Humanities 1110 with Richard Jewell - Inver Hills Community College

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Term Paper

Please buy only one set of these books:

*Please note: the new Fiero book in the IHCC Bookstore is the 5th edition.  If you happen to buy or receive the 4th edition as a used book, there are some differences in the chapter numbers.  However, the weekly assignments in the "Schedule" show the correct chapters for both editions.  

• (4) Optional: a grammar handbook, if you don't have one.  Either buy one at the Inver Hills bookstore, or access and use the online grammar handbook that I have developed: just click on "Grammar Handbook" in the buttons above.  
            

• (5) Optional: Jewell, Writing for School and Work, an online composition textbook: just click on its name here.
                              

• (6) Optional: I will try to make sure that the Lamm and Fiero textbooks also are on reserve in the library.  If you look for them and they are not available on reserve checkout, please remind me to place them there.

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ONLINE LINKS/RESOURCES:

• Required--Email: (1) Please activate your IHCC student account and check for email from the school weekly.  (2) For our own class email, you may give me a personal email-account address, instead (e.g., xxx@yahoo.com).  It's up to you.  If you do, be sure to check it and your IHCC student account at least once a week.  (3) Whichever email address you decide to give me, be sure to tell me about it (on the class email list or by a separate email from you to me).  Again, check your one or two email accounts weekly.

• Required--Experiencing the Humanities: This is one of our main textbooks.  It is required.  It also is fully online (and only online--you cannot buy it or find it in the bookstore or library).   It is arranged by humanities subjects (e.g., "History," "Philosophy," "Art," etc.).  You'll be reading one or two chapters per week.  ( One of the reasons I have placed it on the Web is so that you can save money.  Similar textbooks can cost $20-40, but this textbook is free.)

• Required--http://CollegeWriting.info:  This is a fully-online, complete composition textbook you'll need for completing the final term paper.  It is a textbook I have written and placed on the Web.  (One of the reasons I have placed it on the Web is so that you can save money.  Similar textbooks can cost $30-80, but this textbook is free.)

• Required--Online Bulletin Boards:  Click here or access them on the home page by clicking on the "Bull. Boards" box.
          

• Very Helpful--Please activate your free school email address by completing the four steps at 

  http://www.inverhills.edu/accounts/. Then check the address  (___@metnet.edu) at least once per week for messages from school.

• Very Helpful--"Links to the Humanities": a collection of hundreds of links leading to thousands more, all on humanities subjects.  These links may help you find materials for your assigned "Practice Activities" and resources for your final project.
             

• Very Helpful for Final Project: NoodleTools Online Bibliography Maker, an automated Web bibliography-entry maker.  I have a subscription to use it in my classes.  It is free for you to use.  You simply type in the author's names, titles, publisher, etc., and it will create a perfect bibliography entry (in MLA or APA) for you.  Correct bibliography entries will be required in your final papers.  Just click here on NoodleTools to start.

• Helpful--Online Grammar Handbook, an alternative grammar handbook that lists grammar links.  This may be useful to you as you write your final term paper.  You also can find a link to this grammar handbook in CollegeWriting.info.  (Other online grammar books with actual lessons in them that you may want to try include Elements of Style by Strunk, Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization by Mary McCaskill (NASA), and the Purdue University Writing Center grammar guides.)   
                     

• Helpful--"Find in a Library": You can go to Google or Yahoo to find your choice of books in a library.  Follow these simple steps:

1. Go to www.Google.com or www.Yahoo.com.

2. Use its search engine as normal, except start with "find in a library."  For example, if you were trying to find Shakepeare's Hamlet this way, you would type into the search engine box
            
                                           find in a library hamlet shakespeare
                
   

3. Then when the book name comes up, click on "Find a Library."

4. And then, in the new window, add your zip code.  You'll get a list of libraries having your book (including the Inver Hills Community College Library).  More details are available at http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/about.htm. 

• Helpful--Online Tutorial in Researching Using Libraries: http://www.inverhills.edu/library/searchPathClassic/index.html.

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OTHER RESOURCES FOR EXTRA CREDIT & FOR PRACTICE

PAPERS:

BOOKS AT THE LIBRARY:

            The Library has some great books on Humanities subjects, both for checking out and in the references section near the front, with other references such as dictionaries and encyclopedias.

            I also have placed a good handful of my own books on 2-4 hr. reserve at the front desk: just go to the front desk and ask to see the books on reserve for "Jewell, Humanities 1110."  Here is a list of what I have placed there:

• The two main textbooks--Lamm and Fiero (the larger one) if you want to change to a different textbook in some weeks.

• Egyptian Book of the Dead, a well and colorfully illustrated coffee-table book (hardbound, larger size).

• Encyclopedia of Mythology, a large, thick coffee-table book with many beautiful color illustrations.

• Gilgamesh, a new, easy-to-understand, flowing translation of the world's oldest written epic.

• Love in the Ancient World, a well and colorfully illustrated coffee-table book (hardbound, larger size).

• The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, a more compact large paperbound book.

• Women's Life in Greece and Rome, with lots of explanations and excerpts from ancient manuscripts (no ill.)

