Read the following instructions to prepare for the Critical Thinking Essay on your Final Exam. Warning: Unlike the Humanities Quizzes 1-10 and the students only have one attempt to submit their answers for the Final Exam.
Part 1: Review the following six cultural contributions that you studied this semester:
The Law Code of Hammurabi
The Illiad and Odyssey of Homer
Ancient Greek Tragedies
The Roman Colisseum
Carolingian Minuscule Script
Michelangelo’s David
Part 2: Answer the following question in relation to one of the above cultural contributions to human history:
The Question: In your own opinion, which out of the six cultural contributions has contributed to the greatest social and cultural impact on human civilization? (Make sure to back up your answer with three specific examples as explained in Part 3 of the assignment.)
Part 3: There is no required length for this essay, but you need to back up your answers/opinions by finding three specific examples from scholarly sources. These sources cannot include Wikipedia. You can use your course text, other books, videos, academic websites, and journal articles from the library. Particularly good library databases for this project are Academic Search Complete and World History in Context.
You can access them here: Library Databases. (Links to an external site.) Remember to cite your sources in your essay and create a Work Cited Page using MLA format. If you need help with MLA format contact a librarian or visit the guide on the Purdue OWL website (Links to an external site.).
It is highly recommended that you contact a librarian for help. You can do that on-campus in the Center for Learning Resources (2nd floor). From off-campus, you can contact the library here: Ask a Librarian (Links to an external site.)
Part 4: Please use Microsoft Word or another platform to write your essay assignment. Use the following “Rubric” as a guide to writing and answering the Mini Critical Thinking Essay:
Essay Format and Structure Guide for this Course
The essay guide below is one way to help you organize your information for the Mini-Essays for the Final Exam:
Structure of the Mini-Essay’s content:
• T = Theme: State your opinion
• A/B/C = Groups of facts supporting the theme (In-Text Cite your sources) • T= Conclusion that restate the theme (Your opinion)
Example of a Mini-Essay with using the Structure of the Mini-Essay content*:
• T: begin with a statement of the theme
• A: state the first fact and/or example that supports the theme (In-Text Cite your sources)
• B: state the second fact and/or example that supports the theme (In-Text Cite your sources)
• C: state the third facts and/or example that support the theme (In-Text Cite your sources)
• T: restate the theme
Example Essay Question: What is the significance of the Epic of Gilgamesh?
T: The Epic of Gilgamesh is the earliest epic poem and the first work of literature to deal explicitly with the nature of death and human mortality.
A: Gilgamesh is initially the proud and confident king of Uruk.
With the death of his best friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh realizes his own mortality. (Kirk, Ch.2, p. 18.)
B: Gilgamesh embarks on a quest for eternal life the secret of which he discovers from Utnaphishtim, the equivalent of the biblical Noah.
Utnaphishtim tells him of a magic herb with the property of making one eternally youthful; he also tells of a great flood which he survived to become immortal. (Heidel, p. 159.)
C: Gilgamesh finds the herb but a serpent eats it consigning Gilgamesh to the universal human fate of mortality. (Levi-Strauss, p. 15)
T: The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first work of literature to deal with the confrontation and meaning of death.
*Warning:
Example of a Mini-Essay Work Cited Page using the MLA format*:
Works Cited
1. Heidel, Alexander. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Old Testament Parallels. The University of Chicago Press, 1963.
2. Kirk, G.S. Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures. University of California Press, 1970.
3. Levi-Strauss, Claude. The Raw and Cooked. Trans. John and Doreen Weightman. Harper and Row, 1969.
*Attention: MLA information, samples, and guides can be found at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
