Each student will be
required to submit a term paper toward the end of the semester. The final draft
will be due on the last Wednesday of regular classes, prior to the beginning of
final exams. No term papers will be accepted after Reading Day.
In researching and writing this paper, one should remember that
the purpose of term papers is twofold. First, this work develops an
understanding of how historians and other social scientists do research. The
project consists in observing reality and then attempting to reconstruct it in
a meaningful way. In this case, most students will observe reality in secondary
books which they will read. However, in some cases, students may be able to use
primary resources, too; e.g., if one studies a litterateur, then that writer's
stories, essays or epics are primary resources. Reconstructing reality, in this case,
will consist in writing the paper. Your description of what you observed will
be a reconstruction created by you for your reader.
The second purpose of
doing a term paper is to enable the student to develop an in-depth view of one
aspect of the Renaissance, in order to better understand the meaning of that
phenomenon as a whole.
The text of the term
paper should begin with a clear statement of the author's thesis, or the
purpose of the term paper.The thesis will be an assertion that involves some kind
of causal or historical explanation of the student's topic or subject. For example,
'Masaccio represented the epitome of humanist painting because he borrowed classical
techniques of shading, used classical models, and focused on human concerns.' Most
of the body of the text should demonstrate and explicate that thesis. The term paper
must be an essay in the sense that the author provides an analysis or interpretation
of the selected topic.
The writing of the term
paper will follow the proper form described in Kate L. Turabian's
A Manual For Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Sixth
Edition, or later. All papers will contain a table of contents, endnotes or
footnotes (footnotes are preferred), a bibliography, and a title page,
following the standard rules contained in Turabian's
manual. All pages must be properly paginated. Turabian's
manual will also serve as the standard for all questions of writing form; e.g.,
punctuation, abbreviation, sections and subsections of the text, pagination,
and headings. Endnotes or footnotes must be used to document all quotations and
all borrowed ideas, including facts and interpretations that are not common
knowledge. Unless you are an international authority on the subject, assume
that every paragraph, except the introductory and concluding ones, will require
at least one footnote. Failure to observe this rule represents plagiarism;
that is, unlawful, academic theft. However, ideas found in course textbooks are
considered public or general knowledge, unless the subject of the paper is
textbooks.
Students expecting to earn an
A or B on this project would be well advised to submit a prospectus and first draft copy
of the document during the course of their work. The prospectus should be submitted
very early in the semester and should include a clear title, thesis statement and rough
outline. The first draft should be submitted by the end of the first week of November.
The final draft will be due on the last Wednesday of classes (the deadline
day will end at 5:00 P.M.). All materials may be submitted by electronic means
but electronic submissions must be in the same proper form. Failure to meet the
deadline will result in a letter grade reduction for each day that the material
is late.