Unit 9 Writing Assignment: Assessing the Mongols

Sources:

1.  “William of Rubruck’s Account of the Mongols” https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html
2.  Cynthia Stokes Brown, “What Is a Civilization, Anyway?”  World History Connected (2009) and p. 22-23 of our textbook

Introduction:

Through roughly 70 years of military campaigning, the Mongols established the largest contiguous land empire in world history. As the historian Morris Rossabi explains, because of the speed and ruthlessness with which built their empire, conquered peoples (including the Persians, Chinese, and Russians) have portrayed the Mongols as barbaric. Yet, the Mongols were only one of many empires that waged military campaigns in the quest for land, resources, and to control trade.

Beyond the military, few outsider accounts of the Mongols offer much insight into Mongol culture and ways of life.  One rare, early, and, for our purposes, the most useful account was written by William of Rubruck, a Catholic missionary (a Flemish Franciscan, to be precise) who traveled through Mongol territory from 1253 to 1255 CE.

Focusing on Mongol brutality is flashy – it catches people’s attention.  But with such an emphasis on their military strategies and brutality, most people overlook their other accomplishments.  Therefore, this assignment flips the usual script.  Using ONLY our course’s definition of a civilization (which we have acknowledged is a tricky, loaded term) and the account by William of Rubruck, decide to what extent the Mongols qualify as a “civilization.” Much of William of Rubruck’s account examines Mongol culture – I especially recommend the sections on “Mongols social and religious customs”, “Funeral Practices”, “The Khan’s Palace at Karakorum”, “Religious Customs” as you make your assessments.

Paper Assignment:

In approximately 1000 words (4-5 pages + bibliography), answer all of questions proposed in the textbox below to analyze the Mongols.

Writing Guidelines:

Organize your analysis into a formal paper.  Make sure that your introduction contextualizes the document and the situation (explains who wrote the document, when, why, and its limitations?), defines civilization in your own words (don’t use a quote and be sure to read the entirety of Brown), and ends with a strong thesis that directly addresses the author (Rubruck) and lays out your conclusions about the Mongols.  The body of your paper should provide supporting evidence for your thesis.  Each paragraph should have a topic sentence that shows how the paragraph relates back to your thesis or the main point of the section.  The conclusion paragraph need not repeat every point in your paper, but should draw connections back to the thesis and provide closure.  Please refer to the Guidelines for Writing Essays found in your course content for further information on formatting and expectations.

Use of evidence:

In general, use quotes sparingly (no quotes longer than 1-line in length) from the Rubruck text only. I much prefer paraphrasing. Be sure to explain all quoted and paraphrased passages to show how they contribute to your analysis.  Any reference to the source materials or any other source requires citations.  See immediately below.

Citation requirements:  This assignment requires you to use both internal citations AND a bibliography to give credit to your sources.  Most students use MLA parenthetical citations and corresponding bibliographical entries, but you may alternatively use APA or CMS/Turabian. Purdue OWL has  detailed information on citations styles, if you need it.

Other guidelines:

• The essay should be about 1000 words + bibliography
• Introducing materials from other sources risks plagiarism and should be avoided.
• Be original – All papers submitted in this class are reviewed via Turnitin.com, a proprietary software database that identifies unoriginal material in papers. Please review the syllabus statement regarding the penalty for plagiarism.
• Be careful how you define “civilization.”  Put a definition in your own words or list common characteristics of civilizations.  Be sure to read Brown’s article to the end because she rejects several old-school definitions of civilizations.  Don’t jump on one of the definitions at the beginning.
• Refer to the Guidelines for Writing your Essay for additional writing assignment criteria
• Submit your citations and bibliography within your paper.  Everything should be saved and submitted in one document.

Once you have completed the writing assignment, please attach and submit your assignment here.