Maoism and The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

The purpose of the written assignments in this course is to provide students with practice in historical writing, which not only requires determining the chronological sequence of events, but also needs to convey to readers an understanding of the culture and the sense of the times being studied. Each student is to write a research paper on a topic in modern Chinese history from late Ming to the post-Mao period. The research paper must be an original work. Abstracts of other people’s works or simply repetitions of others’ argument are not considered research papers. A good research paper should express students’ own ideas on a broad and practical basis. As a historical essay, it should avoid vague, overly general, impressionistic, and nihilistic statements. Instead, it should recall specific people, places, dates, and events, and put forward well-founded, precise wording and well-founded arguments.Students can choose the topics by themselves or consult the instructor. Each student should use at least TEN sophisticated sources： academic books and periodicals rather than popular magazines or encyclopedias, on-line information is accepted but should be used properly. Use of primary sources (English translation of Chinese documents, oral materials, and personal interviews) is encouraged. You should start with reading all materials critically, collect enough information, organize own ideas, and then write the paper. Remember, each student should follow the orderly procedure from the time the topic is chosen until the writing is finished. Looking for shortcuts often turns out to make work more difficult. The papers should be in a standard academic form, including the following: an introduction and conclusion; a conceptual framework of thesis; correct grammar, spelling and punctuation; numbered pages; complete footnotes and bibliography. Footnoting (of endnotes), bibliography, and other matters of form should be according to Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations Chicago: Chicago University Press. A short version of the stylistic guidance is available in another handout.

The research paper should be about MAOISM AND THE GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION. It should cover Maoism overall and focus on the cultural revolution. It should not be vague, it should be detailed and chronological.