Week 5 Discussion Board

This week you are going to practice identifying conceptual problems, formulating Level 3 Questions, and producing thesis statements. Just as a refresher, here is how I would define a conceptual problem and Level 3 Question:   

A conceptual problem is a historical issue wherein you can find some question, controversy, contradiction, or gaps in information. It can also just be something you found yourself curious about when doing the readings.  

Here are some examples of research questions based on last week’s readings:

• Different responses to the Black Death
• Socio/economic impact of Black Death (Was the Black Death bad for everyone?)
• Early-modern gender norms (Did they change during the Renaissance?)

A Level-3 research question focuses on the conceptual problem’s controversy, contradiction, or gaps in information. A Level 3 Question has these characteristics:

1. Open-ended and has multiple possible answers.

2. Can be answered using evidence and inductive logic.

3. Is similar to a conceptual problem, but more specific and focused

4. Should be specific enough that the question can be addressed within the allotted word count.

Here are some examples of research questions based on last week’s readings:

• “How did the Sunni Muslim community in Damascus respond to the Black Death?”
• “What economic impact (if any) did the Black Death have on the middle class in England?”
• “What impact did the Renaissance have on Italian gender norms?”

For this week, I would like you to identify 2 conceptual problems in response to this week’s readings. Next, write 2 Level-3 Questions – 1 per conceptual problem. When developing your research questions, consider how different readings (and Professor Wood’s lectures) from this week fit together conceptually. For example, the first two readings are on Zheng He’s expeditions, so you should consider both readings when formulating a research question on this topic. Finally, write a short answer (thesis statement) to each of your Level-3 Questions.

Your thesis can be short, but it should clearly and concisely answer your Level-3 Question. Include a topic sentence, evidence, and analysis of why your evidence addresses the research question. Your evidence should reference at least one of the readings (include in-text citations.)

**Label each part of the assignment as follows:

Conceptual Problem 1:

[1 or 2 sentences]

Level-3 Question 1:

[1 or 2 sentences]

Thesis 1:

[3-5 sentences.]