Attendance/Participation (20%)
Students are expected to actively participate and take turn leading class discussion.
Short Essays (15 x 2 = 30%)
[Updated 5 February 2025]
Two short review essays (about 1,500 words each, to be submitted through Canvas) on two different weeks (i.e., Weeks 3–11) of readings. Due two weeks after the class meeting in question.
For each essay, you should (not necessary in the following order):
- explain (with specific examples) the key questions/ideas/arguments of the text;
- reflect on the sources and methodology employed;
- explain the book’s historiographical contexts (in other words, the historical debates the book is engaged with);
- identify and explain the strengths and weaknesses of the work in question.
Review Essay (50%)
Write a state-of-the-field essay suitable for publication in a top-tier journal in your field (e.g., the Journal of Chinese History. About 5,000 words). Due on April 22.
For this state-of-the-field essay (not to be confused with a literature review), you should:
- identify a suitably-scoped academic field that fits your interests (note that a research field is not the same as a research topic);
- select four to six publications (mostly books) that in your view best exemplify the accomplishments/directions of this field;
- compare and contrast the works selected as well as critically place them (perhaps alongside some of the readings for this seminar) in their historiographical contexts.
In particular, you should:
- explain the relevance of the chosen publications in the context of a research field and indicate, whenever possible, the common problems/questions they seek to address;
- explain (with specific examples) the key questions/ideas/arguments of the works in question and how the authors might be in dialogue with one another;
- place the body of works in its historiographical contexts and explain how the chosen publications are connected to one another;
- explain the significance (and limitations) of the body of works in question and suggest, whenever possible, some future directions for research.