HIST 3380 Midterm Prep


Helpful Hints for Midterm Success

Midterm Assignment:

You have your choice of one of two projects - pick one of the topics below and complete the assignment as described.

Project Option #1: Think about the topics we covered in the first 6 weeks of class. Think about business and technology running up to 1900. For business and the economy to grow, what resources, technologies, and laws had to be in place. Write an essay of between 500 and 1000 (if you go over 1000 it is okay) words approaching this question by examining each topic we've covered and write a narrative (a history, a story) about how it all happened. There are some critical elements you need to consider - mainly you should connect the themes from topics #1 through #6 (#7 won't really fit into this narrative). You need to work in elements from each module in this essay - this is important for a successful grade. Your writing needs to be perfect, complete sentences and grammar, a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. No spelling or capitalization errors, please. When you are done, read it back to yourself to make sure it sounds good. If you are in doubt on your grammar, run it by someone at the writing center or go to Grammarly.com (free) and check it for errors, I expect college-level writing and composition. Please note, we use SafeAssign to check for plagiarism. Submission should be in the form of a Word document submitted in Blackboard.

Project Option #2: Think about the electricity reading (Topic #7) and write a reflection paper about electrification. A reflection paper is your chance to add your thoughts and analysis to what you have read and experienced. This paper is meant to illustrate your understanding of the material and how it affects your ideas about energy that you use daily; make sure you add a historic angle to your work. As with the above assignment, this paper should be between 500 and 1000 words (if you go over thats okay). Your writing needs to be perfect, complete sentences and grammar, a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. No spelling or capitalization errors, please. When you are done, read it back to yourself to make sure it sounds good. If you are in doubt on your grammar, run it by someone at the writing center or go to Grammarly.com (free) and check it for errors, I expect college-level writing and composition. Submission should be in the form of a Word document, submitted in BlackBoard.

How to approach midterm option #1: One approach would be to write a topic sentence from each module, for example: 1. North America, and later the United States has been a capitalist enterprise since Europeans first landed in Jamestown in the 1600s. As the U.S. federal government was established, it was a designed as a business friendly country with robust patent and trademark laws and leaders such as Alexander Hamilton whose philosophy was pro-business. From the beginning, innovations such as the American System of manufacture spurred industrial growth. Do the same for each of the first six modules, then start to add in some detail below each topic sentence, these will form your paragraphs for the body of your essay. When you are done with the body, you can write an introduction paragraph which will be an overview of what you are going to say, and you can write a conclusion summarizing what you said.

How to approach midterm option #2: A reflection paper is your chance to add your thoughts and analysis to what you have read and experienced. This paper is meant to illustrate your understanding of the material and how it affects your ideas about energy that you use daily; make sure you add a historic angle to your work. The best approach here is to take notes as you read the material noting what surprised you or what you can connect from the past to the present, think about the idea that your cellphone runs on coal but you rarely think about it, or consider how much you depend on electricity without thinking where it comes from. After you've finished the reading try to gather your notes and write a narrative summarizing the reading and your thoughts. Make sure the paper is organized with an intro, body, and conclusion.

 

Home





UT History 3380

Copyright © 2017 · All Rights Reserved · D. French PhD