Place your name (Last, First), date, CRN, word count, and title of your reflection on the top left of the page. Your
typed write-ups should be approximately 1000-1250 words in length, 1.5 line-spaced, normal margins, typed, in
12pt font. Cite your source by using Chicago-style Footnotes.1 The Chicago Manual of Style can be found at
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
The top of your essay should look like the example below between the two lines:
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Hernandez, Hugo
18 March 2020
CRN: xxxxx
1234 Words
Title: Keeping Women Invisible by Design: The Model Agrarian Pyramid and Gender Power
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Essay: Choose One of the Following Two Essay Prompts
Worth One Hundred (100) Points
Prompt 1: The first three chapters of Frameworks build up a conceptual model of early human societies. The
model consists of networks, hierarchies, and cultural frames and screens. Taking the diagram of the Agrarian
Pyramid as a summary hypothesis of types of hierarchies in a state-level agrarian society, test one of the
hypotheses presented against evidence from at least two of the primary sources you have read so far this
semester. Compose an argumentative essay with introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion
demonstrating how the reading supports or challenges the model of hierarchy hypothesized in the agrarian
pyramid. Be sure to identify the aspect of the model you are testing, the primary source readings you are
using to test the model, include a thesis statement, and provide evidence from the sources to support your
thesis. Better essays will make references to specific examples from multiple primary sources. A few comments on writing style:
o Proofread, proofread, proofread!
o Citations – Open quotation mark, word, punctuation, close quotation mark, footnote reference number.
o Clear & Concise – Aim for clarity and conciseness. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01/
o Editorializing – Avoid describing what you are going to do. Just do it.
o Epistemology – Avoid words like “feel” or “believe” in your history writing and use words like opine
or posit. Beliefs and feelings are not an appropriate basis for arriving at historical conclusions. Go
through your paper and revise.
o God v. god – Pronoun v. noun. The word god is capitalized only when referring to the Christian god since
that is its name.
o Introductions – Introduce the text to your reader the first time you reference it. Article title and author if
known. After the first introduction of the author, use his or her last name to refer to him or her.
o LQ – Avoid long quotes in short writing assignments.
o Naming Conventions – East Asian convention is to put the family name before the given name, i.e. last
name then first name, whereas in the U.S. given names are listed before family names.
o Past Tense – When writing about the past, use the past tense.
o Personalizing – Avoid personalizing statements with “I,” “we,” “our,” or “your” in your history writing.
Since your work is the product of your thoughts, use of “I” is redundant. Often, the sentence works
without this phrasing.
o Presentism – uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past
events in terms of modern values and concepts.
o Q & A – Avoid asking questions in short writing assignments. Answer them.
o Secondary v. primary source – Base your conclusions on the primary source material itself rather than on
the secondary source editorial contextualizing the document.
o Text Titles – Italicize text titles of complete works of art and literature. Go through your paper and
revise.
