Honors 210B: Spring 2007
Take-Home Essay #1
Instructions:
Write a thoughtful, polished, 5-7 page essay (1250-1750 words) on one of the two the question below. The essay is due two weeks after distribution of this question, at the beginning of class on Wednesday, March 14.
Be sure to read over the syllabus for information on grading criteria, late assignments, and rules for the takehome essay exams. Your essay must be typed, double-spaced, with 12-point font and one-inch margins. It must also have a descriptive title that relates to your paper topic and conveys to your reader the overall argument of the paper. The essay covers course material up to and including Week 6 on the syllabus.
Before you begin writing your essay, you must complete Writing Worksheets 1 and 2. Be sure to staple both
Writing Worksheets to the back of your essay. (Failure to do so will result in 5 points off of your essay grade.)
Select one of the following two essay question choices:
Essay Question Option 1:
Compare and contrast the opportunities for self-fashioning in early modern Europe, the Americas, and Africa.
What options did individuals have to fashion their own identities in each case? What types of political, social, and cultural barriers existed that restricted self-fashioning in each historical case? In your view, in which historical context did individuals have the greatest opportunities to shape their own futures and gain power, and why? Your essay must use specific quotes from all of the following discussion readings to illustrate your claims: The Return of Martin Guerre , Lieutenant Nun , and Things Fall Apart .
OR
Essay Question Option 2:
Compare and contrast the role of the church in early modern Europe, the Americas, and Africa. What political, social, and cultural functions did the church play in each case? In your view, in which historical context did the church seem most powerful? Your essay must use specific quotes from all of the following discussion readings to illustrate your claims: The Return of Martin Guerre , Lieutenant Nun , and Things Fall Apart .
**Hint #1: There is no single “right” answer for this essay. I am asking you to develop your own argument or point of view and to support your own interpretation using the relevant class material.
**Hint #2: No outside research is required or allowed for this essay. You must gather evidence to support your argument using only the sources made available to you in this class.
**Hint #3: A successful essay will make use of all relevant class sources: class lectures, discussion readings, films, and Traditions and Encounters . Note that the assigned discussion readings are especially important.
Your essay must include specific quotes from all of the assigned discussion readings as evidence to support your argument.
**Hint #4: When you quote directly from a source, you must use footnote (not endnote) citations. You must use the Chicago Style (Humanities Style) for the format of your footnote citations. You may treat all the information you have gathered from lectures as general knowledge that does not require a citation. To find information on the Chicago Style, you can look at the Chicago Manual of Style in the reference section of
Pollak Library. You may also look at Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and

Dissertations . (Turabian follows the Chicago Style format and is on course reserve at Pollak Library for my
History 490T course.) For this assignment, you will mainly be following the format for footnote citations of books. For a quick overview on the Chicago Style citation format, take a look at the following websites: http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/chicago.html#docnote http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChiNotes.html
Most word processing programs (Microsoft Word, etc.) have footnote functions. I can show you how to use this function if it is new to you.
**Hint #5: Beware of closely paraphrasing or using the words of the textbook or discussion readings without giving credit to the author. This is plagiarism and will result in a zero on the assignment. Plagiarism is stealing the words, ideas, or thoughts of another person and treating them as your own. Students sometimes plagiarize from books and web sites (by using the author’s words without quotation or attribution), but they also can plagiarize from each other. Changing a word or two in a sentence is not enough to avoid plagiarism. When in doubt, cite the source! If you have any questions about plagiarism, please see me.
Some Sample Chicago Style Footnote Citations
Footnote citation for a book with a single author:
In the body of your paper, you would write the following:
As Chris Smith has noted, “Honors 210B is the best course ever.” 1
At the bottom of that page, the following footnote reference would appear:
1. Chris Smith, Great Classes: A Survey of History Courses (New York: Routledge, 2002), 159.
Footnote citation for a book with more than one author:
1. Michael Craton and Gail Saunders, Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People (Athens: University of Georgia
Press, 1992), 24.
With no intervening reference, a second mention of the same page of the above work can be referenced like this:
2. Ibid.
The following reference is to a different page of the same work referenced immediately prior:
3. Ibid., 68.
Use this form after the first complete reference if only one work by this author is used:
2. Smith, 256.
Please do not hesitate to contact the professor if you have any questions, and good luck!