Were there any similarities in their descriptions?

Students write one 800-1000 word paper, not more, not less, based one of the prompts below. The final word count must be at the end of the essay. Use Font size 12, times new roman, double spaced. This is an examination and analysis of the primary sources, and the primary sources only, so avoid using outside material or material from the textbook, including textbook descriptions of the sources themselves, since this may cause you to try to prove things that are not in the primary sources. Have an intro, a body, a conclusion. Have a thesis statement, and use the sources and your analysis to prove your point, your thesis. The essay must be based on the primary sources, and students must use examples and quotes from the primary sources to formulate and defend their argument. Be sure to explain to your reader how evidence from the primary sources supports your points. Use quotes from the primary sources to support your argument, but don’t go overboard. Excessive or large quotes are not acceptable. Find only that part of the quote that gets to your point and use that. No cover page or bibliography is needed. Put you name on it.

The paper is due by 11:59 PM May 18. Students must submit a copy in the proper folder in Blackboard as a Microsoft Word attachment on the date due. No late paper will be accepted. There will be no exceptions, unless approved by the instructor beforehand. Plagiarism will not be tolerated; plagiarized papers will receive a zero. Plagiarism is a direct violation of intellectual and academic honesty. Although it exists in many forms, all plagiarism refers to the same act: representing somebody else’s words or ideas as one’s own. The most extreme forms of plagiarism are those of material authored by another person or obtained from a commercial source, or the use of passages copied word for word without acknowledgement. Exact words from a source must be in quotes and cited, or it will be considered plagiarism. Paraphrasing an

author’s idea or quoting even limited portions of his or her text without proper citation is also an act of plagiarism. Even putting someone else’s ideas into one’s own words without acknowledgement may be plagiarism. Explanations of just what plagiarism is and how to avoid it can be found at http://www.diigo.com/list/davidreeves/writing-tools (Links to an external site.)

Choose one of the writing prompts below –

Using the primary sources Xuanzang, Record of the Western Regions; The Travels of Marco Polo; Leo Africanus, The History and Description of Africa – how did each traveler describe the economic and social foundations of the societies they visited? Were there any similarities in their descriptions?

—– I put all the sources in one Word file,

Please base on the file that I added.