Hi! I hope you’re doing well 🙂
So, my assignment is an essay on the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for my History of Capitalism class. The essay is supposed to have at least six sources, and three need to be scholarly. The essay needs to follow a timeline and have a focal argument centered around capitalism, the company, and their actions. It’s good to have an argument that is controversial. It cannot be very political and must focus on what the company did. We briefly touched upon British Petroleum and how the NIOC was established from then (https://www.icj-cij.org/case/16). Many things could be mentioned, such as Iran’s part in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). You can also mention that they were the first Middle Eastern country to export oil. You can also discuss how they nationalized the oil industry.
Overall, the essay must examine NIOC’s actions and make a clear AND conterversial argument around its capitalistic and economic structure by using the history of the company to back it up.
Below, you can find sample essays that my professor has posted. You can also find my essay plan which got a poor mark due to being politicaly focused.
These were my prof’s comments:
“The National Iranian Oil Company is not only a fascinating topic, but also one that has personal significance for you, judging by the comment you made in Canvas (which I’m sorry I didn’t reply to sooner!). It’s always best to write on something you really care about, even if it’s hard to bring yourself to do it. You’ve put together a plan that features lots of intellectual curiosity and urgency about investigating the topic, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you have to say. That said, the plan itself is a bit problematic, because it reads more like you’re writing a political science essay than one on business history. Even the sources themselves don’t focus much on the NIOC (aside from Mahdavi, the link to which unfortunately didn’t work for me). They also range over a century-long time period, which makes me concerned that your scope, all the way back to D’Arcy, is too ambitious for 2,500 words. To do well on the essay you’ll need to really work hard to make the NIOC the center of your attention throughout, rather than allowing the politics of the situation to shunt the company to a secondary place in the essay. GRADE: 75”
I also want to make sure that this will not be detected through turnitin. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you so so much:)
