For your essays, you must choose two questions from the three possible optional questions, below.

When I grade your two essays, I will be looking for the answers to the following questions:

Has the student in this essay –

• Demonstrated a deep knowledge of all the assigned readings for our class, including documents and discussion assignments?
• Applied this knowledge skillfully and persuasively throughout in their essays?
• Inferred from known facts to arguable or “educated” guesses based on historical evidence?
• Cited (given proper credit to) the sources they have used?
• Written clear, grammatically correct, well-organized essays, free of misspellings

  Your first requirement for this Assignment is the most important: it is essential that you draw upon as many of the required texts and sources assigned in this class in crafting your essay. Show me that you have not only read these works, but are also capable of using their insights and information to draw your own conclusions about the history of the West that we’ve examined in this course. Those papers that marshal more of the evidence from the readings we’ve tackled in this course and marshal this evidence skillfully will earn the highest grades. Draw on your earlier assignments, websites, and previous documents in marshaling your evidence. Cite as you go. A paper without a few well-chosen, telling quotations — all cited properly — is a paper that can be significantly improved.

  The minimum word count for each of your essays is 1200 words. If you wish to exceed the minimum word requirement, please do. In calculating your word total, I will not count your bibliography or title page, only the main body of the essay itself. Also know that the essays must be double-spaced throughout, typed, and that you must use Times New Roman. Be sure the file is uploaded in one of the following file formats: doc, docx, pdf. No exceptions.

Citing Your Sources: Be sure to correctly cite the words you borrow. When you borrow another author’s words, data, or ideas, use quotation marks to make clear what you’ve specifically borrowed, then immediately give a parenthetical citation telling me the work you’ve used, the author, and the page number — three pieces of information.

Using another person’s words without citing their work or without using quotation marks to identify precisely what you’ve borrowed is plagiarism. Ignorance of the term is no excuse and it will earn you an “F” for the paper and a black mark on your academic transcript – the one that is sent to the college you hope to transfer to. Please remember your signing of the anti-Plagiarism Agreement earlier in our course.

If you are not quoting brief and telling passages from our sources (the textbook, the videos, forum documents, and so on), you are not supporting your claims in the essays and will lose critical points. Demonstrate your knowledge of these materials.

After I receive your assignment, I — not you — will submit your essays to an anti-plagiarism service.

In short, Good Student, do not plagiarize. To refresh your memory of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, please review the “About Plagiarism” module (on the Modules Page) or by clicking HERE.

I strongly urge you to discuss your paper ideas with your fellow students, to exchange rough drafts, to both ask for help and to provide it as you begin the process of writing.

Do the best work you can, start early in drafting your essays, and use your own words.Your paper must use as much of the historical evidence we’ve examined in this class as possible. Incorporate as many primary sources as possible.

Your two finished essays (put in ONE file) must be in one of the following formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx. When completed, upload your two essays in ONE file by clicking on the “Submit Assignment” button on this page, at the upper right corner.

Submit it here (not in an email outside of the Canvas Platform!) before 11 pm PST on December 11 (Wednesday), 2019. Late essays will not be accepted.

Choose two of the following essays question on which to write your two formal essays for the Final Assignment:

1. In what ways did the Greco-Roman past shape and influence Europe between 800 and 1500 ce/ad? List five significant ways and discuss each at length, drawing on the textbook, the presentations, and the documents. All three. Finally, in our own civilization as it shows itself here in the San Fernando Valley, list and discuss three ways that the Greco-Roman past still affects us significantly.
2. What were the social and political foundations of Medieval Europe, from about 900 to 1300 c.e.? Describe each in detail, using historical evidence drawn from the textbook, my presentations, and the documents. Show me you’ve read, understood, and can apply the information in our textbook.
3. Between 900 and 1300 c.e., European medieval culture flowered in many ways. First, define what ‘culture’ is? Then list 4 ways that this ‘flowering’ occurred and illustrate each in some detail with historical evidence. Finally, in what way did this flowering of culture compare with the cultural achievements of the Periclean Golden Age in Athens? Be specific, listing at least four ways and discussing each.

You will be able to enter and leave this assignment as many times as you wish BEFORE the paper deadline.

Good luck!