Description of Mid-Term Essay Examination.

You are to choose either one 50 point question or two 25 point questions. There will be at least 4 fifty-point questions and 5 twenty-five point questions from which to choose. You should allow at least 25 minutes for you response.

The fifty-point point questions typically ask you to make an historical argument based on what factual material you can bring to bear. The major focus of the course has been on political modernization and how economic and social factors influenced this. The basic theoretical basis for this argument is contained in Readings and Essays, pgs. 2-11, 15-23. There are a number of questions that ask you to apply this theoretical approach and apply it to explain the developments in the various countries we have studied. There is at least one question that asks you to examine and apply the thesis cited at the beginning of the web-outline for II. The case studies from which the questions may be drawn are: England, France, Netherlands, Austria, Prussia and Russia as developed in the lectures under II and III on the Course Outline. Additionally, one question specifically asks you to use the readings in W-R-W, Ch. 3 as the basis for your response.

A good way to prepare for these questions is to consider the questions posed at the beginning of each chapter in McKay. After having studied the material thoroughly try to summarize your answers to these questions. Then check your summary with the summaries and discussions of consequences at the end of each chapter. While only one question specifically asks about the sources in W-R-W, a really excellent essay response would include references to these sources where appropriate.

The twenty-five point questions are narrower and more specific. They focus on specific sources in W-R-W, on definitions and on individuals who were either emphasized in lecture or in the readings. There is one question on art and architecture based on the videos you have seen and the pictoral displays on the web-site (The Pageant of Versailles, and Absolutism and the Baroque under the outlines for II and III), in McKay and in W-R-W.