HIST 122
Spring 2014
Dr. Hutton
NVC
Paper #1 Assignment
Due Tues., 3/11
Question:
Hinduism is a religion that evolved from the Vedic religion. As the Rig Veda, the Upanishads,
the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana show, the beliefs and practices of this religion changed as
peoples’ needs changed. Yet, many of the beliefs and practices of the Vedic people can still be
seen in the later text of the Ramayana. Which beliefs and practices of the early Vedic peoples
most appealed to later Hindus who found the Ramayana inspiritional? In your discussion of this
question, be sure to compare and contrast the beliefs and practices emphasized in the Rig Veda,
the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita with the beliefs and practices emphasized in the
Ramayana.
Directions:
Write an essay of three or four pages answering the question. Use footnotes or endnotes and
include a bibliography. All papers should be double-spaced in 12-point font and printed on one
side of the paper only.
Sources:
“Rig Veda,” 10.90, in Sources of the Indian Tradition, 2nd ed., edited by Ainslie T. Embree (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 1-2.
“Upanishads,” Brihad Aranyaka, IV:4, 5-6, in The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, edited and
translated by R. E.
Hurne (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1954), 140-1; and Chandogya Upanishad, in
The Upanishads, translated by Juan Mascaro (Harmondsworth: Penguin Press, 1965),
2-3.
Bhagavad Gita, translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (New York: Bantam Books, 1986), 3-5.
Narayan, R. K. The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic,
6th ed. Penguin Classics. (New York: Penguin, 2006).
Writing Guide:
This assignment was written with the intention that you would not have to do any outside
research to write the paper. If you do use outside sources, please include them on your
bibliography. You may not use any internet sources.
The three key elements of a history paper are the argumentative thesis, argument development
and evidence. When you are analyzing a primary source document for a history class you must
pay as much attention to the historical context as you do to the work itself.
Argument
Your argumentative thesis must be analytical and interpretive. “Galileo’s ideas challenged the
Church’s worldview” is not an argumentative thesis. “Galileo’s ideas challenged the Church’s
worldview because they contradicted the bases of its authority” is an argumentative thesis. If you
have a simple idea, try adding “because” and a good reason after it. Another type of
argumentative thesis relates a theme in a primary source to a pattern or problem in the wider
society. For example, “Galileo’s writing widely publicized contradictions to the Bible, church
fathers, and Greek scientists, at a time when the Catholic Church was trying to strengthen its
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authority after the shocks of the Reformation.” The last sentence of the introductory paragraph
should state your argumentative thesis clearly. It should be restated in your conclusion.
Argument Development
Your argumentative thesis should be developed by a logical series of points. Each point should
be the topic sentence of a body paragraph. Each body paragraph should contain specific evidence
and analysis to support the point. At the end of the paragraph, you need a concluding sentence
restating the point and connecting it to your argument.
Evidence
The major difference between a history paper and an English paper is that you are expected to
add much more specific evidence in a history paper. Try for four to six sentences of specific
evidence – names, dates, places, names of laws, institutions, battles, etc. – for each page of the
paper. Use direct quotations from the primary sources, but keep them short (three or four lines
at most.) Use indirect quotations for evidence from secondary sources, like the Tignor
textbook, but be careful to choose statements that are really evidence (i.e. specific) and not just
generalizations. Tell the reader explicitly how each piece of evidence proves your argument.
Quotations
When you are quoting indirectly (rewriting the evidence in your own words), do not copy more
than two words in a row from the original source and change the entire structure of the sentence.
Use short direct quotations (the exact words from the primary source) for one or two pieces of
evidence. For the rest of the evidence, rewrite the information from secondary or primary sources
in your own words, keeping the specific details. These make indirect quotations.
For example, here is a direct quote from a primary source written by Roger Williams in 1643:
“The women set or plant, weed, and hill, and gather and barn all the corn, and fruits of the
field: Yet sometimes the man himself . . . will help the woman which (by the custom of the
country) they are not bound to.”1
Here is the same evidence rewritten in my own words as an indirect quotation:
In 1643, Roger Williams described the gendered division of labor in farming. Native
American women were responsible for planting, weeding, tending and harvesting the crops.
By custom, men did not have to do farm labor, although sometimes they helped their
women.2
You may only use four full sentences (or six partial sentences) of direct quotations in the
paper. The remainder of the evidence you need should be in indirect quotations – that is, taken
from the sources, lecture notes or the Tignor textbook - but rewritten in your own words.
Footnotes or endnotes are required for all quotations. Use the Chicago style; parenthetical
citations are not used in history. See the guide, “How to Do Footnotes,” on the course website for
complete instructions. If you use endnotes, make sure that the endnotes print out on a separate
page which is entitled “Endnotes.” You only need to cite my lectures when you are repeating
Roger Williams, “Notes,” in Worlds of History: A Comparative Reader, Volume Two: Since 1400, ed.
Kevin Reilly, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007), 188.
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Williams, 188.
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what I said word for word, or you are paraphrasing one of my arguments (i.e. not just factual
information.)
NO PLAGIARISM: It is very important that you write this paper in your own words. You may
use only four short direct quotations in this paper. Put direct quotations in quote marks. When
you are rewriting evidence into your own words, copy no more than three words in a row from
the source, and change the entire structure of the sentence. Plagiarized papers will receive an F!
All papers should be double-spaced in 10- or 12-point font, and printed on one side of the paper
only.
Include a bibliography page.
Keep a backup copy of your paper until you have received the graded paper back. This is for
your protection in case a paper is inadvertently misplaced.
Please do not hesitate to consult with me during my office hours if you have any questions about
this assignment, footnotes, or argument development, or if you want to know if you are “on the
right track.”
Papers should be handed in at the beginning of lecture on the day that it is due. Papers turned in
after the beginning of the lecture are late. Papers may be emailed to me at
shutton@napavalley.edu, but the same time limits apply. For each day the paper is late, you will
receive a 1/3 letter grade deduction. This means that if the paper originally earned a “B+” and
was one day late, it will then receive a “B.” If the paper was two days late it will then receive a
“B-,” etc.
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