Research Paper Option

Student’s Name                                                Draft Due July 5/6 // Paper Due July 12/13, 2016

World History, Andrews

Research Paper

Original Title for your Paper

            What factors have affected the historical growth or shrinking of human populations? Choose and define one of the human populations – a “people” – from the human past. They may or may not be living today. You can define your people in whatever way you find most compelling – by country, by religion, by ethnicity, by world view… it’s up to you.

            Explore the history of that people’s population. Where did it originate? When was it growing? What were the factors influencing this growth? Did it / Does it exist in diaspora? What factors promoted or restrained its expansion in diaspora? Has it experienced any periods of decline in population? What factors influenced this decline? What conclusions might you draw from these trends for the future of our current population of humans on the planet?

            “Influencing factors” might be such things as: economic success, economic system, political system, access to education, nutrition, technological advances, religious practices, elements of worldview.

            The following table might help you get started thinking about interesting relationships based on country but don’t feel limited by it: http://www.geohive.com/earth/population_now.aspx

            As a rule of thumb, aim to use approximately one source per page for a research paper of this kind. Your paper must be 6 double-spaced pages in length plus Bibliography, so in this case you should have about 6 sources. Margins no greater than 1 inch, please. Please note that you MUST include proper in-text citations and a Bibliography listing all resources used.

Examples of Format for Bibliographic Entries

            Aurelius, Marcus. “Meditations.” In Heritage of Western Civilizations. Ed. John L. Beatty and Oliver A. Johnson. Vol 1. 8^th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1995. 212-220.

            Corbett, Bob. The Haitian Revolution of 1791-1803: An Historical Essay in Four Parts. http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm (accessed 1/18/2012)