Europe in the 16th & 17th Centuries

Assignment
You will need to pick a topic that you will research with both primary and secondary sources. The paper will be due in stages, the first one being an annotated bibliography & outline, which will be due on Tuesday 7 October at class time. The first draft of your paper is due on Wednesday 15 October, and will be returned to you the following day (unless catastrophe strikes!). If you are happy with the grade you receive on your first draft, you may choose not to do a final draft. If, however, you would like to improve your grade, the final draft is due on Tuesday 21 October. Your paper needs to be 2,000 words minimum, and should be typed, double-spaced, and in 12 pt. font.

Paper Topics
Each person will need to select their own paper topic. You will, however, find it helpful to discuss your documents and topic with other students.

Sources
You will need a minimum of five primary sources and five secondary sources for your bibliography. Sufficient primary source documents for this paper can be found at the Internet History Sourcebooks, or through links provided there. If you would like to find different, or additional, sources however, you are welcome to do so. For your secondary sources you may use one reading from class and one website (of an appropriately high academic level). The remaining sources must be traditional, non-encyclopedic sources (books or journal articles) with the exception of The Catholic Encyclopedia, which may be used as one source. If you have questions on what sources to use, be sure to ask BEFORE your bibliography is due.

Annotated Bibliography & Outline
An annotated bibliography is one that provides not only the title and publishing information for a work, but also has notes on the relevance of the item to your research. Following a bibliographic entry you should have a paragraph, 4-5 sentences in length (indented, single-spaced), that indicates why this document, book, article, website, etc. is useful for your paper. You can also indicate any weaknesses you find in it. Once you have analyzed your sources it will be easier for you to outline the paper you plan to write, giving the main points of your argument and the supporting evidence you intend to use. Your outline should be 1 page in length. Combined the Annotated Bibliography & Outline will be worth 15% of your course grade.

Grading Criteria
You will be graded on the following ten criteria on your completed paper…

• Balance of Research (between primary and secondary materials)
  
• Bibliography (form & required number of sources)
  
• Clarity of Argument
  
• Grammar/Sentence Structure
  
• Objectivity
  
• Organization & Presentation of Materials
  
• Originality
  
• Understanding (do you show that you have understood what you are discussing)
  
• Thoroughness (without excess…have you considered as many types of history as you can - political, social, economic, cultural/intellectual)
  
• Improvement (on the final draft)

Grading of the Annotated Bibliography & Outline will follow similar guidelines. Your Outline need not be written in complete sentences, but the other elements relating to presentation and clarity are important in any written work you turn in.

Use of Primary Sources
The use of primary sources is critical in historical study. Though reading secondary material is helpful in sifting through a large topic or event, reading original documents of the time or written by the person you are studying will further your understanding of the issues at hand. It is important that you learn to interpret the history for yourselves, instead of merely reading what another historian has determined to be of importance. You may include charts/graphs/photos/art/maps/etc. but they must be for substance, not decoration. This means, if an image helps you to argue a point, it will help your grade…if an image merely illustrates a point, it will hurt your grade (Example: A student writing on the Reformation includes a photo of John Knox to show what he looks like - BAD. Same photo used to prove your argument about the type of leader Knox was - GOOD.) In some cases you may wish to use a painting or other image as a primary document…if you would like to do this, or if you have other questions about the use of images, be sure to ask. Also, if you have difficulty finding or understanding your primary sources, be very sure to ask!

When analyzing your primary documents, consider the following questions…

• Who wrote it?
  
• When was it written?
  
• Why was it written?
  
• Before reading the document, do you think there will be any particular bias in the writing of it? If so, why? If not, why not?
  
• Are there any sections of the document that you find particularly confusing? Why? What can you do to get these areas clarified in your own mind?
  
• How will you be able incorporate this document into your paper?

Footnotes or Endnotes
You may use either footnotes or endnotes in writing your completed paper, whichever you prefer. For all referencing, however, you must adhere to standard guidelines…see the handout provided for proper referencing form, and ask if you have any questions.

Plagiarism
According to The Compass, "Plagiarism is the act of taking the work of another and presenting it as one's own, without acknowledgement of the original source. ...It is always the responsibility of the student to provide precise sources for all ideas, information, or data he or she has borrowed or adapted. Simply listing sources in a bibliography is not sufficient. Students who use information from the World Wide Web are expected to follow these same guidelines for the citation of sources."