NSTRUCTIONS:
These essays (2 pages each, about 500 words) will explore the riches contained in theOxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB).
1) Find a person in the ODNB who intrigues or interests you. Your choices shouldvary by occupation, sex, and status, and Your person must have lived between 1509 and 1625 and lived in the British isles.
.Try to find someone that the textbook omits or mentions only briefly: avoid the heavily discussed people such as kings. You can search in the text of all entries to target ideas/topics that interest you within a given set of dates: for example, you can search for “abbess” within the era 800-1100, or try “witch” between 1400-1688. Be creative andenjoy the journey.2) This person will serve as the main topic of your essay. Your essay will explainthe person’s significance that led to inclusion in the ODNB by addressing this question:”What importance did ONE of the following influences, a) family, or b) education, or c)religion, have in the person’s life that enabled her/him to achieve?” The answer to this question is the thesis of your essay and will shape its analysis. Have the thesis in your firstparagraph, and then write supporting paragraphs that explain and justify your argument.End with a conclusion paragraph.
3) Include the citation to the entry: the name of the author who wrote the entry,the title of the entry (usually the subject’s full name), and ODNB. There is a link with each entry that provides the citation format if you wish to use it. I want your paper only to draw from the ODNB, so please do no further research or use other sources.
On these assignments, please pay attention to some of the basics of good writing:a) Organize your thoughts into paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and endingwith a conclusionb) Write in complete sentences: have a subject and a verb, and avoid run-on sentencesand sentence fragmentsc) Use the past tense of verbs: all these people are dead, so they “did” things–they are not”doing” thingsd) Care about punctuation, especially with commase) Use the active voice and avoid the passive voice:”Mistakes were made” = passive because the subject (mistakes) did not do theaction of the verb (were made)”I made a mistake” = active because the subject (I) did the action of the verb(made)Once you see the difference, it will make a world of improvement in your prose.f) Proofread for typos and errors