24 Feb Compare the Italian Renaissance with the Renaissance of the Tang and Song Dynasties of China

The final project for this course is the creation of an 8- to 10-page research paper that will incorporate both primary (historical) sources and secondary (scholarly) sources. The primary goal of History 301 is to learn more about the interactions of world cultures through thematic historical lenses that invite us to engage in comparison and contrast. You will take a closer look at this mission by focusing on a key event or time period in history during which a person, group, army, or explorer caused ideas to travel. Topic suggestions for your paper can be found in the sections below. You may use one of those directly or as inspiration for a different topic.

Prompt

For Milestone Three, you will submit your rough draft. The rough draft should include as much of the completed paper as possible. Please note that the rubric focuses on your thesis and conclusion. Ideally, your conclusion should explain how your evidence has proved your thesis. These two components are fairly important, so be sure to include them even if you are still working on your body paragraphs. All citations within the rough draft must be in Chicago-style footnotes (not endnotes) with a bibliography on the final page.

· Include an arguable thesis statement. The thesis statement should be well-phrased and set up the natural organization of the paper. The thesis statement should be included in the introduction paragraph of your paper. The thesis statement is the argument you are supporting throughout the paper with scholarly evidence.

· Place the chosen culture into a historical context through the inclusion of historical information regarding the country, religion, civilization, time period, dynasties or kingdoms, primary people involved, and any other relevant information.

· Your paper must contain comparative elements for the chosen topic, such as elements from Japan, China, India, Africa, or a combination of those AND an element (an explorer, an idea, a religion, an interaction, an empire, etc.) from Western civilization. Discussion of the comparative elements from the two regions should be throughout the paper to provide a comprehensive comparison.

· Analyze how members of your chosen topic react to ideas, institutions, and the cultural ideals during moments of historical interaction. Consider how the individuals or groups reacted to the exchange of ideas and how the interaction changed the civilization.

· You should analyze scholarly evidence to include in your paper that fully supports your thesis statement. You should include at least four primary sources and four secondary sources. Scholarly evidence can be included as specific examples, quotes, detail, events, or statistics to support the argument of the paper.

· Conclude with an analysis of the consequences of these interactions that considers how the cultural exchanges benefited both groups and are evident in the current day.

Your rough draft must be 5–6 pages in length (plus references) and must be written in Chicago-style format. Use double spacing, 12- point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Include at least four scholarly and four primary sources cited in Chicago/Turabian format for citations and bibliography. In terms of secondary resource material, ensure that the sources you use are indeed reliable. No general websites should be used. Instead, select sources that are written by historians.