From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Confucius and the World—Final Paper Assignment (Spring 2015)

On this date on Round and Square's History 

[a] No Analect Alike RF
Confucius and the World
HIST 150
Spring 2015

Final Assignment:
Confucius's Analysis
This is an open-ended assignment designed to let you tailor your study of the Analects to a question that matters to you. Having spent a semester reading five translations of the Analects, as well as several other books about them, you have learned a great deal. The exam on May 1 will cover the range of our course materials, so you are free in this assignment to write about any aspect of the Analects you wish.


Get started right away. Please pay attention to the following issues.

1. First, think of a question that interests you (these might include "how can the Analects speak to challenges in today's world?," "how does the structure of the Analects affect the way we read it?," or "how does our interpretation of the Analects change when we examine it through the lens of sociology, history, economics, or even the natural sciences?" These are only examples. Think of your own question—one that actually interests you.
[a] Selection RF

2. Second, frame your question into a thesis statement. Write it out (and be prepared to be asked about it on a quiz and even the final examination.

3. Draft a "lead" (think of the openings you read in the New York Review of Books), and make sure that your thesis statement is clearly stated in it (the "lead" can be as long or short as you like (just as you have seen in the NYRB).

4. Outline the rest of your paper, and then start writing.

5. The paper must be at least 3,000 words long, and contain at least some of the "deepening" or "thickening" of analysis that we discussed in class.

Voilà you will have something that should (in the spirit of liberal arts education) be both an analysis of Confucius's Analects as well as a reflection on the role of education in your own life. This assignment is meant to tie together your studies and your thinking about the theme I have often mentioned in class—education should always engage the question "How should I lead my life?"

Essays are due (as a .pdf file—please note!)
by 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6.

Add the word count to all papers!
[c] Paths to Interpretation RF
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)