Course Project: Advancements in the Humanities

OBJECTIVES

Back to TopThis course will take you through huge chunks of human history from the Paleolithic era through the Vietnam War and into our postmodern world. In Week 7, you will be asked to deliver a five- to seven-page research paper on any subject within the humanities of your choosing, providing you have cleared it with your professor. Your research paper will require a minimum of three sources and a maximum of five sources. You must document your research scrupulously—both in text and in a reference page as specified by the APA style sheet. Scrupulous documentation plus high originality, analysis, insight, and fresh applications of ideas are highly prized. Mere reporting, describing, and finding others’ ideas are discouraged, and copying and pasting is just wrong. Your paper is to be 70–80% original and 20–30% resourced (documented via turnitin.com).

GUIDELINES

Back to TopYour final grade includes points accumulated for your

• outline/proposal;
• discussions;
• an annotated bibliography;
• a Final Paper; and
• a Final Exam.

The following are guidelines to assist you in completing the course successfully.

Guidelines for Discussions: Please do not merely cut, paste, and attribute in the discussions. For every idea you paraphrase or language you quote, you must have at least two lines of your own original analysis, evaluation, or personal connection. Learning the humanities is not about finding information, but it is about engaging originally and authentically with what you are reading.

Guidelines for the Outline/Proposal: An outline is a convenience to help you tack down the topics you hope to cover in a Final Paper, and a proposal is the extended and full description of your project (as best you know it at the time of writing). Understand that you are making a best effort to describe your project early on, but allow yourself to be open to growth and change as you conduct research and focus your intentions.

Following the annotations, you will be ready to plan your paper. An outline (one and one half pages) and a proposal (two to three pages) of your intended project are due. Quality proposals and outlines will not merely describe or find information but will have a strong and original point of view. The highest points are conferred for originality, the locating and detailing of controversies, and for nuanced papers that sensitively explore topics with deft subtlety.This is due Week 2.