Overview and Guidelines: Students will research and write one historical essay of approx. 2,000 – 2,500
words each. You are required to use, at a minimum, four (4) scholarly sources. A scholarly source is an academic or peer-reviewed journal article that undergoes a rigorous vetting by leading scholars in the field. All other sources are not acceptable for submission in college level research and you should be thorough in your own discretion as to what sources you will include and which to exclude. Often, this can be the difference between a good paper and a superior paper.
Each essay will be graded on the following criteria:
1) Format/Layout
2) Content
3) Quality of Writing
4) APA/Chicago/MLA style guidelines
Please choose one of the following topics or a topic of your own choosing:
• A biographical examination of a significant figure
• Agricultural Revolution
• War and Society in Greece (Persian wars/Peloponnesian wars)
• War and Society in Rome (Punic wars/Germanic wars)
• The Merovingian Empire
• The Carolingian Empire
• Feudalism
• The Byzantine Empire
• The Vikings
• The Rise of Islam in the Middle East
• The travels of Ibn Battuta
• The travels of Marco Polo
• Rise of the Papacy (the Catholic Church)
• The Crusades
• The Mongols of Genghis Khan
Special Note: Concerning citation styles, such as MLA, Chicago, or APA format, I do not mind which format you use, as long as you are consistent throughout your papers. If you are not consistent in your citations and works cited page/references, I will deduct points. Please remember to carefully document all your sources in your quotations and in your works cited/references page.
