How useful is McNeill’s thesis about world history in understanding events through ca. 500 CE — is the interaction among society’s the best why to conceptualize is happening or should some other historical process be emphasized? McNeill provides an overview of world historiography in his article in which he recounts his own earlier thinking. Be sure that your paper addresses his current thinking (i.e. his 1995 thinking, per his thesis) on how world history should be understood.
Please see instructions and rubric.
1) Your essay should be 1500 words (excluding endnotes and bibliography), typed and double-spaced.
2) Notes should be formatted in CMS style for endnotes/footnotes.
3) You must provide appropriate historical context for your examples. You DO NOT have to cite lectures, but you did need to make correct use of historical detail presented in those lectures. Be sure to cite McNeill’s article. Here, again, is a PDF of it: William H McNeill 1995.pdf
4) Your examples must illustrate your thesis (argument).
5) You should cite sections of Armesto and McNeill that you use. Failure to use relevant sections of Armesto or McNeill will count against your “historical contextualization” score.
6) You must make use of at least 4 primary sources assigned from Milestone Documents for this section of the course. It is not enough to simply reference them — cite key sections that support your thesis and contextualize.
7) Upload your essay as a PDF.