Honors History Specifics

For World History I Honors, a student must generate a paper each semester of at least five pages, properly researched in MLA format. The paper is due at the start of exam week, giving the student plenty of time to pace her research and seek my advice and input.

First Semester

For the first semester paper, a student must select a topic about the material culture of an ancient society that flourished before the time of Christ. Note, however, that this need not be a Western or Near Eastern civilization! I encourage Honors students to research ancient Africa, China, the Maya, etc.

By material culture, I mean topics such as technology, agriculture, diet. For instance, a student may research medicine in ancient China, the use of horses in ancient Anatolia, ball games in ancient Mesoamerica, toilets and plumbing in Rome, painting techniques of Nubia, etc.

This is purely an informative research paper and requires no thesis statement. I do expect a concluding paragraph that contrasts the ancient culture they studied with modern Central Texas in regards to that topic.

Second Semester

For the second semester paper, a student must select a general topic of cultural value and research its practice in an ancient culture (it can be the same culture from the first semester paper). Then, the student will research what Socrates and Jesus had to say on the topic.

By topic of cultural value, I mean things such as family structure, government, class structure, warfare, magic, marriage, etc. For instance, a student may research marriage in ancient Greece, folk magic in Rome, warfare of the ancient Celts, ancient Mayan monarchy, etc. These topics are about the culture’s attitude toward that topic, not merely practice. If a culture made girls marry at age 13 but looked down on men who married before age 30, what does this say about their values? The student will furnish a hypothesis and build a theory by researching the topic.

For Socrates, there are numerous sources available. A student need not read all of Plato’s works, but can search them for specific topics. Once again, I am available to advise on this research. For Christ, there is of course Scripture, but the student must restrict themselves primarily to the Gospels. Of course, Christ is God, and all Scripture was breathed by God (logic students, finish out that syllogism). But I want students to dig into the specific words of Christ during His public ministry.

This paper will require a thesis paragraph that both asserts the approach of the culture in question to the topic, and then what the student surmises about the positions of Socrates and Christ.