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GAMES: 

(1) Board Game--Make Up Your Own: You may purchase the board game called "Make a Game" by game publisher Winning Moves Games.  Then, following the generic directions, make up a board game directly related to the time periods and subject matter of this course having to do with Western (not Eastern) civilization.  You can look at a copy of the pieces of the game and then purchase new or used copies of it for as little as $12 from www.Amazon.com.  Type in the name "Make a Game" and "Winning Moves."  If you have any questions about this game, ask me, as I have a copy.

(2) Video Game: You may purchase and play the video game "Civilization IV" using, as much as possible, the time periods and geographic areas (Western Civilization, not Eastern) of this course.  A Dec. 17, 2005 review on p. E8 of the Star Tribune calls the game "the best...to be released on the PC this year.  Period."  It is available for as low as $30.00 used at www.Amazon.com.  Type in the name "Civilization IV" and "2K Games."  I don't have a copy of this and have not played it, but I have seen a much older board-game version of it.  Here are more details about this game.

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STATS:

**** out of 4 stars.  Publisher: 2K Games System: PC.  Price: $49.99.  Rating: Everyone 10+; violence

REVIEW:   

"You choose a political leader of any country and begin a takeover of the world that spans Earth's history....  The enjoyment comes from picking non-military leaders such as Gandhi and trying to create utopia through culture rather than raw military might.  What makes "Civilization IV" so remarkable is how intuitive its game play is.  All of the aspects feel natural, politically and culturally.  The system of declaring war on other countries vs. the system of brokering peace treaties and trade policies is superb, giving gamers loads of options on how to build a country's might.  Improved 3-D graphics and a well balanced historical narrative compel you to play for hours.  If there is a drawback, it's that beginners will probably feel overwhelmed by the game and might be scared away when success isn't achieved right away.  But there's so much depth to the game that you'll just have to trust that it's worth your time.  Don't hesitate, PC owners; make the move and become engrossed in this game.  It will have you playing until the sun rises."  --Chris Campbell

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MOVIES, TV BIOS, HISTORICAL DVDs/TV FILMS, ET AL.:

Shakespeare: Any play by Shakespeare turned into a movie.  Google "shakespeare movies" or "shakespeare dvd."  If you're relatively inexperienced with Shakespeare, some very popular and well done basic Shakespeare movies are Franco Zeferelli's Romeo and Juliet (tragedy, love story) with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, and Hamlet (tragedy) with Mel Gibson.  Others include Much Ado about Nothing with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson (comedy),

Greek plays: Any play by Greek playwrights Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes or other Greek playwrights is good.  Two not-bad movies with which to start are the Italian 1960s version of Sophocles' Oedipus the King directed by Pasolini, and perhaps almost any version of Aristophanes' sex-vs.-war comedy Lysistrata.

Historical documentaries:  Channels such as the History Channel on TV have a number of historical documentaries that are worth watching and sometimes quite interesting.  Some of these also appear in the "documentaries" section of video stores.

Historical Dramas, Movies, DVDs: Any fictionalized account that with reasonable accuracy reflects the times is acceptable, as long as the time period and place it reflects is from ancient through renaissance times in Europe, the Near East, and North Coastal Africa (the areas of the "Western" humanities).  For example, 

Agony and Ecstasy, **-***.  Charleton Heston, 1965.  Fictionalized biography of great Italian renaissance artist and designer Michelangelo.

Alexander, **-***.  Fictionalized biography of Alexander the Great, pupil of Aristotle and one of the greatest generals and conquerers ever, who spread Greek culture and civilization from Egypt and Rome to the borders of India.  Two fictionalized biographies exist, both good but not great.  One stars Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie (3:30 in length); the other is a shorter History Channel movie. 

Ben Hur.  Charleton Heston.  ***-****.  Older movie similar in some ways to Gladiator and Spartacus. 

Braveheart.  Fictionalized biography, ***.  Mel Gibson.  About the famous 13th-cent. Scottish rebel who fought England almost to a standstill.

Gladiator.  Fiction, ***-****.  Russell Crow, Joaquin Phoenix.  Good yarn about a general sold into slavery who becomes a gladiator and beats the vile emperor.  (See also Spartacus.)

The Robe.  Fiction, ***-****. Richard Burton, 1953. An historical drama that follows Jesus' red robe through a Roman, a Christian, and a Greek slave.

Shakespeare in Love. Fiction, ***.  Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow.  Atmospheric and charming fantasy about the making of Romeo and Juliet.

Spartacus, Fiction, 1960, 210 min., ****.  Kirk Douglas & Sir Lawrence Olivier.  About a slave/gladiator who leads a rebellion in Rome--sort of an early version and slightly different story as Gladiator.

FROM ANOTHER, RELATED COURSE:  

             
            Here are some books and movies from another class I teach, mythic literature (Eng 2235), that may be helpful to you for your final term paper, possibly, or perhaps for make-up or extra credit: click here.  If you choose to use these, please remember that you must pick only those resources that stay within our time period--ancient civilization through the renaissance (i.e., not after 1500 A.D.)--and our geographical area--Western civilization, which means the Middle East, northern Africa, and Europe (no East or Southeast Asia or the Americas).

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