HIS 135 Current Events Paper

HIS 135 Assignment 8
Current Events Paper

A huge controversy--Believe me when I say that the French are really good at having a brouhaha over anything that is perceived to be violating the tenets of "French" culture--ensued when this glass pyramid (1 of 3) was erected as the entrance to the Louvre Museum in 1989 (designed by I. M. Pei), a controversy that you could follow in the current events press then; now just a part of history. That's why we pay attention to current events in this course; they are tomorrow's history.

Louvre

Students are required to follow the events in one country of the world throughout their enrollment in this course; it is easiest to do this "online" instead of reading the daily newspaper, but you can certainly do that too. (There are a number of library databases, such as Proquest, that you can use to find relevant articles for this assignment. As a starting point for research, check the Loudoun campus library.) Sometimes, it is preferable that you choose to focus on a particular issue in one country, e.g., such as the Kurd minority in Iraq instead of just "Iraq." You can choose a country from any area of the world except North America. In week 1 of the course, when you submit your introduction, you should also send your country/topic to your instructor for approval.

You may choose to listen to some short remarks by your instructor about the current events assignment as a mp3 file. You can also read the instructions as a txt file.

Do NOT wait until the last minute to undertake this assignment.

Directions: By week 13 of the course, you are expected to submit a two page (500-750 words) summary of the news that has affected the country that you have been studying. Your paper should have a short introduction in which you identify the two-three main issues that your paper will examine and explain in greater detail. This is an assignment that requires historical analysis of current events. (The current events paper cannot be submitted before week 9; maybe it can if you ask me first.) In order to cite specific information or use direct quotations, students should use parenthesis, such as (USA Today, 7 May 1997) or (www.washingtonpost.com, 7 May 2005). There should be many such citations, from different sources, in the body of the paper. These citations can be to website sources.

Please note that an excellent resource for finding information and articles about your topic is the Proquest database, which you can access from home.

Go to the Loudoun campus library web page
Click on Magazines
Click on Proquest Direct
When you receive the login prompt, use your Blackboard userid/password to access Proquest --I think that your novaconnect userid/password will also work--You can print out articles that you find, or you can email them to your email account.

For this assignment, some students have used Google Alerts to have articles that appear in online daily newspapers for a topic emailed to them. Whenever that topic appears in the news it is mailed to your email. Click on the News Alerts link at news.google.com.

Please consult Charlie's History Writing Center for specific information on the writing requirements of this course.

The assignment should be sent by e-mail following the general directions for Using Email. You may also wish to take part in the Blackboard online discussion of this assignment. The current events paper is worth a maximum of 100 points.

Since the current events paper may be the last assignment that you submit in the course, please take a moment to fill out a special web-based, course evaluation.