he term-paper is to be done on a topic of your choice and must be chosen from the subject matter and time-period this class covers, meaning:
World Civilizations,
3500BCE-1600CE
.
When choosing a topic, choose something you found interesting from the lectures or from the readings that you want to learn more about. If you are interested in your topic, your paper will generally be more enjoyable to write and more enjoyable to read.
If you are having trouble picking a topic (or even if you aren’t) please consult with your TA or with me.
When choosing a topic DO NOT pick subjects that cover a long period of history, or that are too broad for such a short paper.
DO NOT do a biography of a famous person, or the rise and fall of a dynasty or empire, or the history of an important state.
Instead, you can pick one specific event in the career or history of a famous person or state, or one specific aspect of an important civilization to focus on.
For example, you cannot do a paper on the life of Cleopatra. However, you can pick one important episode from her career to write about.
The key is picking a topic that covers a relatively short period of time.
(important battles for example that were usually one-day events work well)
Also, DO NOT choose something too narrow or too ancient for which you will be unable to find sufficient information.
DO NOT compare & contrast ancient topics or compare & contrast an ancient and a modern topic.
You CANNOT use a paper you previously submitted in another class; this must be a new and original paper.
The paper is to be between 5 (full) pages and 7 (full) pages of text (NO MORE & NO LESS),
meaning between 1700 and 2350 words.
(cover page/footnotes/bibliography etc. do not count towards page/word total)
Do not use: large/small fonts, abnormal spacing, massive chapter subdivisions, outlines/numbered sequence points etc.)
Do not use extended quotes (meaning more than a few lines).
Use: double spacing, 12-point font and 1-inch margins.
Use: Times New Roman font.
For the paper you must use 4 sources (2 secondary and 2 primary):
2 Secondary Sources
This means modern, scholarly books written by a university professor. Books from the UCR campus library fulfill this requirement. You can either go to the library and find hard copies of the books you need through the library catalogue. Or, you can find Ebooks through the UCR library website.
