Questions:

1) What has been the greatest lasting impact of the European Enlightenment on the

world?

2) How did science most greatly change the European order between 1700 and 1950?

3) What social movement has had the most significant role in producing the modern

European social hierarchy?

4) Which individual most greatly changed the western cultural landscape between 1500

and 1850?

Term Paper Guidelines:

Your term paper is an opportunity to convince the reader that you understand a

topic, and have a well informed opinion (answer) on the question. A good writer will

consider well in advance of the assignment due date what question they would like to

answer and start working on the project with plenty of time to consider the ramifications

of their research. You will, of course, have to choose one of the four open ended

questions provided above. You may continue working on the question from your

prospectus, or you may change questions if you so choose. You do not need to

complete another prospectus assignment if you change questions. Your research

should lead you to your answer (thesis), not the other way around. When you have

chosen your question, completed your research, and come to a conclusion, you are

ready to start writing your paper.

Question - Answer one of these four broad questions. In your introduction, you will need

to define terms such as “impact,” “effective,” and “effect.” By doing so, you have the

opportunity to consider a wide swath of possibly related topics of interest to you. You will

need to find an appropriate place early in your paper to explicitly ask your research

question and define those terms. Somewhere in the introduction is generally a good

place. Remember, your question must be one of the ones above, not a similar question.

Research - Good research will lead you to your answer. For this term paper, you are

required to use three (3) scholarly sources and one (1) primary source. These sources

will be secondary sources (monographs, peer reviewed articles, or other scholarly

works by historians), and will also include one (1) primary source (written by someone in

the period with first hand knowledge of the event). If you have questions regarding what

is a scholarly source, or a primary source, please see the instructor. Using non-scholarly

sources will be detrimental to your final grade.

Thesis - Answer your question with a strong thesis statement. A good thesis is concise,

and is a direct, definitive answer to your question. [e.g. Why is reading important?

Readingʼs import comes from leading people to consider the world around them through

increased awareness.]

Presentation - You have 3000 words to present your answer. This word count leads to

about a 10 page paper using normal margins and fonts. Believe it or not, thats not a lot

of space. You should have an introduction, a thesis, cited evidence (using MLA or

Chicago formatted notes) that supports your argument, a section that deals with

potential challenges to your argument, a rebuttal that demonstrates that your answer is

the better of the two, and a conclusion that reminds the reader what you have told them.

It is important to use the full length of your paper. Papers that are too long or too short

will be graded accordingly.