TOPIC PREFFERED: – The impact of early globalization on human populations (broadly or focus on one, or more, specific peoples). – The development of global trade (in general or focusing on one item or aspect of trade). – Disease! Science! Medicine! Or some other theme in early modern world history. – Some particular person or event you are interested in from this period. – Compare the experiences of different parts of the world during some or all of the period between 1300 and 1900. Examples: -Compare the Incan Empire with the Spanish Empire as of 1500 or compare China, the Mughal Empire, and England in 1600, or compare Russia, France, and the Bantu Peoples in 1700 or 1800. Or compare the Spanish Empire of the 1500s with the British Empire of the 1800s. Or… Assignment: Create a thoughtful and well-presented project that is, or is the the equivalent of, a 4-8 pages (1000-2000 words) paper that reflects your own historical interpretation of a topic related to the first 5 weeks of this class (world history from c. 1300- c. 1900) and makes use of historical evidence (whether from the course or outside the course). Essay: A 4-8 pages (1000-2000 words) essay. You could, but do not have to!, include images, websites, or some other form of online media to make the essay more interactive. Expectations: Your project should be clear and well-presented, reflect a topic you have put some thought and interest into, and where necessary contain strong quality writing, definitely proofread!, using appropriately cited historical evidence to support your interpretation. You have options to consider in terms of how you fulfill the assignment (including as a short essay, a web-based media project–this could be audio, visual, or both, or other form of creative assignment). Remember: If you use outside sources be sure that they are “good sources.” They should meet the following 3 criteria: 1) The creators are associated with higher education and non-profit centers or some other form of “quality control.” 2) You can identify who created the source and can check their reliability. 3) Information is credited and sourced so you can find where it is coming from and you can potentially double-check the information yourself. CITATION NOTE: You can continue to use informal citation that can appear in parentheses following your discussion of your source and look like this: (Name of author/creator, Name of source, and if it has a page number include that here or if it is from a website use
