The Ancient Through the Medieval West
Final Project Research Paper
General Parameters:
Select a topic of interest to you in Western culture from the Prehistoric period through the Middle Ages.
The topic should focus on either the Prehistoric Era; the Ancient Near East; Ancient Egypt; the Classical world of Greece and Rome; Early or Byzantine Christianity; Islam; or Medieval Europe.
The paper must be an argument with a thesis. Explaining why your topic is important to understanding Western culture could be your argument, but you need to be specific as to how and why it is important.
The paper must use a minimum of five (5) sources.
The paper must be 7 to 9 pages long, word-processed in Times New Roman 12, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides. Papers shorter than 7 full pages will be penalized; papers longer than 9 pages are acceptable but should not exceed 12 pages.
The paper must include an introduction, with an arguable thesis; a body which provides sufficient evidence to support your thesis using outside sources and your own commentary; and a conclusion.
o If you are focusing on art objects or an artist, you are encouraged to include pictures within your paper, although this is not required, and if you do, you must include a photo credits page. Pictures are additional materials and do not count towards the page length.
Formatting the Paper
You must have a heading; the format is below:
Your name
Class and section: HUM 101-W03 or 101-W04 (Please choose your section.) Instructor: Keith Jensen
Date you submit the Paper
You may place this heading in either the upper left-hand or right-hand corner of the paper. It needs to be single-spaced.
If you use Microsoft Word, the current version (or the 2010), your paper is not single-spaced. Every time you skip a line, it will leave a little space between the lines. I do not want this, so to avoid this, do the following:
Look at the formatting boxes in the upper right (each box includes something like this: AaBbCc, etc. Underneath the letters are words like Heading, Normal, No Spacing, etc. The default is the Normal Box; you need to click on the No Spacing box, and then it will single space normally.
After the heading, skip one space, and then write the title of your paper.
Then skip another space and begin your paper; make sure you change to double-spacing.
Ultimately, your essay should look like this:
Keith Jensen
HUM 101-W03
Keith Jensen
05 December 2020
Other Guidelines
You must number your pages.
MLA citation format must be used wherever you use material from a source, whether you quote it
directly or write it in your own words.
The only things that do not need citation are your own comments or information of common knowledge (i.e., Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamuns tomb in 1922).
Follow the MLA guidelines found in the Humanities Bible available on Blackboard. U.S. copyright and Harper College regulations concerning citations govern written texts, e-mail, software programs, and Internet sites.
FORBIDDEN SOURCES: Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, About.com, Schmoop, Sparks Notes, Cliffs Notes, and the like.
ACCEPTABLE SOURCES: Books, e-books, pdf copies of print books, and on-line databases; internet/web-based sources must be approved by me.
All papers must have a title, and please make it more interesting than Research Paper or Olympic Games. The title should reflect what your paper is about.
Your audience for this paper is the world at large wishing to learn something about your topic. You should not assume that your reader knows anything about it.
Important: I will deduct points for all formatting and MLA infractions, no exceptions.
       
Humanities 101-W03 and -W04/ Jensen / Fall 2020 3 Listed below are the questions I will ask as I read your papers and will use them to determine your grade.
Do you create a question that has a controversial answer and answer that question? How completely do you answer it? How well do you stick to answering the question and avoid drifting away from it?
Do you demonstrate knowledge of and understanding of the material you have covered as it relates to your topic?
Do you make a reasonable argument? Is your answer logical, based on evidence and rational argument?
Do you present enough convincing evidence to support your arguments? Do you consider all relevant, available evidence?
Do you cite sources properly, whenever necessary? Do you use quotations, paraphrases, summaries, etc. and cite them correctly?
Do you apply general principles of good writing? Are you clear, concise, and generally grammatical? The paper is worth 200 points of the course grade. After I have given the initial points, I will deduct points
Grading Criteria
for the following specific infractions/errors:
Papers that do not follow the proper margins (one inch): Papers WITHOUT numbered pages:
Papers WITHOUT the proper heading and Format:
NO Works Cited Page:
10 points
10 points Up to 20 points 20 points
No Citations will result in a zero for the assignment. If this is the second offense, you will fail the course and be reported to the Student Conduct Officer, Michael Vanlandingham. See Conse- quences (and exceptions) on the Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty Handout on Blackboard.
You may think me obsessive or picky, but attention to even the small details is important. Surgeons who miss that one speck of dust on their skin when they are scrubbing for surgery could kill their patients. These issues I mention may not be as critical, but they are important and should not be ignored.
Finally, I am not your editor. The paper must be carefully proofread and checked for spelling, typographical errors, punctuation, and major grammatical issues before you submit it. Do not rely on spell-check or grammar-check; they are not always accurate, and they wont notice if you are using the wrong form of a word (e.g., to, too, two; where, were, wear; their, there, theyre; etc.). I will deduct points for grammar errors, and I will use the following as a guide to determine the number of points:
00-05 errors
06-10 errors
11-15 errors
16-20 errors
21-25 errors
26-30 errors
31-35 errors
36-40 errors
41 or more errors
00 points 05 points 10 points 15 points 20 points 25 points 30 points 35 points 40 points
Please note: The above rubric is for minor errors, such as misspellings, comma errors, or other typos; major grammatical errors such as run-on sentences, sentence fragments, or errors that make reading the essay difficult could result in further deductions.