Guidelines for the second assessment (35% of your final grade)

DOCUMENT-BASED HER-STORY PROJECT (GUIDELINES)

Pick an historic document on women’s status between the French Revolution and the 1980s. The document might be a pamphlet, a book chapter, or the text of a speech undertaking some discussion of the role of women in society. Read it and write an analysis of about 1000 words including the following:

 Summarize the document, describe the context and try to answer the following questions:

• For whom (what audience) was the document written?
• What is the purpose of the document?
• What was the author’s message or argument?
• What was he/she trying to get across?
• Is the message explicit, or are there implicit messages as well?
• What can a careful reading of the text tell you?
• What can the author’s choice of words tell you?
• What does the author choose NOT to talk about?
• Is the source prescriptive–telling you what people thought should happen–or descriptive–telling you what people thought did happen
• Does it describe ideology and/or behavior?
• Does it tell you about the beliefs/actions of the elite, or of “ordinary” people? From whose perspective?
• Which are the historical questions that you could answer using this source?
• What are the limitations of this type of source?

You might not be able to address each and every one of these questions in your essay so you should be selective.

Describe the author’s assumptions about the role of women as well as the assumptions the author makes about the views of the rest of the world on the topic. Back up your thesis with quotations from the original document. How has the situation you just described changed over the years?

Be very specific and support your arguments with relevant evidence. Use academic sources and cite them properly. You will need to have at least five sources that are credible.

Include a bibliography and use a consistent citation style. Be sure to be academic and analytical.

Re-sit and mitigating circumstances papers will be based on the same guidelines on a different topic.

Evaluation rubric

Grade range	A  (65 and over UK points)	B (50-64 UK points)	C (40-49 UK points)	F (0-39 UK points)
Academic quality, thought and attention to detail	The project is insightful and thought provoking. A main idea is clearly established with the use of carefully chosen arguments. The supporting details are specific and interesting. The work is of excellent quality and all requirements of the assignment have been met or exceeded.	The project is meaningful and interesting. A main idea is established with the use of appropriate arguments. The supporting details are specific and appropriate. The work is very good. All requirements of the assignment have clearly been met.	The project is appropriate but limited. A main idea is suggested with the use of acceptable claims. The supporting details tend to be general and common. The work is rather average and basic. Most requirements of the assignment have been met, but there is room for further development of the ideas.	The project is underdeveloped. A main idea may be lacking. The supporting details or elements seem haphazard; they do not effectively develop or relate to the main idea. The work is not passable. Few requirements of the assignment have been met to the standard expected.
Relevance to the topic	Arguments are highly relevant to the topic. They indicate that the readings were fully comprehended.	Arguments are related to the content. Useful contributions to the topic. Readings were completed.	Arguments are only partially relevant to the topic, at least passable. Suggested reading assignments were glanced over but not carefully read.	Arguments give minimal indication that the reading assignments were completed. The arguments are not relevant to the topic or  to the content of the paper.
Writing style, language, mechanics	The writing style is interesting and fluent. The selection and use of words and sentence structures is very efficient. The assignment has been carefully organized. There are only trivial mechanical or stylistic errors and omissions.	The writing style is fluent. The selection and use of words and sentence structures is mostly efficient. The assignment has been clearly organized. There are few mechanical or stylistic errors and omissions.	The writing style is acceptable. The selection and use of words and sentence structures is only intermittently efficient. The organisation is standard. There are many mechanical and/or stylistic errors and omissions. The paper needs improvement.	The writing style is awkward. The selection and use of words and sentence structures is mostly ineffective. The organization of the assignment is erratic. There are frequent mechanical and/or stylistic errors and omissions.