Historical Era

HISTORICAL ERA ANALYSIS: INSTRUCTIONS

Assignment Description

Select two historical eras from the list below. Identify prominent philosophies during each of the two historical eras and the key tenets of those philosophies. Compare the two with each other and also analyze them in light of worldview articles from the assigned reading and studying in Modules 1 and 2.

Before writing your paper, revisit Discussion Board Forum: Educational Thinker and Historical Era and read all the posts related to both of your chosen historical eras. Also, find two journal articles, one representing each of your two historical eras. Incorporate concepts from the two articles and from the Gutek textbook and worldview articles from the assigned reading and studying for Modules 1 and 2.
Choose your two historical eras from the list below:
• Antiquity
• Medieval
• Enlightenment
• Modernity
• Progressive Era
• Social Reform

Specific Guidelines

LENGTH: This paper is to be 5 to 6 pages in length from the introductory paragraph to the conclusion, which does not count the title page, abstract, or reference pages. Per current APA, font is to be 12-point Times New Roman, and the manuscript is to be double spaced without any additional space/lines between headings and paragraphs. If Microsoft Word automatically adds extra lines, see step-by-step directions to remove extra spaces at this link.

REFERENCES: Cite at least four sources throughout the paper and list them on the reference page. Of the four sources, two of them are required to be the Gutek (2011) textbook and worldview articles from the assigned reading and studying in Modules 1 and 2. The other two must be professional articles from academic journals.

STRUCTURE: See the grading rubric; it will be used for assessing this assignment. To ensure the manuscript meets the requirements of the rubric, you are to include the elements listed below. Note the required headings are to be placed in the same order in your paper as they appear in the outline below.
1. Title Page
• Pagination: In current APA, all pages are numbered. The title page should be page 1.
• Running Head
• Title: The title should not be the name of the assignment (i.e., Historical Era Analysis). It should be a phrase drawn from the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. It should provide the reader a hint of the topic and the main idea supported throughout the paper and may be phrased in a clever, unique fashion. The first letter of all words should be capitalized except for articles (e.g. a, an, the), conjunctions (e.g., and, but), and short prepositions (e.g., of, about), unless they appear as the first word, which is always capitalized. Center your title and position it near the middle of the page or slightly above the middle. Do not use bold font anywhere on the title page.
• Other Information on Title Page:
o Student Name
o Course#
o University Name
o Date

2. Abstract: The heading of the abstract should be centered and in non-bold font.
• Place the abstract at the top of a page by itself after the title page.
• Do not indent the first line.
• The abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the paper. It should present the main idea, main supporting ideas, and main conclusion/implication. Including the main ideas and conclusions in the abstract is much more important than a simple outline of the structure or headings.
• The running head on the abstract and subsequent pages is different from the running head on the title page.

3. Introduction: Do not use the word “Introduction” as a heading for this section. Per current APA, it is optional to insert the title again as the heading above the introduction; however, no heading above the introduction is required. If you choose to insert the manuscript title here, it should be in non-bolded, centered font and should be capitalized that same way as it is on the title page.
• The purpose of the introductory paragraph is different from that of the abstract. Do not simply copy the abstract.
• In this section, introduce your thesis statement that will be developed throughout the paper. It is the main idea you are presenting. All other ideas will serve to support the thesis statement.
• It is best to place the thesis statement at the end of the introduction. It is typically one or two sentences that serve as a transition into the rest of the paper. Some writers choose to place it as the first sentence of the introduction. Either option is acceptable as long as the introduction is well written and has a logical progression of thought.

4. First Historical Era: Centered in bold with all major words capitalized, enter the first Level 1 heading. The wording of this heading should be your first chosen historical era (e.g., antiquity, medieval, etc.). In a paragraph or two, summarize the key philosophical trends, tenets, ideas, and one or two educational thinkers as examples.

