Week 2

Writing Assignment:

There are two parts to this week’s assignment.

First, read the sample A paper and highlight the following components:

• thesis statement in yellow
• framing/historical context in red
• topic sentences in green
• evidence in blue
• analysis in purple

If highlighting is problematic for you, you can label the parts of the paper. You will peer review these in section, so bring it to class with you on Friday in addition to submitting it online.

For the writing assignment proper, write 250-300 words on the following: According to Smith’s De republica Anglorum, how does a king differ from a tyrant? Can someone who came to the throne as a tyrant ever become a good king? Can someone who came to the throne legitimately ever become a tyrant? Does it seem permissible to get rid of a tyrant?

Answers should be 250-300 words and include specific details and page numbers from the reading.

Grading:

The purpose of these assignments is to demonstrate that you've done the reading and learned something from it. You should make sure to address all parts of the question and provide specifics like names, places, context, and page numbers in your answers.

For example, if you say that someone gave a speech before a battle, I'm going to want to know who gave the speech (names), which battle it was (context), and where it was (places). I also want to know what page(s) this material is on. Although these are short writing assignments, you still want to provide details (history is all about the details).

100% - addresses all parts of the question and provides details like names, places, context, and page numbers.

90% - addresses all parts of the question, but may lack some detail -OR- provides great detail but does not answer part of the question.

80% - answer is correct, but vague, one or more parts of the question may be unanswered.

70% - answer is very vague and multiple parts of the question are unanswered.

50% - I suspect that you read the source, but your answer totally lacks detail and doesn't demonstrate that you learned anything from the reading.

0% - It's clear that you didn't read the source, or you didn't turn in a writing assignment.