Assignment Overview
For this assignment, you will compose a ten-page research paper on a great thinker chosen from the attached list. There are three components to this assignment. The first is that you will write about the major thought, idea, or system of belief for which the great thinker was known. Secondly, you will write about two or three ways in which the teachings of the great thinker influenced history. Thirdly, you will provide a thoughtful analysis of at least one idea touted by the great thinker. You will need to research and properly document eight to ten scholarly sources using the MLA standard for citation. In addition to writing the paper, you will be learning and implementing a way to organize your research and writing. You will receive two grades for this assignment: one for the final paper and one for the research and writing prep work.
Research Component Research is an important skill for college students to learn and implement. When done well, research will help strengthen an argument, prove a point, verify facts, and explain with first-hand knowledge. At its most basic level, research is studying the works of experts in any given field. For instance, if I want to research heart surgery, I will locate experts in the field of cardiology and read what they say about the heart. In reading their works, which may consist of published studies, medical journal articles or medical books, or informative medical websites or blogs, I am presuming and appealing to their expert knowledge and skill in an area I know little or nothing about. In short, I’m reading and studying their work in order to learn. For your research paper, you will be appealing to the expert knowledge of a great thinker. You will research articles and/or books that were either written by the great thinker (we call this a primary source) or by someone who studied the great thinker (we call this a secondary source). For example, let’s say you are studying