Choose Your Topic

For specific essay assignment requirements, please refer to the syllabus.

Are you having trouble choosing a theme, finding one that interests you, or are you considering narrowing it down to a specific aspect or part? Consulting an encyclopedia or another reference source will help.

Encyclopedias provide overviews of various topics. They:

• are unlike Wikipedia, since they are authored by expert writers and reviewed by an editor prior to their publication
• are excellent points for understanding the topic of your assignment if you are not familiar with it
• provide introductory information: titles of primary sources, biographies of leading personalities, significant dates, cultural and social contexts, and the names of major scholars studying in the field, as well as their publications (secondary sources).

However, an encyclopedia entry is designed to provide background reading for your own development of a topic. It serves to help you gain a working knowledge of what you are researching and it should not count as a stand-alone source for your essay.

The following list is not exhaustive. It is a sampling of what is available.