Compose a research report about the finest course for students studying the humanities.The purpose of this second Core Humanities paper assignment is to challenge you to analyze closely what you have read and to think critically about its meaning. All papers should be based on a concise thesis statement stated clearly in the first paragraph, which is subsequently argued with concrete and specific examples from the text. All quotations must be contextualized and analyzed. Your conclusion should both recapitulate and expand on your ideas.
Papers must be a minimum of 900 words and may be no longer than 1200 words. This word count excludes spaces, the title, the works cited page, your name, and anything that is not the body of your paper itself. Falling short of 900 words or exceeding 1200 words will result in a penalty. Papers are due via TurnItIn on WebCampus the day before spring break on March 22 at 11:59 PM. Papers will lose two-thirds of a letter grade for each 24-hour period they are late (i.e. for a paper submitted at 8:10 PM on March 23, a B+ grade would be reduced to a B-).
Write your essay responding to one of the following four prompts. Remember that your essay MUST have a thesis that you prove, use quotes (but somewhat sparingly), and be between 900 and 1200 well-crafted words. You should select one of following prompts for your essay.
1. Over 85,000 Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban took control of their homeland in 2021. These Afghan refugees cannot go back to Afghanistan, and the US government has allowed certain Afghans to stay in the United States indefinitely.
During the French Revolution when French Jews were extended citizenship and granted equality, Berr Isaac Berr argued in broad terms for the assimilation of the Jewish community within French society. Applying Berr’s arguments from the excerpt we read, what suggestions would he give to these Afghan refugees in the United States today? What evidence from Berr’s text supports your argument?
[Note: Although this question references more recent world events with the influx of Afghan asylum seekers and refugees to the United States, your focus must be on Berr Isaac Berr’s text. Your goal is to apply Berr’s advice from centuries ago to a more modern situation with refugees grappling with assimilation in modern American society.]
Berr, Isaac Berr. “Letter of a Citizen to His Fellow Jews.” Trials of Modernity: Europe in the World, edited by Stacy Burton and Dennis Dworkin, 5th Edition, Pearson, 2016, pp. 172-175.
PAPER GUIDELINES
In writing your paper, pay close attention to the following. Failure to do so will be penalized.
• Double space your paper, and include a strong title. All papers should have titles that grab the attention of the reader or, at the very least, give an indication of what the paper is about.
• Avoid the Internet and external research. The idea of this paper is for you to reflect on and/or apply the readings. In CH, we are interested in how you think and interact with these texts. It is not appropriate to cite Wikipedia or other online sources for your interpretation. Citing external sources will hurt your grade. Worse than that, however, is using external sources and not citing them, thus claiming them as your own thoughts. This will be penalized as academic dishonesty through a process involving the Office of Student Conduct. Referring to other people’s past papers is prohibited.
• Do not cite, quote, or otherwise use the italicized source introductions in your textbook. These brief editors’ introductions are to help you understand the source, but since this paper assignment focuses on close reading, you should not use the editor’s introduction.
• Avoid including too much historical or other context in your essay—even if it’s information from lecture. Rather than the birth and death dates of an author or the career path of a thinker, we need you to focus on the text and your own textual analysis. This is a humanities class that focuses on texts and close reading rather than history class that requires rich contextual analysis. Historical content is extraneous material that will be penalized in the grading criteria.
• No Block/Long Quotations. You may not use long or block quotations in your papers. These are very short papers, and we want to hear what you think, not read the words of the authors we’ve already read! As a rule of thumb, you should not quote more than one sentence at a time from an author, and every single quote you incorporate must be analyzed sufficiently. However, you MUST use quotations from the text as evidence, and shorter quotes—occasionally using phrases or parts of sentences—is often advisable. You’ve got to walk a fine line here: failure to back up your argument with quotes means you haven’t sufficiently proven your point, but using long quotes means we don’t get enough of your voice and analysis in the paper. Often, at least one robust and well-explained quote per paragraph can be enough. You should also feel free to quote parts of sentences or phrases in lieu of whole sentences from the author you are analyzing.
• Occasionally, we all make grammatical and spelling mistakes. However, there is no excuse for spelling the names of the writers that we have read incorrectly or misspelling your discussion leader’s name! You MUST closely proofread your paper before submitting it. Spell and grammar check are recommended as well; nothing sours a grader’s mood more than constant spelling errors that could easily be avoided!
• Many of us use tools and technology like Grammarly to find synonyms or phrasing to make our writing sound more academic. This can be problematic, however, if you use words that you do not actually know and cannot actually define. You may inadvertently use a word with the wrong connotation. Therefore, if you cannot define a word on your own, do not use it in this essay. If your discussion leader asks you for a definition of a word you used and you cannot define it, points may be deducted. Only use words, phrases, and style that you understand.
• Each paper must have a concise thesis statement in the first paragraph. A thesis statement responds directly to the prompt and advances an argument. Good thesis statements do not restate the prompt; this recycles the prompt’s words and ideas as your own. All theses must be robust arguments. If you have questions or just want another pair of eyes on your thesis, run your thesis by your discussion leader. Making sure your thesis is viable and strong is often the key to a good paper.
• For our CH 202 class, we will be using parenthetical in-text citation rather than footnotes. Quotations and borrowed ideas must be cited in the following form roughly based on MLA style: In The Prince, Machiavelli argues that rulers must have “a reputation for compassion rather than for cruelty” in order to maintain their power (Machiavelli 9). [Periods follow the parenthesis; the editors’ names are not in the citation.]
• Proper In-Text Citations in This Particular Paper: For the sources you should use in writing this paper, appropriate sample in-text citations are:
(Berr 174)
Last Completed Projects
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