Western Civilization
Final Exam Short Essay:
The final exam short essay is an assessment based exclusively on the course reader, Perspectives. I will post the assignment on 3 May 2021 by 1800 CT, and you will find it in a content area entitled Final Exam Short Essay.
This assignment requires you to do the following:
o Select one of the courses historical forces analyzed during the semester, i.e., empiricism, romanticism, or nationalism.
o Choose nine sources from Perspectives that reflect your chosen force in action.
o Use those nine sources in a short essay that demonstrates how your chosen historical force has influenced Western Civilization.
The assignment is due on Sunday, 9 May 2021, by 2300 hours.
Submit the answer in a separate .doc, .docx, .pdf, or any word processing document/file accepted by Blackboard. The assignment page contains a function for attaching such files.
Late submissions will lose 10 points automatically.
See below for guidelines on how to write the final exam short essay.
GUIDELINES FOR THE FINAL EXAM SHORT ESSAY
The nine sources chosen from Perspectives will be used in the average five-paragraph short essay. Here is the format for said essay.
An introductory paragraph
It references the historical timeline and context of the essay.
It contains a clear thesis statement, i.e., what are you going to prove and how are you going to prove it.
A body of three paragraphs
The body contains the evidence that proves your thesis.
Respective body paragraphs ideally contain three of the sources each. However, you can mix it up, e.g., four in the first paragraph, two in the second paragraph, and three in the last.
The narrative in each body paragraph should make full references to the title of each source, e.g., In Elizabeth I, Speech to the Troops at Tilbury; Jean Bodin, On Sovereignty; and Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, the historical force of empiricism is evident through each authors [etc.]. Notice how the primary source titles are italicized, though you can underline them or place them in quotation marks (be consistent). Failure to do so will result in a style miscue.
A conclusion paragraph
This paragraph summarizes your evidence.
Essentially, you should restate the thesis statement in a different manner, and synthesize your evidence in the three body paragraphs into a single sentence each.
A Works Cited list
At the top of the list should be the full entry for Perspectives, i.e., James Brophy, Joshua Cole, et. al., Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations, Seventh Edition, Volume 2, From the Medieval Era through Contemporary Times, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2020. You can underline the appropriate sections of the entry instead of italicizing if you want (be consistent). Failure to write the title correctly will count for a style miscue.
Underneath should follow each primary source and its page numbers, e.g., Elizabeth I, Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, 505-7. I want the title of the entry to be just like that (italicized, underlined or set off by quotation marks will be fine) or I will count off for a style miscue.
There is no need to include page numbers in the narrative. Your full statement of the title in the body paragraphs, plus your inclusion of page numbers in the Works Cited list, will suffice.
The following rubric is how the instructor will grade the short essay.
(1) Lack of thesis statement = -10
(2) Weak thesis statement = -5
(3) Lack of example to support thesis statement = -10
(4) Lack of conclusion = -10
(5) Major error (e.g., complete failure to connect an example to the course theme) = -6
(6) Minor error (e.g., vague connection of an example to the course theme) = -4
(7) Slight Error (e.g., incorrect dates within 10 years) = -2
(8) Every three grammatical, spelling, etc. errors = -1
Be advised that the instructor reserves judgment regarding what constitutes an oversight, solecism, inaccuracy, etc., on the part of the student, and the severity of that error. The instructor will take off at most 10 points for errors of grammar, spelling, style, and so forth. Once total deductions reach 40 points, further subtractions cease, and the student will receive 10 points for the short essay.
