Midterm Essay

Midterm Essay Assignment
Based on the map and data that will be posted on the Gauchospace homepage (under Week 4) on Friday, April 22nd, design an excavation strategy. (The title of the link is Midterm Essay Prompt).

This research design is an exercise in planning similar to the proposals archaeologists must write in order to obtain funding from the National Science Foundation or the National Geographic Society. You should not make up discoveries. A research design specifies how you will excavate and provides well-reasoned justification for the methods you propose to use.

TIP: Your research design should include 1) What type of data you seek (think about the data needed to evaluate your research question), 2) Where you wish to excavate (this requires a well-defined sampling strategy), 3) What methods you will use to collect samples and date the site(s), and 4) How you will analyze the archaeological artifacts that you recover, including how you will establish chronology.

The best essays will draw upon and reflect critical consideration of all course materials covered to date. This includes the textbook, study guides, web exercises, lecture, and films. You must provide full bibliographic reference for each source, including author’s name, title of article, title of journal/book, date, and page numbers. If you are unsure about how to format a bibliography see instruction the tab below.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Your Midterm Essay must be a minimum of 4-6 double spaced pages with 12 point font and 1 inch margins. Use a standard font such as Times New Roman. This paper should be written to the very best of your ability, grammatically clean, and spell-checked. Please refer to the tab below for a review of “Writing Tips” to which you will be expected to adhere.