Write a historical (as distinct from archaeological, cultural, or religious, though there can be some overlap); must deal with material within the timeframe covered by the course (Early Dynastic-18th Dynasty); and should not include comparison to history from another place.

Assignment Question

Your paper must be historical (as distinct from archaeological, cultural, or religious, though there can be some overlap); must deal with material within the timeframe covered by the course (Early Dynastic-18th Dynasty); and should not include comparison to history from another place. The topic of your paper should be framed in the form of a question that your research is designed to answer. It is important to identify a topic that is not too broad, for which there is sufficient textual information from ancient Egypt. In identifying a topic, it may be helpful to begin by posing questions that you find interesting or identifying areas discussed in class or in the texts that you found ambiguous or unconvincing. You are strongly encouraged to speak to me about potential topics before developing your proposal and bibliography; identifying focused topics is one of the most difficult tasks facing the student of the ancient world and I am more than happy to help you narrow your interests into a feasible question-oriented topic. You must use original sources in your research (translations of Egyptian texts into any modern language you can read) as well as secondary sources. You want to have a balance of the two. While you are encouraged to identify topics in part based on the general readings for the course, you must go substantially beyond these general works in amassing a bibliography; the amount of relevant bibliography will vary by topic, but it will normally include at least 8-10 sources, of which the majority will be not general works but in some way more specifically related to your topic. The Online Egyptological Bibliography is an excellent resource for finding sources (though not links to them), and you should make use of the professor and graduate students in the class, too. Your research should be thorough enough that you have looked at many if not most of the most relevant and recent discussions related to your topic – be warned that you need to exercise foresight in tracking down sources, because things will be checked out of the library. Use ILL, use JSTOR, etc, and feel free to use my office as a library as well. Failure to consult an important source because it is checked out of the Rock is an insufficient excuse. Your paper should be approximately 2500-3000 words long for undergraduates or 4000-5000 words long for graduate students, for whom the expectation of originality is also higher. You must include proper citations. You may use either the notes and bibliography style or the author-date style of citations, provided you are consistent and thorough. The Chicago Manual of Style has a very helpful quick guide online.