Mountains
History 150
Autumn 2024
Autumn 2024
Final Assignment
A Mountain of Analysis
The Assignment
Now that you have chosen "your mountain" and spent the better part of the term getting to know it (so to speak), your task for the final assignment is to bring all of the readings you have done thus far, as well as your growing skills in interdisciplinary analysis to the task of writing an introduction to your mountain in the form of a review essay. What this really amounts to is a combination of all of the work that you have done to this point, combining our readings, which should give you a sense of geological, historical, ethnographic, and environmental issues to go with your Friday "lab" studies of your particular mountain.
In other words, I am not asking for a sizable amount of "outside" reading. What I want is for you to think about your mountain in terms of our syllabus readings, and then write a review essay-style piece helping your reader to think about that particular mountain through the lens of our studies. Think about this assignment as the next step in a three-part process that starts with the letter assignment, moves to your midterm essay about "your mountain," and then concludes with your final assignment in December.
I strongly encourage you to think about this assignment in terms of various sections that might make it easier for you to write (we can discuss what these might be, but they will reflect our readings). The most important reminder is that this is an essay about your mountain and our readings. We will discuss this point, as well as further essay ideas, as the course proceeds.
Due as a .pdf file sent no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 12 (the end of finals week).
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| [b] Text to Temple RF |
I strongly encourage you to think about this assignment in terms of various sections that might make it easier for you to write (we can discuss what these might be, but they will reflect our readings). The most important reminder is that this is an essay about your mountain and our readings. We will discuss this point, as well as further essay ideas, as the course proceeds.
Due as a .pdf file sent no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 12 (the end of finals week).
Please note that this deadline is very serious. Beloit professors only have forty-eight hours to have all grades in after finals week.
Reading the Sources
This assignment is for an analysis of what you have learned about "your mountain," and the full range of our readings. It is not a traditional persuasive essay ("why my mountain is the best, for example). Your task is to introduce it to readers as a way of thinking about history, ethnography, geology, and the environment.
Writing the Paper
Audience, audience, audience. As you begin to write your paper, have a clear audience in mind. In this case, you should imagine the larger faculty and student body of Beloit College—in other words, people who are interested in ideas and unafraid of detail.
Reading the Sources
This assignment is for an analysis of what you have learned about "your mountain," and the full range of our readings. It is not a traditional persuasive essay ("why my mountain is the best, for example). Your task is to introduce it to readers as a way of thinking about history, ethnography, geology, and the environment.
Writing the Paper
Audience, audience, audience. As you begin to write your paper, have a clear audience in mind. In this case, you should imagine the larger faculty and student body of Beloit College—in other words, people who are interested in ideas and unafraid of detail.
Page Length
This should have been a project you have been working on all semester. Knowing a bit about actual human activity, I am aware that this is often not the case. 3,000 words (about ten pages) is about right. There is no upper limit, although (let's just imagine that you cannot pull yourself away from your mountain) I urge you to think about your other classes. Most everyone worries about the lower end. 2,000 words (about six pages) is barely adequate for a quite mediocre grade. 2,500 words is better, but the reason why we have been talking about the final assignment since the first day of class is so that there can be a solid description and analysis of your mountain. Do your best.
This should have been a project you have been working on all semester. Knowing a bit about actual human activity, I am aware that this is often not the case. 3,000 words (about ten pages) is about right. There is no upper limit, although (let's just imagine that you cannot pull yourself away from your mountain) I urge you to think about your other classes. Most everyone worries about the lower end. 2,000 words (about six pages) is barely adequate for a quite mediocre grade. 2,500 words is better, but the reason why we have been talking about the final assignment since the first day of class is so that there can be a solid description and analysis of your mountain. Do your best.
AI
Don't. If you wish to work through ideas in the early stages of thinking, fine, but do not use Chat GPT or other tools (I use the term with mild contempt) to write. As I have said repeatedly in class, it will (1) make all sorts of sloppy writing errors that my writing guide notes (I have seen this repeatedly) and (2) I reserve the right to check it out; if you have used AI to write your paper, you will fail the assignment. The only way that you will create the kind of work success down the road that we've discussed is to learn to write (on your own).
Don't wait too long to start writing. You could choose your sources and approach right now, and then finish a first draft a week before the paper is due. Don't delay!
Don't wait too long to start writing. You could choose your sources and approach right now, and then finish a first draft a week before the paper is due. Don't delay!
(Please send me a .pdf copy of your final assignment)
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