“The Clash of Civilizations”

*Please do not use any outside material. Only the articles and any other material I have assigned you.

This being our first assignment, it will be relatively straight forward and more descriptive than argumentative in nature. Having read “The Clash of Civilizations” you will need to locate and describe Huntington’s main thesis clearly. You will then explain what he means by “a civilization,” after which you locate and describe all of Huntington’s sub-arguments which are used to support his main argument. Having done this, you will then turn to look at Brooks’ criticisms of Huntington’s argument so that you may consider the weaknesses inherent to his argument and be able to assess it in a more informed manner.

Hence, rather than grading you on your original thesis statement in the Introduction, you will be graded on how well you have summarized and described Huntington’s main argument/thesis. You will then be graded on how well you describe each successive sub-argument presented by Huntington to support his main argument, and how well you present Brooks’ criticisms/critiques. Points will be deducted for each missed or badly explained sub-argument. You must clearly explain each of those sub-arguments and explain and how the connect/support his main argument. As always, quality of writing (grammar: spelling, word choice syntax) will affect the grade. You will certainly still need to quote the articles and cite them (in Turabian/Chicago style) as necessary.

If you are unfamiliar with the Turabian/Chicago style please refer to the guide provided by our library.

http://libguides.fiu.edu/c.php?g=159885&p=1048013

I am not too worried about formatting and do not require you to include a bibliography as we are dealing with only one essay, but I do want you to use footnotes for citation in Turabian style and include page numbers.

Here are some guide lines to help stay you on track:

1. Locate the author’s main argument. Summarize it as best as you can.
2. You will want to give your reader a sense of the number and type of “civilizations” the author sees the world being divided into (he does that a little later in the article.) Be sure to quote and cite as necessary.
3. Locate his individual proofs (his sub arguments) in support of his thesis. Summarize the content of each of these arguments. Be sure to quote and cite as necessary.
4. Locate and describe Brooks’ criticisms/critiques of Huntington’s work.
5. Your conclusion should include a restatement of the argument and a brief informed assessment based on critical thinking and supported by specific critiques such as Brooks (you can choose to place the personal assessment in a paragraph prior to conclusion – that is up to you)
6. Please start work as early as possible. Read the article carefully. Same goes for prompt. Be sure to contact us early with any questions you might have so that we can help guide you. Recall you can ask for assistance from me and from your TAs. Be sure to look at announcements on blackboard to figure out to which TA you have been assigned.
7. Recall I require you to use Turabian/Chicago style citation. I am less concerned about the format you use for the essay, but the citation must be Chicago Style footnotes. Bibliography not necessary in this case, as long as you do the footnote citations properly (first reference to article or reviews has to be a full citation.)
8. Essay length should be around four pages, 12 point, double spaced, and same font throughout (please use either Times New Roman, Calibri or Courier)*Please do not use any outside material. Only the articles and any other material I have assigned you.

   This being our first assignment, it will be relatively straight forward and more descriptive than argumentative in nature. Having read “The Clash of Civilizations” you will need to locate and describe Huntington’s main thesis clearly. You will then explain what he means by “a civilization,” after which you locate and describe all of Huntington’s sub-arguments which are used to support his main argument. Having done this, you will then turn to look at Brooks’ criticisms of Huntington’s argument so that you may consider the weaknesses inherent to his argument and be able to assess it in a more informed manner.

   Hence, rather than grading you on your original thesis statement in the Introduction, you will be graded on how well you have summarized and described Huntington’s main argument/thesis. You will then be graded on how well you describe each successive sub-argument presented by Huntington to support his main argument, and how well you present Brooks’ criticisms/critiques. Points will be deducted for each missed or badly explained sub-argument. You must clearly explain each of those sub-arguments and explain and how the connect/support his main argument. As always, quality of writing (grammar: spelling, word choice syntax) will affect the grade. You will certainly still need to quote the articles and cite them (in Turabian/Chicago style) as necessary.

   If you are unfamiliar with the Turabian/Chicago style please refer to the guide provided by our library.

   http://libguides.fiu.edu/c.php?g=159885&p=1048013

   I am not too worried about formatting and do not require you to include a bibliography as we are dealing with only one essay, but I do want you to use footnotes for citation in Turabian style and include page numbers.

   Here are some guide lines to help stay you on track:

   1. Locate the author’s main argument. Summarize it as best as you can.
   2. You will want to give your reader a sense of the number and type of “civilizations” the author sees the world being divided into (he does that a little later in the article.) Be sure to quote and cite as necessary.
   3. Locate his individual proofs (his sub arguments) in support of his thesis. Summarize the content of each of these arguments. Be sure to quote and cite as necessary.
   4. Locate and describe Brooks’ criticisms/critiques of Huntington’s work.
   5. Your conclusion should include a restatement of the argument and a brief informed assessment based on critical thinking and supported by specific critiques such as Brooks (you can choose to place the personal assessment in a paragraph prior to conclusion – that is up to you)
   6. Please start work as early as possible. Read the article carefully. Same goes for prompt. Be sure to contact us early with any questions you might have so that we can help guide you. Recall you can ask for assistance from me and from your TAs. Be sure to look at announcements on blackboard to figure out to which TA you have been assigned.
   7. Recall I require you to use Turabian/Chicago style citation. I am less concerned about the format you use for the essay, but the citation must be Chicago Style footnotes. Bibliography not necessary in this case, as long as you do the footnote citations properly (first reference to article or reviews has to be a full citation.)
   8. Essay length should be around four pages, 12 point, double spaced, and same font throughout (please use either Times New Roman, Calibri or Courier)