LIBRARY RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT:

The library research assignment and research essay assignments are linked assignments. You will be choosing an essay topic from the list below, carrying out research to build an essay on that research topic, and then writing the essay itself. Note that each essay topic asks you to include a primary source from Sources of The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures as one of your sources.

For the Library Research Assignment, you will carry out online library-based research after which you will produce and provide to the course instructor a document that includes the following:

• A Research Proposal that describes what you hope to prove or argue in your essay. How do you intend to answer the prompt question? (approx. 300 words)
• An annotated bibliography, which is a list of the sources you will use to build your essay accompanied by a description of what each source offers. I’m looking for three key pieces of information in your annotation (1) tell me what the source is arguing: what’s its thesis? (2) tell me who the author of this source is to demonstrate that this are a qualified source. What are their credentials? (3) How will you use this source in your essay? How will its information build your argument?

(The annotation for each source should run approx. 200 words for a total of about 1,200 words (6×200 words) for this section.) The annotated bibliography must be comprised of at least six sources. Those six sources will include your primary source, which is listed with the essay topic, and can include your textbook. The rest of the sources you will have to find through your research. Academic books, academic book chapters, or scholarly articles are acceptable. Note: book chapters written by the same author in one book only count as one source. I will accept one general web page as a source, but you will need to be able to demonstrate who produced the information on that web page and assess their credentials. Do not use Wikipedia as a source: your textbook can supply similar basic information.

We’ll discuss scholarly articles in class, but you can also check out this link for a good description of how to evaluate sources: https://www.library.illinois.edu/ugl/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2017/07/Evaluate_Sources.pdf

Information below: You’ll find the list of essay topics below. I have also included an example of how the library research assignment should be formatted.

NOTE: Conduct your research through the University of Manitoba’s Library system: https://umanitoba.ca/libraries/

You will also find that the History department has its own section on the library web page: https://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/c.php?g=365451&p=2468875

Even if you have trouble access the physical library this term, the library still offers access to e-books and online articles.

Citation and Style Guidelines:

• You must use Chicago reference style in this assignment as outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html ).
• Use 12-point font, double-spacing, with one-inch margins.
• Bibliography entries will be single spaced and should be listed in alphabetical. Order by last name. Your annotation (summary) will follow directly below each entry and can be double spaced.
• Your title page should include only the following elements. 1) the title of your paper, 2) your name, 3) the course number and section, 4) the date of submission. The title should be centered and placed about one third of the way down from the top of the page.The other information should be listed in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
• You should number your pages, beginning with the first page of text (i.e., the title page should not be numbered).

Grading: Your Library Research Assignment will be graded based on the following criteria:

The clarity of Research Proposal

The depth, breadth, and clarity of your annotated bibliography

The use of proper Chicago Style bibliographic format

Clarity of writing throughout and style

Research Essay Topics:

Note, some of these topics include two primary documents that are linked together. In those case, you can draw from both sources, but you will still need to find an additional five sources for your essay. In other words, the primary documents will only count as one source.

• Slavery in the ancient world: What did slavery mean to people ancient Greece? How did slaves fit into Greek society in the Before Common Era period?
• What were the strengths of the Persian Empire? What did it contribute to Western Civilization?
• How did Hippocrates transform the way Western civilization thought about disease? How did his contributions represent a new way of thinking about the world?
• What power did Women have in Roman society?
• How did the Roman Empire’s approach to granting citizenship allow it to expand? What challenges did extending citizenship to new peoples create?
• What does the experience of Vibia Perpetua tell us about the spread of Christianity during within the Roman Empire?
• What is Christianity? What challenges did early Christians face in creating a standardized Christian Religion?
• How did Islam become the heir of Hellenistic and Roman traditions rather than the destroyer of them? (See page 140 in your Sources of the Making of the West book for this statement)
• What role did women play in the courts of Seventh/Eighth Century European Kingdoms?
• Who won the Investiture conflict and how?
• How did university students think of themselves during the Medieval period?
• How do maps shape how we see the world? How do they reflect the society that creates them?
• How did the ‘Black Death’ transform European society in the fourteenth century?
• How did war traumatize France’s peasants in the fifteenth century? How did they respond?
• You can choose your own topic on a theme in the History of Western Civilization to 1500.

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 2: Document 2.6: Xenophon, Revenues (Fourth Century B.C.E.)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 2: Document 2.1: Inscription Honoring Cyrus, King of Persia (c. 557–530 B.C.E.)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 3: Document 3.4: Hippocrates of Cos, On the Sacred Disease (400 B.C.E.)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 5: Document 5.3: Livy, Roman Women Demonstrate against the Oppian Law (195 B.C.E.)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 5: Document 5.4: Cicero, In Defense of Archias (62 B.C.E.)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 6: Document 6.5: The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas (203 C.E.)

Primary Source: (There are two sources here, but for the purposes of the assignment we’ll count them as contributing as one source in your essay. So even if you use them both you’ll still need to find another five sources.): Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 7: Document 7.1: SOURCES IN CONVERSATION | Arius, Letter to Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria (c. 320 C.E.) and The Nicene Creed (325 C.E.)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 8: Document 8.2: Islamic Terms of Peace (633–639)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 8: Document 8.4: The Life of Lady Balthild, Queen of the Franks (Late Seventh Century)

Primary Source: (There are two sources here, but for the purposes of the assignment we’ll count them as contributing as one source in your essay. So even if you use them both you’ll still need to find another five sources.): Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 10: Document 10.2: Sources In Conversation | Emperor Henry IV, Letter and Pope Gregory VII, Excommunication (1076)

Primary Source: (There are two sources here, but for the purposes of the assignment we’ll count them as contributing as one source in your essay. So even if you use them both you’ll still need to find another five sources.): Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 11: Document 11.2: Royal Decrees of Special Privileges for Students and Student Letters(Twelfth–Early Thirteenth Centuries)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 12: Document 12.6: Centering the World: Hereford World Map (c. 1290–1300)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 13: Document 13.1: The Black Death (Fourteenth Century)

Primary Source: Sources of The Making of the West, Chapter 13: Document 13.2: Jean Froissart on the Jacquerie (1358)

I do require that at least one of your six sources be a primary document from Sources of The Making of the West: Volume 1.