Comparative Source Analysis (CSA)
Paper #2
Fall 2014
Page Length:
Value:
Due date:
4-5 pages, not including Works Cited page
15% of course grade
Beginning of section during Week 6. After this time, late penalties will apply
(see MMW Style Sheet). Even with late penalties, your CSE will not be
accepted after section of Week 9, after which time it will be considered “not
completed” and will result in a grade of F for the course. Any exception to
this deadline must be approved with specific and legitimate documentation in
advance by your TA.
Purpose
In the Critical Reading Assignment (CRA) you just completed, you were introduced to one scholar’s
position on a given subject. In the second writing assignment, the Comparative Source Analysis
(CSA), you will examine how two pieces of scholarly work relate to a common topic and to each
other. This assignment provides you with another opportunity to practice critical reading,
summarization and paraphrasing skills and to introduce the process of formulating a research
question. This assignment will:
give you exposure to two different scholarly approaches to a common topic.
teach you to think about how scholarship overlaps and how it differs in the treatment of a
given topic.
teach you how to identify conceptual problems, articulate the significance of those problems
and analyze how well an academic argument addresses them.
give you some practice in designing a research question
Read assigned articles/essays
Your professor has assigned two scholarly works that you will read, compare and analyze. Here is
how you will find your articles/essays:
Professor Chang has assigned two articles (published in academic journals) on the subject of the
Black Death. You will find the following articles on Professor Chang’s E-reserves site by accessing
the UCSD Library website:
oDols, Michael W. “The Comparative Communal Responses to The Black Death in Muslim
and Christian Societies.” Viator 5 (Jan. 1, 1974): 269-287. ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
oStearns, Justin. “New Directions in the Study of Religious Responses to the Black Death.”
History Compass 7.5 (2009): 1363-1375. Wiley Online Library. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
Professor Keller-Lapp has assigned two sources on the topic of women in early Buddhism: an article
(published in an academic journal) and an essay (published in an anthology). You will find the
following sources on Professor Keller-Lapp’s Ted site under the Writing Assignment Tab
Assignment #2 Comparative Source Analysis:
oSharma, Arvind, “How and Why Did the Women in Ancient India Become Buddhist
Nuns?” Sociological Analysis 38.3 (Autumn, 1977): 239-251. JSTOR. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
oBarnes, Nancy J. “The Nuns at the Stupa: Inscriptional Evidence for the Lives and
Activities of Early Buddhist Nuns in India.” Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s Women: Tradition,
Revision, Renewal. Ed. Ellison Banks Findly. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000. 17-36.
Print.
