DEVELOPING INTERESTS IN JAPAN

ASSIGNMENT

The specific purposes of this exercise are --

• to raise your educational goals and expectations for the course to a higher level and to make them more significantly specific and educationally meaningful;
• to assess your academic skill performance level; and --
• to initiate a profitable research agenda for the semester.

CLICK ON EACH OF THE ABOVE STATEMENTS FOR FURTHER CLARIFICATION of the instructor intentions and expectations for this assignment.

STEP ONE: Expose yourself purposefully to information about Japan.

Look over the assigned readings for the course and the topics covered in the syllabus. Consider the content of the first several class sessions: How have our class discussions influenced your interest level in Things Japanese?

Follow some suggested Internet web site links. Read articles about Japan appearing in newspapers, magazines and online sources. Watch television programs featuring Japan. Talk to people with knowledge of Japan gained from personal experience or a developed interest in, for example, Japanese art or Japanese gardens or the Japanese martial arts.

STEP TWO: write a short analytical essay (NO MORE THAN 2 – 3 pages for students enrolled in both HIS 373 and HIS 573) organizing your newly-identified interests in Japan into a coherent and cohesive essay.

THE ESSAY SHOULD BE ORGANIZED AROUND A SPECIFIC THESIS STATEMENT, INCORPORATE SPECIFIC ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES DRAWN FROM THE ASSOCIATED RESOURCES UNCOVERED IN YOUR INVESTIGATIONS AND INCLUDE APPROPRIATE ANNOTATION (AND A PROPERLY PREPARED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOURCES CITED) CREDITING THE SOURCES FOR YOUR FINDINGS.

Incorporate a thesis statement in your essay’s introductory paragraph (which should appear in a bolded typeface) and a topic sentence (underlined) within each subsequent paragraph. Document each source referred to in your analysis, using an appropriate style guide (the one with which you are most comfortable and familiar) for your annotation, and include a reference to the guide you used in your appended bibliography. Be sure to include at least one book, one article and one Internet web source in your discussion, notes and bibliography.

Submit your essay for instructor evaluation no later than WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005. The essay must meet the established criteria listed as part of the assignment without exception to be deemed acceptable by the instructor.

EXPECTATIONS AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

SUBMITTED ESSAYS MUST CONTAIN EACH OF THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS USING THE APPROPRIATE FORMAT:

• a COVERSHEET: This must indicate a title (centered in the upper third of the coversheet) for your paper (something more original than Essay Assignment or Book Review); do NOT enclose this title in quotation marks . Also list on the coversheet (in the lower right hand corner) your name, the number and title of the course, the instructor's name and the submission date.
  
• a minimum of FIVE PARAGRAPHS, including -
  
  • an INTRODUCTION incorporating a THESIS STATEMENT (use bold typeface)
    
  • a series of individual PARAGRAPHS constituting the BODY of the essay, each containing a TOPIC SENTENCE (underlined)
    
  • a CONCLUSION restating the THESIS STATEMENT and the major support for it found in the BODY of the essay
    
• ANNOTATION crediting the sources of the ideas and quotations included in the essay (as FOOTNOTES, ENDNOTES or IN -TEXT NOTES)
  
• a properly prepared BIBLIOGRAPHY of sources cited in the annotation, including at least one example each of a BOOK, an ARTICLE from a periodical or journal and an INTERNET WEB SITE; include as well a bibliographic reference to the STYLE MANUAL used to provide guidance in the preparation of your essay.

  ESSAYS WHICH FAIL TO MEET THE ESTABLISHED CRITERIA WILL BE RETURNED FOR REVISION(S) UNTIL ALL HAVE BEEN SATISFIED.

  STUDENTS MUST MEET ALL THE ESTABLISHED WRITING SKILL REQUIREMENTS TO CONTINUE IN THE COURSE; FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN STUDENT'S BEING DROPPED FROM THE COURSE AT THE INSTRUCTOR'S DISCRETION.