Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Assignments"
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| [a] Icon RF |
History 210—Anthropology 275
Final Paper Assignment
Writing From Primary and Secondary Sources
This assignment is broken into three posts. Click below for the others:
Reading the Sources
This assignment is for a source analysis paper, not a
traditional persuasive essay. It is
meant to give you a hands-on experience in working with historical
sources. It is “artificial” in the sense
that you will not be working in an archive, but it is no less serious for
that. My best advice is for you to make
separate copies (this may cost a few dollars, but will be worth it) of each of
the readings you choose. Yes, that means
I am encouraging you to go to a copy machine (or a scanner) and make a copy of
the poem in McCullough (or the text in Lu) with which you plan to work. It also means that you should make a copy of
the fifteen-page section in Japan in Print that you have selected (these are,
of course, just examples).
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| [b] Volk RF |
When you have finished your scanning (then printing) or
your copying, you will have a bundle of texts in front of you—an artificial and
miniature archive. Now is the time to go
back through them, underlining and marking key points that will help you to
form an argument. This is different from
reading in preparation for class, when you should be trying to understand the
documents in the wider context of our class discussions. You will now be reading them to help you
construct an argument about a theme in Japanese history and culture. As you make your notes on the individual
texts (some primary, some secondary), it helps to have a blank sheet close by,
on which you can start to sketch an outline for the developing argument.
Writing the Paper
Audience, audience, audience. As you begin to write your paper, have a
clear audience in mind. Think of your
essay as a way of both arguing a point and patiently explaining the historical
and cultural themes that the texts raise.
The best way to maintain the correct perspective on audience is to
imagine a small group of Beloit College professors who know little about Japan
(imagine Steve Wright, Nancy McDowell, Tom McBride, Pablo Torals, and Linda
Sturtz). They are all very intelligent,
and know how to construct a superior argument.
They need you to teach them about Japan.
To the extent that you remember this, you will excel; to the extent that
you fall into the habit of writing just for your professor, you will err. Remember this.
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| [c] History funtime RF |
Your paper should lead the readers through the texts and
through an argument about Japanese history and culture. Let us take the following example. You choose to write a paper about women and
marriage in Japan, selecting an array of sources that includes The Pillow Book
of Sei Shonagan, The Confessions of Lady Nijo and several poems from Lu. You also choose a passage each from the books
by Hanley and Keene (secondary sources of, say, ten pages each dealing with
various issues relevant to your paper).
You read the texts carefully, and, as you begin writing your paper, you
maintain a balance between explaining the genres and cultural frameworks of
your texts and making your key point (your thesis).
The thesis remains important. Let us say that your thesis is that women had
significant room for creative social and even literary action (agency) within
the traditional patriarchal household, and that the Western “narrative” about
women’s life in Japan treats them (mistakenly) as merely passive figures—pawns
among powerful men. If you were writing
a traditional paper, you would state that clearly in the first few paragraphs
and then find texts to support your point.
It is an important skill to develop, and an ability to frame a thesis
will help in this assignment.
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| [d] Context RF |
A source analysis paper is different, though. Let us say that your thesis statement is the
same as above (women have “agency”).
Your paper will develop slightly differently as you make your argument. You will give a great deal of context from
your sources. Indeed, your sources will
figure far more richly in your paper than in most traditional persuasive
essays. You will spend time showing, for
example, how Lady Nijo’s comments on her cloistered life “work” as a narrative
form—how she proceeds in a contrapuntal manner that gives context to her
pathos.
You will break down the verbal
(and possibly even rhyme) schemes of the poems you analyze. You will, in short, open the world of the
texts to your readers as little worlds unto themselves. This kind of paper argues a context and teaches
cultural context. Your mission will be both persuasive and illustrative. You will persuade through your argument about
female “agency;” you will illustrate (and instruct) by placing your texts in an
interpretive universe that helps your readers—who don’t know Japanese culture
well—see how the argument fits Japanese culture.
This kind of paper can be a joy to write, at least once
you develop familiarity with it. It is a
necessary skill, too, because writing for audiences unfamiliar with your topic
is central to academic life. The source
analysis paper encourages you to take the persuasive essay form you learned in
junior high school and high school and give it the kind of cultural and
historical nuance that we have developed in our class discussions. You might want to think of your explanations
of how the sources “work” as a kind of “thickening” of your argument. We will discuss this in class, but the key
ideas to remember are: sources, audience, argument, and context.
This assignment is broken into three posts. Click below for the others:
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| [e] Audience + Sources + Ideas + Argument = Asia RF |
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