First short assignment, due Friday,
September 7 at the start of class
Read the Charter of Carolina
(1665), and write a paper in which you:
In offering your analysis, you
should try to apply as many of the concepts we have relied on in class as you
can. In making your comparison, you should consider those concepts as well,
though you may raise any points of comparison you feel helps make the contrasts
and similarities between the two documents clear. When comparing the two
documents, you should not feel you should conclude one document is better than
the other. Your comparison should concern itself, instead, with what the
documents have in common and what differentiates one from the other. As this
suggests, you should discuss whether, when all is said and done, you feel the
documents are mostly the same, or mostly different from one another, and be
prepared to explain why you reach that conclusion.
In both your analysis and
comparison you should support your points with examples. Do not say, for
example, “The Charter of Massachusetts Bay gave children rights” without
offering an example or two from the text to support that novel claim. Likewise,
in offering a comparison, it is not enough to say, “The two charters have much
in common, especially with regard to their treatment of English law” without
explaining what that treatment was and referring to the parts of the charters
that support your claim.
Your paper should be roughly 5-7
pages long (typed, double spaced). A paper that is less than five pages long is
presumptively too short, a paper that is more than 9 pages long is
presumptively too long. Your grade will be based on the quality of your
analysis and comparison, and on the quality of your writing. While it is true
that this is not an English class, a well organized, well written paper that
presents a logical argument in a persuasive fashion will do better than a
poorly written, poorly reasoned, or otherwise sloppy paper.