Choose two women who were part of the Enlightenment. Briefly discuss their publications and ideas on the female condition. Once you have done the above, try to take these individual women and their ideas and appraise the position, concerns, state of emancipation, activity, perceptions, and self-perceptions of women at the time of the Enlightenment. You should recognize developments of attitudes towards and beliefs about women as they emerged from times previous to the Enlightenment, and you should compare views of women at the time of the Enlightenment with those held today. Length The paper should be 500-750 words in length and should cite at least three sources sources. Sources must be documented using the APA format. Paper Format Use the following format for the paper as your “guide.” Note the word “guide” because you may find a need, given the specific topic you have selected, to modify. The paper should contain the following items: Title page, Purpose of Study, Opening Statement, Assumption or Hypothesis, Discussion of Findings, Recommendations, Conclusion/Summary, and Reference Page. Title Page – It should be concise and descriptive – creative wouldn’t hurt! Your name, course name and number, college and term should be listed. Purpose of Study – The final project should include a succinct statement that explains why you selected the particular area of interest and why it lends itself to a research paper. State the purpose of your research and why it interests you. You should also identify the audience for your work. Opening Statement, Assumptions or Hypothesis – The project is a rigorous academic exercise and should be carefully thought out from beginning to end. It is imperative that you resist presentation of opinion as fact, and instead develop assumptions or hypotheses without reaching conclusions before you investigate the topic. The opening statement, argument or hypothesis focuses your ideas for the paper; it’s your argument, insight or viewpoint summarized into a sentence or two that gives the reader your main idea. It present the rationale for you paper and clearly indicates why it is worth exploring. If you are not sure about how to refine, narrow or broaden your thesis, please visit “Finding Your Thesis” at the Empire State College’s Writing Resource Center. Discussion of Findings – You must demonstrate that you have expanded your knowledge of the subject. This is where you must cite between 5 to 10 sources using the APA format. This section should discuss and offer an interpretation of the sources you cite. Choose the sources carefully. They should demonstrate your understanding of the research issues related to your topic and show your ability to critically evaluate/integrate the literary sources. Conclusion/Summary – In these sections (may be separate or combined), the emphasis should be on what has been learned about the assumptions, the limits of this particular inquiry, and the implications of the findings. Reference Page – Documenting sources at the end of the research paper consists of listing all of the sources from which you quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. In APA style, the sources in a paper are listed alphabetically on a separate page headed References. It follows the final page of the text and is numbered. By citing your sources, you are letting your reader know that you’ve consulted experts whose ideas and information back up your own thoughts and ideas. You must cite your sources correctly so that your academic integrity is not called into question. If you don’t document, you could inadvertently be plagiarizing. Visit the Empire State College’s Writing Resource Center to get help with documenting sources, or visit Diana Hacker’s Research and Documentation site.
