Unity and Division in World War I

Pick two of our major course themes from the list and use them to answer the question below:

• The Economy
• Politics and Government
• Inequality
• Foreign Relations

Was the period we covered during Unit 2—from around 1914 (the beginning of World War I) to around 1959 (the end of the 1950s)—characterized primarily by unity or division? Be sure to explain how we see both unity and division in this period while making your own argument about which force (unity or division) was the dominant one. How do Zinn and Johnson address this issue, and whose argument do you find more convincing?

Your essay should draw from lecture, the Zinn/Johnson readings, and primary source documents

REQUIREMENT FOR EITHER QUESTION: As you analyze the connection between your themes, you should discuss at least three primary source documents and explain what light they shed on your analysis.  

Nuts and Bolts (Be sure to read these carefully, and follow them exactly)

• Length:  2-3 Double-Spaced Pages.  Part of the goal of this assignment is to get students to write concisely and efficiently, so you shouldn’t write more than three pages. On the other hand, essays under two full pages will be penalized.
• Sources:  You are not expected (or encouraged) to do any outside reading for this assignment.  But if you do, please include a Works Cited page with the information for your outside source and page numbers after each reference (whatever you do, don’t take material from any old site on the internet—I would strongly urge you to avoid the temptation to do any internet browsing at all.  See “Statement on Plagiarism” below). 
• Citations: 
  • If you quote Zinn or Johnson, just put the author and page number for your reference in parentheses after the reference. Example: (Zinn, 3).
  • If you reference a document, put the document’s author (or title if the author isn’t listed) and packet in parentheses after your reference. Example:  (Sumner, Week 3 Packet)
• Please use Times New Roman or another standard font.  Use 10 to 12–point fonts and one-inch margins. 
• At the top of your exam, please just type, single-spaced:
  • [Your Name]
  • Unit 2 Exam
  • Spring 2019

Statement on Plagiarism

• Read this section carefully—I can’t stress enough how important this is…
• Plagiarism is:  any presentation of someone else’s work as your own—this includes passages that change a few words to make them appear unique—it’s still dishonest, it’s still against school policy, and it will still earn you an F for the course.
• In other words, if there is material in your essay—sentence or paragraph, blatant or disguised—that A) isn’t your own words and thoughts or drawn from course material and B) doesn’t give credit to the original source (book, website, whatever), then you have committed plagiarism.  Again, a plagiarized essay will earn you an F for the course.
• If you have any questions about plagiarism, feel free to ask. 
• When it doubt, err on the side of caution—don’t use outside sources, and if you absolutely must (which you shouldn’t), cite everything you use.  There is no good reason for you to use outside sources to complete these assignments.  If you have to use Wikipedia or About.com or something to discuss course material, that’s a bad sign.  If you don’t use outside sources, including things like Wikipedia, it is impossible to plagiarize as long as you give a page number when you cite course readings.
• If I detect any plagiarism in your essay, you will automatically fail the course. 
• Simple solution: do your own work.  I can’t stress this enough.  If you’re having a hard time with the assignment, email me or come see me—don’t plagiarize out of desperation. 

What You’ll Be Graded On

• The strength of your reading, understanding, and analysis of the material
• Thoughtfulness.  Strong essays will show thoughtful analysis of the course materials. This assignment is not just a summary. Rather, you are asked to analyze the connections between course themes and the differences between the authors’ (Zinn and Johnson) ideas.
• Specificity.  Be sure to engage specifically with the books—don’t generalize. Your task is to make arguments and back them up with evidence, so bring in concrete examples whenever possible.
• Style.  Assignments turned in for a grade should be proofread for grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.  While the purpose of this assignment is not to bust you for minor errors, consistent issues with style will distract readers from the points you are trying to make.  It’s always a good idea to print your essay off and read it before your submit it—you may catch errors you might have missed otherwise.