WORLD HISTORY BEFORE 1500 BCE
Analytical Paper: 8-10 pages. 12 pt. (Times New Roman), double spaced, and one inch margins. The paper must include page numbers and footnotes (Chicago Manual of style or MLA. You can find more information here: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html).
No bibliography (works cited page) needed since the footnotes will clarify the your supporting works. No front page is needed.
After you have chosen your document(s), read them several times before writing your paper. As you do, keep your primary source some mention reading guide handy and make notes on the source’s contents and remember that everything mentioned in these excerpts of speeches, papers, treaties, addresses, etc., is important, and deserves in your paper. After you have finished commenting on the document(s), ask yourself the following questions:
• Why is this document historically significant?
• What does it reveal about the time period in which it was written and the people who wrote it?
• Were there themes within the document?
• Why were they important?
• Do you accept the analysis of past, present, and future events contained in the document? Why or why not?
• How did the document evaluate the recent and long-term past?
• Did the document make any recommendations on how events should unfold in the future?
• Were there any unusual elements within this document—a topic that generally does not fit with its general focus—and if so, why were they present?
Obviously, these queries are somewhat vague, because there is no one set checklist provoked by all potentialsources. Each excerpt evokes its own set of questions. You will find more questions to keep in mind in your primary source reading guide.
WRITING THE PAPER
After you have finished your study of the sources, you are ready to write a paper that presents your analysis. You must write an analysis not a summary. Facts and details matter nothing if you do not discuss them or explain them! The goal is to analyze and to think critically. Consequently, your dissection of the primary source(s) should compose the majority of the assignment.
While it is necessary to include some historical context, the key emphasis should be on the source itself. There are a variety of ways to structure your analysis of the document(s). I would recommend organizing it around the themes and questions. This way, you can group recurring themes together and analyze them in the same paragraph(s), rather than repeating yourself several times; space, after all, is at a premium. Avoid writing analyses that break the document down by paragraphs, unless each paragraph focuses on different elements. Do not forget to explain why you think the document is important and what impact it may have had.
After you have finished writing your paper, make sure to proofread and edit it thoroughly. One way to avoid grammatical errors is to read your paper aloud to yourself. Many times, if you hear a sentence spoken, you will know if it is in correct English without explicitly knowing the rule in question. However, if at all possible, you should have someone else read your paper because after reading your paper several times, it is probable that you will miss some errors that another person will not. This will help eliminate poor writing.
Avoid inserting lengthy quotations from any primary and secondary source, as these consume large amounts of space, and run contrary to the analytic focus of this paper.Quote only when absolutely necessary, i.e. when a quotation strengthens your argument and analysis. Never quote unless you are willing to explain the meaning of the quotation.
You should also make certain that when your sentences refer to events in the past the verbs in those sentences referring to action or thought in the past are themselves in past tense.