PICK ONE OF THE TOPICS BELLOW AND PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.
History 101 — Western Civilization I
Research Paper Topics
1. The Peloponnesian War was the “great war” between the principal Greek city-states, Athens
and Sparta. Describe and discuss the state of the Hellenic world at the time of the start of the
war, the war’s causes, the alliances involved, the war’s major events, and the reasons for
Athens’s loss.
2. The Roman Empire began a decline around the 4th to 5th centuries C.E. There are many
factors that historians attribute to the decline and eventual “fall” of the Western Roman
Empire. (Remember the Roman Empire was permanently divided into two halves, the Western
and Eastern Roman Empires in 395 C.E. by the emperor Theodosius.) Determine, describe, and
discuss those factors that historians believe contributed to the end of the Western Roman
Empire.
3. In the 14th century C.E., Europe found itself in crisis – socially, politically, culturally, and in
religion. The major outcome of this crisis was the Renaissance (meaning “rebirth” in French).
Discuss what the Renaissance was, some of the major reasons for its occurrence, some of its
major elements (social, artistic, politically, religious, etc.), and some major changes that
occurred in Europe as a result of it. (Note: For initial context on this topic you can refer to
Hunt, et al, Chapter 13’s section on the Renaissance.)
Research Essay Paper
3 – 4 pages on one of the above topics.
Due on December 2nd – Upload on Blackboard on SmartAssign. Have SmartAssign
review your paper and provide a hard copy of the SmartAssign Report with your paper when
you submit your paper on December 2nd
.
Essays should be typed and double spaced. Please use 12 font size. Essays should be a
minimum of 3 pages and a maximum of 4. The essay’s purpose is to expand your knowledge on
one particular area during this period of history beyond the text and lecture material. Essay
writing will also aid in your developing skills to put various thoughts together in a considered,
cogent way. Your effort here will also begin to develop your research skills which are so
important for college and beyond in your career.
Please use citations to credit the quotes and other specific references in your paper.
The citation system you use can be from MLA (Modern Language Association) or The Chicago Manual of Style. References and examples for both these citation systems can be found online
and texts for them are also available in libraries and bookstores. At the end of the paper, also
provide a bibliography of the sources used. Examples of bibliographies for academic papers are
available online or in the texts for the citation systems noted above. If you use a separate page
for your bibliography that page does not count toward your paper’s total number of pages.
One online source of writing style, grammar, and punctuation, etc., I recommend is
Purdue Owl at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ This source has excellent, understandable
explanations for writing in English. It also has explanations and references to the two citation
systems for this paper.