Student work

Below are examples from current students. These represents some of the most effective paper proposals, blogs, and pieces of writing from this semester. Please review for more instruction.

 

Example of strong response to blog assignment one (CHIS 201):

Since the progression of man, tremendous growth has been made among the human race. It is evident that the development of man and his environment has come a long way. The first humans emerged from Africa, more specifically Tanzania and overtime began to spread into other parts throughout the country, like Mesopotamia, Babylon, Egypt, Nubia, and so on. In the Old Stone Age (2 million-10,000 BCE), humans were starting to piece together ways of survival—hunting animals/gathering crops and produce, making tools from stone for various tasks, and migrating to different areas as animals moved and the environments changed. In the Mesolithic Age (10,000-7,000 BCE), humans discovered that they could use fishing as a method of obtaining food but began to wonder what was to follow this since they weren’t at a point where they could stay in one place yet. As the New Stone Age (7,000-5,000 BCE) comes along, people begin to understand how to manipulate the land by farming, which leads to the agricultural revolution, a period when humans began to practice pastoralism and the slash and burn method, develop better tools, and utilize the Fertile Crescent in Iraq. These changes enabled the humans to become sedentary. People started to develop relationships with their possessions, generating the idea that wealth was associated with the amount of things that they had.  This awareness led to the concept of status and hierarchy. At this time, civilizations really begin to emerge as people are building communities, developing chains of command, establishing forms of religion, introducing concepts of law and order within cultures, finding ways to communicate and express themselves, being under a king or pharaoh’s power, and expanding or invading other communities.

From over two million years ago to today’s society, it has been seen in numerous ways how far the cultures evolved and changed from the Old Stone Age to now. By looking at the advancement of civilization, it is obvious that humans back in their earliest existence had the ability or the competence to build their culture from the ground up. They had to learn as the days went by and their environment or surroundings changed and adapt, making changes wherever they felt it was needed. It was in these early days of civilization that the ideas of value, status, division, competition, and so many more were started. Everything that was done in those first days in Africa laid the foundation for all that society consists of today. All of the changes, on all spectrums, led to the complex mixture of the world we have come to understand.

 

An example of a strong paper proposal:
Victorian Fashion: Bounded Oppression of Women
There has never been a time that women’s fashion reached such elaborate, painful, and dangerous extents than that of the Victorian Era. Women became art rather than human beings, trophies that moved and spoke that were easily punished by the very things they sought to qualify them as beautiful. I intend to address in this paper the origins of the garments worn by women during this time period. I believe that the trend came at the hands of men who designed the garments, aiming to not only control their women mentally but alter them physically. I intend to find how these extremities were hazardous logically and also dangerous to women physically. From my research thus far I’ve resolved that the restrictive nature of Victorian fashion was medically unsound and at times a major health risk. The heavy nature of the garments weighing down on the women straining muscles, also the compression of her waist makes it difficult for the female body to perform its necessary functions like menstruation. These garments caused difficulty in breathing and child bearing, yet women forced themselves into them. Something as seemingly innocent as fashion proving to be one of the rising causes for health issues in women. If women in today’s society were to practice tight-lacing, torturing themselves in pursuit of a wasp waist, we would consider them extreme dangers, and assumed suicidal due to the obvious health risk. I plan on investigating how exactly women fell into submission to Victorian fashion. Especially since they were aware and most experienced the risks. I intend to unveil the mystique of Victorian Fashion and understand how this trend in fashion didn’t lose its popularity for 100 years. Victorian fashion, the implied tradition it brought into families and the social pressure was strong enough to keep women aesthetically oppressed for a century.

Blog three: American Imperialism

For a nation to become imperialistic, one has to practice nationalism, understanding what it means to be of a country, industrialism, developing large scale, effective technology, and imperialism, conquering other lands. America in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s did in fact become an imperialistic country. America was not the first empire to partake in such practices but however was a major player in the imperialism game. According to the documents and documentary, America was an imperialistic nation because it displayed every aspect of imperialism.
America mastered the rules of imperialism. In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was implemented to stop other European countries from colonization of the western world and insured that America would stay out of foreign affairs. It was not until 1898, when America was hit with the imperialism bug. While citizens were satisfied on the home front, America was conjuring up a plan to expand its power. According to the documentary “Savage Acts” Spain and America were at war over Cuba and when Spanish forces surrendered, America conquered Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. Americans then exploited these people at Fairs and massacred hundreds of foreigners on their own land. In the document “America’s Big Stick”, it shows just how imperialistic America was during this moment. The president at the time was Theodore Roosevelt and in 1901, he was speaking about amending the Monroe Doctrine in order for America to become imperialistic. This was the first step in America’s journey to imperialism, which was recognizing that the people were devoted to the country and having all the necessary weaponry and technology available to seek and conquer other places. The document titled “A Pen Warmed-Up in Hell” gives details on how maliciously and barbarically America acted and treated other nations while attempting to defeat and conquer them. As I have noticed throughout the imperialistic period, all nations used their power against the fearing country. This is a definite characteristic of imperialism. When in the Philippines, American soldiers maimed and mutilated countless Moros and boasted about such accomplishments. This brutal way of defeat was the normal tactics America used to overpower a weaker nation.
Ultimately America was an imperialistic nation in every sense of the word. Nationalism, industrialism, and imperialism were all present when America decided to expand its borders. America manipulated each country it conquered with a “big stick” and eventually reaching its goal as an imperialistic nation.

Blog two: Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of both prosperity and hardship. More jobs became available and that is always good but at the same time the wages were lowered and the work became less and less desirable. During this time period, there were many paintings created to describe the life and times of a worker during the 18th century Industrial Era, which took place in Great Britain. One painting in particular, gives us some insight as to hie a workers day would go everyday and after viewing it, one can see that the workers were used like machines and their entire day was spent working or little pat amongst crowds of people.
In this painting, you see hundreds of men standing around a small group of elevated factory owners. The owners have a sign above their heads that reads “8 Hours Work, 8 Hours Rest, 8 Hours Recreation”. There are so many workers that they can barely move around and the business owners know that they are desperate for work so they could basically tell them to do whatever they want. The point of the sign is to tell the workers how their days would be everyday. All 24 hours are planned out and I feel that they are basically saying “This is how it is going to be and if you don’t like it, you can leave because there are fifty other men waiting to replace you.”
The issue of the Industrial Era in Britain that this painting is addressing is the over crowdedness of the cities and factories and the desperation that these workers, had to work with. People were willing to work for hours on end with countless other people for very little pay. As I said before, the Industrial Revolution was a time of prosperity and hardship. It was a time of prosperity for the business owners because they had a surplus of workers, meaning they could pay them whatever they wanted, ultimately making more money for themselves. But at the same time, it was a time of hardships for the families who had to work for hours to barely make ends meat, sacrificing time with their loved ones. Since death and disease were spreading rapidly at this time, any time they had to spend together was precious time.