Write a 15-page, primary-source essay on a topic that has some relation to the environmental history of Mars. Remember: environmental history explores the reciprocal relationships between humanity and the non-human universe through time. The following paper will give you an accessible primer on the field:
J. R. McNeill, “Observations on the Nature and Culture of Environmental History,” History and Theory, 42 (2003), 5-43.
This essay assignment consists of three steps, each of which will help you craft the best paper you can.
Annotated Bibliography:
Find a primary source that will help you compose an argument relevant to your topic. For a guide to reading primary sources, click here. Your interpretation of your primary source, and your investigation of the history it allows you to examine, should be supported by secondary sources: that is, scholarship written about your topic. Be sure to place your argument in a historiographical and scientific context (that means, in the context of arguments made by scientists and other historians)!
Now, plan out your essay in an annotated bibliography. In your first page, list and provide a description of your primary source. Then, give me a hypothesis that will structure your approach to your primary source. Explain how you hope to answer this hypothesis using your source.
List your secondary sources on the following pages. These sources should cover an issue relevant to the hypothesis you have presented. They should be written after 1960, unless I approve of an older source. You should use no fewer than seven books, with one book equal to two articles (in other words, you can use four books and six articles). Each secondary source citation should be accompanied by a short paragraph clearly stating its argument, the strengths and weaknesses of that argument, and how it compares to the positions taken in your other secondary sources. You should also describe how your secondary sources might frame your investigation of the primary source you selected.
Contact me at least one week before the due date to confirm your topic with me. I am happy to offer suggestions for where you might look for primary sources.
Rough Draft:
Once you I grade your annotated bibliography and offer my suggestions, you will start working on a rough draft of your paper. Your rough draft should represent your very best work, though of course it will not be the final iteration of your paper.
On the day you submit your rough draft, you will give a short (5-minute) presentation about your paper. Most likely presentations will take up more than one class. Your peers will have a chance to ask you questions about your presentation. I encourage but do not require you to compose a PowerPoint presentation.
Final Draft:
After I return your rough draft with my grade and comments, you will have a chance to revise the draft in light of my suggestions, and your own ideas about what you could improve. Even if you received an A on your rough draft, you will need to make some revisions, because nobody’s first draft is ever perfect. If you do not make any revisions, you will receive a much lower grade on the final product.
When you submit your final draft, include a brief (no more than one page) summary of the revisions you made. If you disagreed with a recommendation and therefore did not follow it, use your summary to explain your reasoning. If your explanation makes sense to me, your grade will not suffer.
J. R. McNeill, “Observations on the Nature and Culture of Environmental History,” History and Theory, 42 (2003), 5-43.
This essay assignment consists of three steps, each of which will help you craft the best paper you can.
Annotated Bibliography:
Find a primary source that will help you compose an argument relevant to your topic. For a guide to reading primary sources, click here. Your interpretation of your primary source, and your investigation of the history it allows you to examine, should be supported by secondary sources: that is, scholarship written about your topic. Be sure to place your argument in a historiographical and scientific context (that means, in the context of arguments made by scientists and other historians)!
Now, plan out your essay in an annotated bibliography. In your first page, list and provide a description of your primary source. Then, give me a hypothesis that will structure your approach to your primary source. Explain how you hope to answer this hypothesis using your source.
List your secondary sources on the following pages. These sources should cover an issue relevant to the hypothesis you have presented. They should be written after 1960, unless I approve of an older source. You should use no fewer than seven books, with one book equal to two articles (in other words, you can use four books and six articles). Each secondary source citation should be accompanied by a short paragraph clearly stating its argument, the strengths and weaknesses of that argument, and how it compares to the positions taken in your other secondary sources. You should also describe how your secondary sources might frame your investigation of the primary source you selected.
Contact me at least one week before the due date to confirm your topic with me. I am happy to offer suggestions for where you might look for primary sources.
Rough Draft:
Once you I grade your annotated bibliography and offer my suggestions, you will start working on a rough draft of your paper. Your rough draft should represent your very best work, though of course it will not be the final iteration of your paper.
On the day you submit your rough draft, you will give a short (5-minute) presentation about your paper. Most likely presentations will take up more than one class. Your peers will have a chance to ask you questions about your presentation. I encourage but do not require you to compose a PowerPoint presentation.
Final Draft:
After I return your rough draft with my grade and comments, you will have a chance to revise the draft in light of my suggestions, and your own ideas about what you could improve. Even if you received an A on your rough draft, you will need to make some revisions, because nobody’s first draft is ever perfect. If you do not make any revisions, you will receive a much lower grade on the final product.
When you submit your final draft, include a brief (no more than one page) summary of the revisions you made. If you disagreed with a recommendation and therefore did not follow it, use your summary to explain your reasoning. If your explanation makes sense to me, your grade will not suffer.