Primary Source Comparison Assignment, 25% For this assignment, you will use the sourcebook: Terpstra, Nicholas. Lives Uncovered: A Sourcebook of Early Modern Europe. 1st ed. London; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019. https://go.exlibris.link/18p48q3R You will pick FOUR primary sources from this book (can use the topic headings to help you narrow your focus) for your essay. Make sure you are picking four sources that are related thematically so that you can connect them! Maybe they contrast each other, add a different perspective on the same topic, or demonstrate an overall trend. Using these sources, you will write an argumentative essay about some (more specific) topic or theme that appears in your sources. You will need an additional two scholarly secondary sources to help provide more context to your argument. Getting Started Skim through the source book and pick a range of sources (about 6) based on what interests you. Read them and then, narrow down to your chosen four based on how you can connect them. You can use more than four sources if you want. Historical arguments should be based on primary sources. Your job is to interpret the sources, and based on your interpretation, make an argument about the topic. Your argument should be much more specific than the general topic. It should be something that you need to support with evidence from the sources. If someone will automatically agree with your thesis, your paper is probably more descriptive and less argumentative. Once you've narrowed down your topic more, now do some outside research! It is important to include other scholars' work in your research so that you are part of the broader scholarly community. Secondary sources are also really useful in providing more background information and support to back up your interpretation. You need to include at least two scholarly secondary sources (can be books or journal articles) in your paper. These are to help provide further background and support for your argument. HOWEVER, your argument must be based on the primary sources and your interpretation of them. Your paper will have a total of 6 sources: 4 primary sources and 2 secondary sources. Helpful Questions For Beginning Your Comparison: Things to consider for each of your primary sources: 1. What type of source is it? When was it written? 2. Generally, what does the source say about the topic? 3. Now be more specific: what stands out to you (think tone, word choice etc.) about how the author is presenting the topic? Specific examples? 4. What is the viewpoint of the author? How do you know/what appears in the source to indicate this? 5. Who is the audience of the source? How does that impact what was written? 6. How do the contents of this source overlap with the other sources? 7. How does the tone of this source overlap with the other sources? 8. How does the style and format of this source overlap with the other sources? Once you've narrowed down which sources you want to focus on, think about what you can learn about your (now more specific) idea about the topic. What do the sources agree or disagree with? What can we learn about how people approached a topic? How people organized events or recalled events? Etc. Tips for good arguments: Historical arguments need to be supported with specific evidence. Make sure that you have examples from your primary sources to back up your argumentative points! *** Having said that, do NOT rely on massive quotations!! Quotations should be six words or less and should be analyzed. Paraphrasing is better. Historical arguments also need to recognize the specific context of a source: time and place matter! We want to avoid large, sweeping generalizations. Instead, focus on the small details: how do the different writers envision something like education? Equality? Progress? What similar problems do women face in the workforce, despite different jobs? Etc. Think about connecting your sources while also adding nuance to the topic. The point is not to demonstrate that they are all the same but rather to demonstrate the small ways they differ and what that tells us about the human experience at the time. Remember: these documents have been selected! They represent opinions of a few people—they are not meant to be definitive! Your argument will change depending on which sources you pick and how you interpret them/your own perspective. The goal of the historian is not to reach a definitive conclusion about the past but rather to critically approach the documents and provide a well-supported (and therefore convincing) interpretation about the past. Requirements: Your paper will be about 4-5 pages long, double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font. You must cite with footnotes according to Chicago Manual of Style which means page numbers! See following page for how to cite sources from the sourcebook. You do not need to include a bibliography. You must include a list of your chosen four primary sources at the top of your paper or on the cover page. You must include at least two scholarly secondary sources that are related to your topic. You do NOT need to use all your sources evenly BUT your paper should not just focus on one source. Good historical arguments use multiple sources for support. Citing the sourcebook in footnotes: 1. Author Name, “Title of Excerpt," in Lives Uncovered: A Sourcebook of Early Modern Europe, edited by Nicholas Terpstra (London: University of Toronto Press, 2019), PAGE. 2. "3.6 New Food: Tomato (1692),” in Lives Uncovered, 20. a. When you don't know the author's name, leave it blank. b. The second time you cite the sourcebook you can use the shortened citation. 3. Mary Astell, “5.5. A Woman's Idea of a School for Girls (1694)," in Lives Uncovered, 62. For books and journal articles: Use the Chicago Manual of Style website: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html Please note: citation generators are often wrong. Do it yourself! Citing Books: 1. Author Name, Book Title in Italics (Place: Publishing Company, Year), PAGES. 2. Zadie Smith, Swing Time (New York: Penguin Press, 2016), 315–16. 3. Smith, Swing Time, 256. a. When you cite a book for the second time, you use a shortened citation. Citing Journal Articles: 1. Author Name, “Article Title," Journal Title in Italics volume number, issue number (Year): Pages. 2. Susan Satterfield, “Livy and the Pax Deum," Classical Philology 111, no. 2 (April 2016): 170. 3. Satterfield, “Livy and the Pax Deum,” 175. a. Again, use a shortened citation the second time you cite the source.