5. Second Historical Era: The heading for this section is also a Level 1 heading, which means that—just like the previous heading—it should be centered in bold with all major words capitalized. In a paragraph or two, summarize the key philosophical trends, tenets, ideas, and one or two educational thinkers as examples.

6. Comparison: This third Level 1 heading should be centered in bold and may simply be the word “comparison” as shown below:
Comparison
You are welcome to replace the word “comparison” in this heading with another phrase that conveys the key observation you are making in your comparison. This might be similar to the title of your paper and also drawn from the thesis.

7. Biblical Worldview Analysis: This fourth Level 1 heading should be formatted the same as the previous ones. It is in this section that the two historical eras and their corresponding predominant philosophies will be analyzed through the lens of concepts from the worldview articles from the assigned reading and studying in Modules 1 and 2. As with the comparison, you are welcome simply to use the words “Biblical Worldview Analysis” or you may replace those words in the heading with a phrase that reflects your key observation in your analysis.

8. Conclusion: Use the same Level 1 formatting as you have done with your other headings above and simply enter the word “Conclusion” in centered, bolded font. Although your conclusion should include concepts from the thesis statement in the introduction and should have some alignment with the title of the paper, you should not simply restate the thesis statement. Wrap up the paper by emphasizing your main idea and draw a clear conclusion. Typically, a good conclusion does not introduce new information. The conclusion is where you are to discuss implications about what you have already shared and relate ideas to current educational issues.

9. References: Starting at the top of the next page after the end of the manuscript, center in regular font (not in bold) the heading below:
References
• Double space everything throughout your paper, including the reference page. Do not insert additional extra lines/spaces.
• Using a hanging indent, which means that the first line of every reference is left-justified with all other lines of the reference indented.
• Per current APA, you may cite the Bible in the body of the manuscript, but it is never to be listed on the reference page.

Miscellaneous Tips

First Person Pronouns: Per the current APA manual, first person pronouns are permitted. However, they should rarely be used and are intended only for conveying an incident about your life story (e.g., “I was born into poverty”) or explaining the actions you took as a researcher (e.g., “I conducted focus groups with participants.”) A good writer makes strong declarative statements in third-person plural (e.g., teachers, parents, leaders, etc.) in terms of “ought” and “should” rather than overusing redundant statements such as “I believe,” “I think that,” “to me,” “for me,” etc. Almost always, sentences are strengthened by simply omitting references to self.
It is considered poor writing to refer to yourself in third person (e.g., “this author”). It also may confuse the reader because there are typically multiple authors being discussed within a manuscript.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: Pronouns must agree in number with their antecedents. It is incorrect to write, “Each teacher [singular] should manage their [plural] own classroom.”

Gender Pronouns: It is considered sexist if you repeatedly use singular antecedents and follow them up with masculine pronouns. For example, “Each teacher should manage his own classroom.” It is also problematic if you redundantly use “he or she” and “his or her.” (Please don’t use “he/she” or “his/her.”) It is recommended that you write in third-person plurals as consistently as possible. For instance, use “students,” “principals,” “teachers,” “parents,” “schools,” etc., instead of their singular counterparts. Follow these antecedents up with “they” or “their.” This avoids the gender issue altogether. When you find that you must use a singular noun, you may periodically use “he or she” or simply restructure the sentence to avoid the “he or she” if possible.

Academic Integrity: This paper will be evaluated for originality via a plagiarism detection service, which reports to the professor the degree to which your paper is similar to other works. The following tips will help you avoid issues with plagiarism:
• Direct Quotes: No more than 10% of your paper should be made up of direct quotes. Therefore, do more summarizing and paraphrasing than quoting. Short quotes should be in quotation marks and longer quotes of 40-words or more should be indented. If you do not set off direct quotes in this manner and/or do not cite them, it is plagiarism.
• Ideas and Facts: If the idea or fact is not your own, you must cite its source. When not directly quoting, summarize or analyze the idea in your own words.