Write and upload in doc. or docx. a four-page argumentative essay that analyzes both Herodotus and Sima Qian’s writings in the book Herodotus and Sima Qian The First Great Historians of Greece and China. Please note that a four-page paper means more than three and have pages. This paper should be full four pages. And the paper may respond to the following prompts.
(I am NOT expecting the paper to respond to the following questions with correct answers. The prompts below are there to help you develop your thesis. Feel free to develop your own thesis that is not relevant to the prompts, if you think your thesis is more original and persuasive.)
• How do Herodotus and Sima Qian discuss “others” and their ways of life? Compare and contrast their discussions of “others” and how such discussions lead to identifications of their selves. Who were the “others” and why?
• How does morality matter to Herodotus and Sima Qian in their descriptions of historical events? Are there similarities and/or differences between the two? Why or why not?
• What is a role of a historian according to Herodotus and Sima Qian? Why do they think it is important to record activities and encounters of a certain human beings of the past and the present?
Guideline for Essays
Your papers will be graded for depth, clarity, and style. The successful paper contains an original and innovative thesis. The argues this thesis in an effective manner, supporting all parts of the argument with ample textual evidence. The prose is clear, direct, and eloquent, and is unmarred by grammatical, syntactical, or typographical errors. The arguments are not only unified and coherent, but also complex and nuanced. The paper persuades the reader that the argument being made is of fundamental importance to an understanding of the text or texts under discussion.
Read and re-read your essay for content as well as form — is it persuasive? Is it interesting? If you are writing a comparative paper, have you shown why this particular comparison is illuminating to both texts?
