DONT ADD ANY SOURCES USE THE SOURCES IN THE PAPER ATTACHED OTHERWISE SHE WILL NOW I USED SOMETHING ELSE TO WRITE IT.
These assignments are due together (in a single file/document) on Brightspace on Tues., Mar. 19, at 11:59 pm CT. Upload the assignment as a Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF using the assignment submission link in this folder/content area. The statement of paper topic should be the first page in the document. Make sure your name is on the first page. The bibliography should start at the top of a new page (insert a page break before the beginning of the bibliography). All pages should be numbered. Everything should be typed, single-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font with one-inch margins on all sides. Skip a line between paragraphs in the statement of paper topic; see below for additional instructions about spacing in the bibliography.
Make sure that you have watched the video on formatting the statement of paper topic and bibliography (located in this folder/content area) and that you consult the sample/model statement of paper topic and bibliography (also in this folder/content area) as you work.
The grade for this assignment will be based on how well the statement of paper topic demonstrates a clear and well thought out plan for the paper, the quality of the sources you have identified, and the technical quality/accuracy of your bibliography entries/formatting. You can see the grading rubric here.
Statement of Paper Topic
Write a short statement (350–500 words) describing your research topic and plan for the paper as you now envision it. The statement’s purpose is to a) help you clarify your thinking about the paper and b) help me interpret your bibliography. The statement should address the following questions:
Topic/question/parameters. What research question(s) will you address? Where will you focus geographically (e.g., a certain city, a specific region, a specific kingdom or kingdoms)? When will you focus temporally (are you looking at something that happened in a particular year, a certain decade, or a change that happened over the course of a century or two)? Explain/justify the parameters you’ve set. Why have you picked that region and that period? Why does it make sense to frame the question the way you have? Remember that your topic must be related to the crises of the late Middle Ages/their impact on the history or culture of late medieval Europe/the Mediterranean region. For help, see the video on choosing a paper topic and starting your research and the page with recommended primary and secondary sources on different topics.
Primary sources. What primary sources will you use? Why have you chosen those sources (i.e., explain your thinking about the sources—why you think that these are the best primary sources to use to answer the questions you’re asking)? Remember that these must be medieval primary sources that are available in an academic/scholarly translation or edition. For help, see the video on finding medieval primary sources, and the page with recommended primary source collections, including some that are available as eBooks through the MSU library.
Secondary sources. Which historians have done or are doing the most important work on your topic? What are the foundational secondary works (monographs, journal articles, and/or scholarly essays written by historians) that everyone working on this topic seems to cite and/or respond to? Which recent historians (in publications from the last decade or so) do you think are doing the most exciting and interesting work on your topic (or on topics similar to yours)? For help, see the videos on finding different types of secondary sources here, here, and here.
Potential problems. Are there any potential problems that may affect your project? For instance, have you not yet been able to confirm that relevant primary sources are available in modern English translation? Have you had trouble obtaining published editions of the relevant primary sources? Have you run into challenges tracking down appropriate scholarly sources on this topic? Have you had trouble obtaining sources through Interlibrary Loan (instructions here)? Be sure to explain how you have tried to address/work around these issues so far and ideas you have for addressing any potential problems moving forward.
Bibliography
Prepare a bibliography of appropriate primary and secondary sources for your paper. See below for instructions about what to include. Separate the bibliography into two sections (one for primary sources and one for secondary sources). The bibliography entry for each source must be complete and formatted according to Chicago Notes-Bibliography Style. For help, see the sample bibliography, video on formatting the bibliography, videos on creating bibliography entries for different types of sources, and the Turabian handout on using Chicago Style.
FORMATTING
Your bibliography should be typed, single-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font.
Leave one blank line between bibliography entries.
The first line of each entry should be flush with the left margin; indent each subsequent line half an inch (see the sample bibliography and video for examples). You will need to adjust your indentation settings to do this.
Within each section, arrange entries in alphabetical order by the first word of the entry (typically, a person’s last name). For some medieval primary sources, the first word of the entry may sometimes be a person’s first name, a group of people, or the first word of a title (ignore the articles A, An, and The in titles and alphabetize by the next word). For medieval and non-English author names, see the instructions in this folder/content area.
If you are citing more than one work by the same individual, arrange those entries alphabetically by title; after the first entry, replace the author’s name with six hyphens or a 3-em dash (see the sample bibliography). See Turabian, pp. 156–57, for instructions for arranging entries in the bibliography and using 3-em dashes.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Your bibliography must include at least two (2) primary sources. Please note that this is a minimum number of primary sources; depending on your topic, you may need more than two primary sources to write a strong paper. If your primary sources are very short (only a few pages in length), you should have more than two primary sources. Your primary sources need to be substantial, available in a scholarly translation/edition in a language that you read, and accessible to you this semester. The quality/relevance of these sources is one of the factors that contributes to your grade on this assignment.
The bibliography entry for each source must be complete and formatted according to Chicago Style. If you are using a primary source that you are accessing in an edited collection of primary sources (which many of you will be), it is very important that you cite the specific primary source from that collection that you will use. Watch the video on citing primary sources in edited collections for help with this.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Your bibliography must also include at least six (6) academic/scholarly secondary sources (monographs, journal articles, and/or scholarly essays from edited volumes). By including a work in your bibliography, part of what you are telling me is that this is one of the best/most important works on your topic that you have been able to find; the quality/relevance of these works is one of the factors that contributes to your grade on this assignment.
Each bibliography entry must be complete and formatted according to Chicago Style. Watch the videos on citing books (monographs), books with editors or translators, journal articles, and essays in edited volumes for help with this.
