations are used for each question the grade will be a ZERO!
(THE USE OF AI IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND WILL RESULT IN A FAIL)

Content and Structure in Research Papers (General Guidelines)
Citations:
As a general rule, you should have at least one citation (footnote or endnote, Chicago
Manual of Style) per paragraph except for interpretive paragraphs in the introduction and
conclusion. You should also have about as many sources as you have pages of the paper.
You should try to have two or more sources per footnote. In other words, you should not
have a series of notes drawn from one source only, followed by another series drawn from
another source. Rather, you should have multiple sources to support most sections of your
argument. After all, the one book upon which you are basing six pages of the paper could be
dead wrong!
You should always give a full citation of a source the first time it is cited. After that you can
use an abbreviated citation (author, short title, page).
You also must include a bibliography, also following Turabian or the Chicago Manual.
Do not confine citations only to quotations; cite paragraphs where you synthesize
information from several sources also.
Annotate your bibliography, and especially the more significant sources (this means that
under the sources you write one to three sentences describing the source and its role in your
research.)
As a rule, four or five quotations in a twenty page paper is plenty, especially if the
quotations are from secondary sources.
Content and Structure:
Your paper should be structured as an argument answering a question. You should
begin, therefore, with an introduction in which you state the question or problem you
address, lay out your argument, its significance or how it fits into the context of the
topic you are studying, and explain how you intend to go about answering the question
using your sources. (“This paper is a study of women’s hair styles in early modern
Europe. Its purpose it to understand why women’s hairstyles changed, and how those
changes reflected the changing work status of early modern women. This question is
important, because it gives us an understanding of how much manual labor women
from various classes performed. My sources are drawn primarily from . . . ). This
section of the paper is about 1-3 paragraphs for a paper under eight pages, about 3-5
paragraphs for a paper of eight to twelve pages, and about three to five pages for a
paper longer than twelve pages.
The body of the paper is where you lay out the evidence and construct the argument
you are using to answer the question. You should not, therefore, be merely reciting
“facts” you have found in your sources. Rather you should construct an argument
(because – therefore). Use subheadings that reflect the sections (premises) of your
argument that you are supporting in this section of the paper to be sure that you have
covered all the material necessary and offered all the evidence possible to support your
conclusions.
Your paper should conclude with a conclusion in which you recap your question and
argument, and show how your evidence supports the answers you have offered the
original question you asked.
You may want to use subtitles or asterisks to separate the sections of your paper and
thus ensure that you have all the needed components of your argument. Outlines can
also help to ensure that your paper is well structured and coherent.
Another good clue to whether or not your have actually built an argument is to see
whether you use words like “because” and “therefore” in the paper, and whether or not
you can summarize your basic argument in a paragraph or so. If you haven’t and you
can’t, your paper probably rambles and does not include an argument or support it
effectively.
Organization
:
Every paragraph must have a topic sentence. Every sentence in the paragraph must
relate directly to that topic sentence. Avoid rambling paragraphs with multiple topics,
or no topic at all.
Paragraphs one or two sentences long are probably too short and should be integrated
with another paragraph, or lengthened. Paragraphs longer than one side of the page
probably need to be broken into two or more paragraphs.
Paragraphs should relate to the topic of the paper or of the subsection they are in as
sentences relate to the topic sentence of the paragraph. In other words, you should
build your paper with a distinct structure that includes an introduction, a body of
evidence divided with subheadings, and a distinct conclusion. Each of your paragraphs
should build on the previous paragraphs to construct your argument. Paragraphs
should not be placed randomly! Your paper should not read as if you shuffled the
paragraphs like a deck of cards or tossed the pages down the stairs.
To avoid problems 1-3, use conjunctive adverbs such as because, therefore, thus,
since, although, and however to organize your ideas and evidence, and to transition
between ideas. These words show cause and effect and thus are essential to building
an argument. Use an outline to organize your ideas into coherent paragraphs and
sections of the paper.

What is the future of Japan and Japanese Society?
For the final week of JAPN333, we think about the issues facing Japan today and what might happen be Japan’s future.  The Japanese people have faced critical turning points in their history in the past and succeeded in overcoming obstacles.  Does Japan today have the will and resolve to address and solve its problems?   Is the future of Japan positive or negative?  What are the positive signs?  What are the negative signs?
Click on “Start a New Thread” to respond to this topic.  After you post your response, please reply to at least TWO of your classmates.