Assignment: Textbook Comparison
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF ASSIGNMENT
This assignment asks you to look carefully at the material presented in two textbooks and compare the presentation of material in the two textbooks. This will make you more aware of selection and presentation in the writing of history, help you improve your ability to write comparative essays, and provide you with a starting point to review for your exam.
DIRECTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT
Answer each of the following in numbered paragraphs.
1.Describe the coverage of the Axial Age in the online textbook by Eugene Berger, et al., World History: Cultures, States, and Societies, to 1500.
Focus on coverage of traditional south Asian (Indian) religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism (Daoism), and Judaism and Christianity; these are not covered all in one place, but you should be able to find relevant information in sections 2.9-2.11, 3.8, 4.7, 5.11.2, and 6.10.. You can find the complete textbook World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 by Eugene Berger. Take into account comprehensiveness, clarity, and organization structure as defined on the textbook. Give specific examples (brief summary with page numbers) to support your evaluation.
2. Describe the coverage of the Axial Age in the book bundle textbook for the class. For the Tuesday-Thursday class this is Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, The World: A History, vol. 1 (available through eLearn). For the Monday-Wednesday class, this is Peter von Sivers, et al., Patterns of World History, vol. 1 (available in hard copy through the bookstore).
Focus on coverage of traditional south Asian (Indian) religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism (Daoism), and Judaism and Christianity (chapter 5 in Fernandez-Armesto; this is covered in chapters 7, 8, and 9 in von Sivers). Take into account comprehensiveness, clarity, and organization structure flow as defined on the textbook review. Give specific examples (brief summary with page numbers) to support your evaluation.
3. Compare the coverage of river valley civilizations in the two textbooks you examined.
Do you think that it would make more sense to present the various religious and philosophical ideas of the Axial Age (or Age of Sages) in a single place in a textbook? Or does it make more sense to study each big idea within its immediate cultural context? Give specific examples (brief summary with page numbers) to support your evaluation.