The final draft of your project essay should be about ten pages (3000 words) in length, typed and double-spaced. It should build upon the work you have been doing all term. Begin with a clearly articulated thesis: a point or an idea you intend your essay to support, demonstrate, or prove. Then, synthesize your research, assess its significance, submit it to your own critical analysis, and draw specific conclusions.
Demonstrate your attention to contemporary developments in your project area by checking news resources and the Islamic Middle East Course Blog.
Your topic should include work in primary as well as secondary sources. Professor Patrick Rael of Bowdoin College has provided a useful guide to working with and evaluating primary sources. Click here to read it: How to Read a Primary Source. (You may wish to review his material on how to use secondary sources, too.) The expectation is that you will use at least six sources (a mix of encyclopedias, books, articles, and other sources).
Examples of primary sources for this paper might include the following:
1. Essays, articles, books, diaries, or journals written by the people you are studying.
2. The Qur'an, Hadith, passages from Muslim philosophers, scientists, or other writers.
3. Poetry and literature.
4. Examples from the media in the countries or regions you are covering.
5. First-hand interviews with people who are involved with the phenomena you are studying (Muslim women who wear the veil, for example).
6. Treaties, legislative bills, U.N. Resolutions, and the like.
Remember that your sources (as indicated in your footnotes and bibliography), beyond merely demonstrating that you care about academic honesty, also provide a gauge with which to assess the authority of your thesis and your arguments and examples in support of that thesis. Make your research base as deep and broad as possible containing expert, peer reviewed sources published by institutions that carry weight in the field. Remember that you may NOT cite Wikipedia as a source.
Deadlines: The final draft of the paper in your Project is due no later than the beginning of class December 12, 2008.
Please note:
1. Essays that do not include Footnotes and a Bibliography are not acceptable and will receive a failing grade (no higher than fifty points). Consult Jane E. Aaron, The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers for help with proper formatting in accordance with the Chicago Manual Documentation Style (pp. 118-125), or at this page. Note that academic dishonesty (p. 77 in the School Handbook; see also The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers) counts as a violation of the Major School Rule prohibiting dishonesty. Please review these references prior to submitting your work.
2. Failure to hand in a printed copy of your final paper means an Honors level grade (B or above) will not be possible.
3. Give your paper an interesting and engaging title.
Planning Advice: Plan ahead. Allow enough time to ensure that you can meet the deadline if things go wrong. Sensible planning includes in the case of work done on the computer keeping a storage device on hand and using it so that work is still capable of being printed on other equipment and turned in on time even if your own computer "crashes" or your own printer fails you. Play it safe: back your work up to the Virtual Desktop and to a storage disk on a regular basis throughout the entire time you are working (every five minutes is a good rule of thumb), not just when you have finished. Make sure you have a reliable printer available and an equally reliable backup printer.
Thank you.