teaching with writing
Sequenced
Assignments
Ann
Waltner
History 3464 (EAS 3464): Early Modern China
Requirements
There is
no midterm in this course. Rather, there will be a variety of writing
assignments due throughout the course. The assignments fall into two
categories: informal and formal. Informal writing assignments may be
written by hand (typing is greatly appreciated, but not required). At
several points during the quarter, you will be asked to post your informal
assignment electronically on the class listserv. I will collect and comment
briefly on the informal assignments. If you do the assignment thoughtfully
you will get full credit for it. If it is late or carelessly done, you
will not get full credit. The formal assignments must be typed, and you
should be attentive to spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. The informal
assignments and their due dates are as follows. The assignments are listed
on the syllabus on the day that they are due.
April
3: paragraph on "The Pearl Shirt Reencountered"
April 10:
map
April 15: timeline
April 17: paragraph on Zheng He. Group I post
paragraphs on listserv, Groups II and III may turn them in on paper.
May 1: paragraph on
paper topic for paper on Traditional Chinese Stories
May 6: paragraph on museum trip
May 8: paragraph on Huang (for those
not writing papers on Huang). Group II post paragraphs on listserv,
Groups I and III may turn them in on paper.
May 15: paragraph on Spence (for those not writing
papers on Spence). Group III post paragraphs on listserv, Groups
I and II may turn them in on paper.
May 27: (in class) paragraph on Bell library trip
June 3: Post one
discussion question on the listserv to guide our discussion of
Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century.
Keep copies
of your informal assignments: you may be asked to refer to them when you
write your final exam.
There
are two formal assignments: A 5-7 page
essay on either 1587: A Year of No Significance or Death
of Woman Wang. Your essay should address some of the following issues:
- What
is the central point of the book?
- What are the techniques that the
author uses to convey his central point?
- What level of society is
the author talking about?
- What kinds of sources does the author
use in writing the book?
- Are you persuaded of the validity of the
author's point of view?
- Given the same sources that the author had
available to him, how might you have constructed a different
argument?
- Find reviews of the books that appeared in scholarly journals
shortly after their publication. What do you think of the criticisms
scholars made of the books? Use any standard footnoting format in
citing the reviews.
If you choose to write on Huang's 1587, the paper will be due
May 6. If you choose to write on Spence's Woman Wang, the
paper will be due May 15. If you would like to turn in either
paper earlier than the due date, you may.
A 5-7 page
paper on some aspect of the short stories in Traditional
Chinese Stories.
We will
regard these stories as an archive of information on social attitudes
in the late Ming dynasty. You should keep careful notes on these stories
as you read them. I will distribute charts that you may use to keep
notes on—if you find some other way of taking notes to be more convenient,
that's fine. You should start thinking fairly early on about what you
want to write your paper on. You will be asked to turn in a paragraph
on the topic you wish to pursue on May 1. The week of May 20 we will
discuss drafts of the papers, which will be due on June 5.
Extraordinary
Sessions
We will
take a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2400 Third Ave South,
870-3086) on April 29. The museum visit should not require much more time
than the scheduled class time, but in the event that you cannot attend
that session, you will need to attend the museum on your own. On May 6
you will turn in a paragraph on an object in the museum made in China
during the time period of this course. The Museum is open 10-5 Tuesday,
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; 10-9 on Thursday; 12-5 on Sunday, and
is closed on Monday. Admission is free.
During the eighth week of class, we will go to the Bell library (located
on the top floor of the Wilson library) and look at books about China
produced during the time period of this course. We will also look at some
Ming books that our library owns. You will be asked to write a paragraph
about what you saw in class on May 27.
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