Note: Read the whole prompt and meet all essay requirements. Fall 2021 Prompt of the Third Essay Topic: Confucianism and Islam: the Significance of Morality, Ideology, or Religion in Building Civilizations How Analyze how the moral, ideological, or religious essences in Confucianism and Islam became the centripetal forces to tie people together and build their empires respectively. 1. Understand Confucianism and Islam. There are two steps: 1) Learn from the main text in the textbook Patterns of World History; 2) Identify minimum two primary sources of Confucianism and Islam in the end of Chapter 8, 10, 12, and analyze them. • At least one primary source is related to Confucianism, and at least another primary source is related to Islam. • The primary sources must be dated and published before 950 CE. 2. Compare and contrast the main points of the two civilizations to show how they focus on human relationships (or the relationship with God), social organizations, and/or social hierarchy to consolidate their empires. You may want to focus on a certain dynasty or time period to have a more in-depth analysis. 3. Consider how Confucianism and Islam strongly affected the rise and stability of the Chinese and Islamic empires. • Include your analysis of evidence (including primary sources and discuss why these examples contributed to the cosmopolitan nature of these empires. • Show YOUR OWN interpretations in YOUR OWN word. • No analysis of the main points of the textbooks will receive the grade F. 4. Suggestion: Develop an outline with keywords (including with page numbers) before writing. You do not need to include them in the essay. An outline is only to help you with clear arguments and topic sentences. 5. Plagiarism and cheating will receive the grade 0. In addition, the case will be reported to school. Plagiarism means copying more than five words in a row (not to mention sentences) or changing a few words in any passage without giving the credit (citations). Use your own word and avoid giving many quotations. Always give citations to avoid unconscious plagiarism. 6. Shortage of correct/enough citations will receive the grade F. 7. Using unnecessary outside source will receive the grade F. 1 Deadline End of Nov 4—electronic copy on TURNITIN 1) Click on http://www.turnitin.com and submit your essay online. Turnitin ID: 31129553 Turnitin Enrollment Key: worldciv2950 2) If you have an illness or an extreme emergency that will force you to miss a deadline, email me at least 24 hours before the deadline (by the end of Dec 3). Give a written explanation and a firm deadline by which you will be able to complete the assignment. The written explanation must come with a written verification from a physician, advisor, or administer for rescheduling the deadline. You would be responsible for your missing the deadline for any reason. There is no makeup for you to obtain the full credit of the essay without prior approval from the instructor. No excuses such as having classes, having work, or not being able to upload the essay at the very last minute would be accepted if you miss the deadline. 3) Tip for successful submission: • Be sure that you obtain a receipt from Turnitin after submission. Turnitin allows you to resubmit and overwrite the old essay by the deadline. Submit a draft as early as possible to avoid the internet congestion. Rubric & Requirements 1. Length, Space, Font size, and the File: • The essay must be at least 1,200 words (there is no need to include a cover page), typed (in 12-point font size), double-spaced (with one-inch margins), proofread, numbered, and well cited. • Upload the essay in a Microsoft word format (.docx file). • A longer essay does not mean a better grade. However, failure to meet the length requirement of the essay will result in a corresponding deduction of the grade. 2. Structure and Contents • Follow the Introduction-Body-Conclusion structure. Put a thesis statement (main argument) in the end of the introduction, then support the thesis with minor arguments and evidence (examples and explanation) in the body. • Correct understanding and concise summary of the points from the textbook. • Give a topic sentence (usually a minor argument) in each paragraph, and then support it with evidence, i.e., examples and explanation. Avoid quotations. Use your own word, and always explain your points because other people’s words cannot speak for you. • Proofreading: Proofreading consists of purging your essay of clichés, colloquialisms, contractions, excessively long sentences, the passive voice, syntax errors, typos, spelling mistakes and unnecessary words, phrases, and quotations. You may look for help from the Writing Center. 2 • No plagiarism. Recycling your old essay is cheating, too. Turnitin is a powerful software to check originality. It automatically checks the similarity score of your sentences to all other sources, including other students’ essays and most writings on the Internet. If the similarity score is too high, let’s say 10%, reword your essay. 3. Documentation in the MLA Style or the Chicago Style • It is always a must to cite or document your sources in academic essays. • For example, use the “In-Text Citation” format of the MLA Style if you quote a sentence or rephrase a whole paragraph from the textbook. It looks like (Authors’ last name(s) page number(s). There is no comma between the name and page number. o Whether or not it is a direct or indirect quotation, give an in-text citation if the concept or idea is not a common knowledge and not your own opinion. If it is from my lecture, cite like (Chang 2021). Cite correctly, however. o Avoid giving and repeating the textbook’s title or textbook author’s names in the text to increase the length. There is usually no need to mention any textbook’s title. o Cite as many as you need. An essay with many proper citations (or notes) shows that you fully understand a student′s ethical responsibility. However, give your explanation and opinions on these cited passages. o No need to give the “Works Cited” page because you have only one book. But in other classes, it is a must. “A” essays fulfill all requirements very well. “B” essays are strong in most of these areas. “C” essays are weak in a couple of these areas. “D” essays are weak in several areas. “F” essays are those without analysis of primary sources or without enough in-text citations, or weak in all areas. Note: 1. After submission, be sure that you have received an email with a receipt from Turnitin to prove your successful submission; otherwise, resubmit it. 2. Plagiarism is taking someone else′s words or ideas and passing them off as your own (or creating that misleading impression among others) without giving proper credit to the source of your information. It is intellectual theft and is considered one of the most serious forms of academic dishonesty. The most common examples of plagiarism include: the shortage of proper citations of the sources in the essay; copying many passages without giving quotation marks is considered plagiarism; when you paraphrase many passages, even if you have given citations, but the paraphrased ones create misleading impression that they are your own. To avoid plagiarism, please check the section of “taking notes carefully to avoid unintentional plagiarism” in your Rules for Writers. The university-wide policy on plagiarism is found in the “Student Conduct Code,” as listed in the Student Handbook. In the most severe cases, an act of plagiarism can lead to suspension or expulsion from the university. 3
