SCH 150:  Rethinking Iran,  Images and Realities

Short Paper Guidelines
Eshragh Motahar/Spring 2024

As the Syllabus states:  your short paper assignment is due, in pdf format, e-mailed to me, on Tuesday, May 7, by the beginning of class.  The penalty for late submission is one point per hour.  The short paper constitutes 15% of your course grade.

Here are the guidelines for this paper:

  1. Format.  4 pages maximum, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point, 1" margins all around.  Ancillary material, such as endnotes, photographs (if used), charts and tables (if used), etc., may be put on additional pages.  You need a descriptive title for your short paper.  Do not forget to paginate the paper.
  2. Topic.  The topic must be based on the material covered in the three required books.  You should choose a topic that is sharply focused.  As much as possible, base your paper on the three books.  However, you should do this in a coherent and judicious way.  As an example:  if it works better for your short paper to draw only from the Medea Benjamin book, then do so.  Another example:  if drawing on the other two books (on the 1953 coup) works better for you, then do so.  You may, of course, use other sources in addition to the required three books.
  3. Quality of Writing.  The paper must be well-organized and well-written.  You will lose points for spelling, grammatical, stylistic and similar errors.  Please make sure to use the help provided by the Writing Center as soon as possible, and as frequently as needed.  Check out their website here.
  4. Consultation with me.  Before you finalize your topic, you are encouraged to run it by me.  I suggest that you come up with 2-3 topics (as potential candidates), write them down, plus page references to the books where the idea is covered, and e-mail me.  Be prepared for a discussion of your proposed topics.  If you decide to take up this option, make absolutely sure to run these topics by me by no later than 5 PM, Friday, May 3rd.  After that discussion, you will be in a better position to finalize your topic and proceed with writing.
  5. E-mail me your completed paper in pdf format.

 

 

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Last revised:  Saturday, March 30, 2024