Fall 2018: Medieval Saints and Sinners Timeline Assignment

Historical periodization papers & their features

(final paper, 40 pts divided across 2 drafts & a final)

The last 4 weeks of the semester are focused on using the timeline to make historical argument about change and continuity. Historians have defined the Middle Ages not as a single 1000-year period but as several chunks of time (early, central, high). Now it's your turn. You'll use your timeline--and your classmates' timelines--to decide how to divide the Middle Ages into meaningful periods, identify what makes those periods internally consistent and what breaks in historical trends mean breaks between periods. (Also you can give the different periods fun names.)

Week 13: a bullet point outline with full-sentence thesis statements for each section, 5 pts
Week 14: a combo outline/word-barf draft of at least 1500 words, 10 pts
Finals week: a final paper, 30 pts

At minimum, a periodization paper should have a clearly labeled division of periods, and each labeled period should be:

tied together by trends that shape the relationship between periods
guided by a clear argument statement that explains the individual trends that define that period and why that definition is historically accurate.
illustrated with specific examples and accompanying citations from sources, along with a clear summary in your own words of how that example illustrates the trend under discussion in that period
careful to assess the perspective of each source's author, with a specific example drawn from that text that illustrates your assessment.
Readable and clear prose. Read the essay out loud to yourself. If you can't understand it, I probably won't either.

Grading is based on how many trends you use to illustrate historical change (period breaks) and continuity (internal consistency within a period), how many sources you use to illustrate those trends, how much outside scholarly information you bring to bear on those trends, and how much you put into discussing this synthesis of historical change and source material.

C	2 trends illustrated by 2 examples from 2 primary sources drawn from class readings in each period. ~2500 words.
C+	2 trends illustrated by 3 examples from 2 primary sources drawn from class readings in each period. ~2750 words.
B	2 trends, 1 of which has at least 1 tie to another timeline outside of your main topic, and illustrated by 3 examples from 3 primary sources in each time period. ~3000 words.
B+	2 trends, 1 of which has at least 1 tie to another timeline outside of your main topic, and illustrated by 3 examples from 3 primary sources in each time period, 1 of which is from outside of class. ~3250 words.
A-	3 trends and illustrated by 4 examples from 3 primary sources in each time period, 1 of which is from outside of class. ~3500 words.
A	3 trends, 1 of which has at least 1 tie to another timeline outside of your main topic, illustrated by 4 examples from 4 primary sources in each time period, 1 of which is from outside of class and 1 of which is supported by a related secondary source that provides another scholar's understanding of periodization ~3750 words.
A+	3 trends, 1 of which has at least 1 tie to another timeline outside of your main topic, illustrated by 4 examples from 4 primary sources in each time period, 1 of which is from outside of class and 1 of which is supported by a related secondary source that provides another scholar's understanding of periodization. ~4000 words.