HINTS FOR THE PAPERS
Please refer to the instructions in the syllabus to format the paper. Use the APA referencing and bibliographic style. The only departure from conventional academic format is that the paper is written in the first person.
Examples
The following examples illustrate my expectations of the general approach, style, coverage and degree of literacy expected in the papers. (Take it slower in your papers - donīt try to cover so much material in a single paragraph.) Please note that the referencing method is correct, but that the references are made up.
Here is an example where much is known about you
I was born on June 21, 1886 to a Jewish family in Minsk. Because my parents were well-educated, "privileged" Jews, I was able to attend Vladivostok University in 1915 (Encyclopedia, p. 215). During that time, repressions against the Jews and other members of the intelligentsia drove me to join the Bund, a Marxist organization [to place Marxists in context, here you should briefly discuss the various parties and ideologies]. I later became a member of the Bolshevik Party (Higley, p. 66) [unless already mentioned, it is necessary here to explain the unique ideology of the Bolsheviks]. In February 1917, I led workers in demonstrations in the capital, then, in October, took up arms in one of the regiments formed by Trotsky and marched on the Winter Palace (Encyclopedia, p. 347).
Notice that in the above example, much is known about you, but it is still necessary to explain key events, as you must assume that the reader is totally unfamiliar with Russian history.
For some characters there may be less personal information. So you would emphasize events. For example:
I was born in 1886 to a Jewish family (Encyclopedia, p. 457). Since this was only five years after the assassination of Alexander II, repressions against Jews were well under way. Many Jews were radicalized, joined political parties and even engaged in acts of violence against the Czar. For example, in 1887 a terrorist party known as the Narodnaia Volia declared open war on the Czar (Pipes, p. 235). By 1915 I had become a Marxist and joined the Menshevik Party (Smith, p. 324) At first they were much like the Bolsheviks, but unlike the Bolsheviks, they supported the Provisional Government. Along with the Right faction of the Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks felt that Russia had to become economically stronger before Socialists could take over the government (Pipes, p. 356).