Western History

Order Description
Throughout history, there have been many events which have shaped the development early modern western civilization. With this notion as a premise, you are required to write a paper that answers all of the following questions: What is the defining moment in the history of early modern western civilization? What are at least three events that inspired (and/or resulted from) this defining moment? Who are at least two significant figures that contributed to (and/or benefited from) this moment? What is the overall significance of this defining moment to western civilization?

When choosing a topic, there are three key points to keep in mind:
For the purposes of this paper, early modern western civilization is defined as 1500-1815. Your defining moment must come from in this time frame. However, your supporting events and significant figures may come from before or after this time frame.
You must be specific when choosing a defining moment; for example, the French Revolution would be too broad to choose as the moment, but the Storming of the Bastille would be an acceptable choice.
As this is a western civilization course, the primary focus of your paper must be a kingdom or country in Europe. However, when choosing related events and significant figures, you do not have to limit yourself to Europe. If non-European events or people are relevant to supporting your thesis, you may include them in your paper. You also do not have to limit yourself to people, events, and ideas covered in class.
The bibliography must have at least five separate sources. These must be printed sources from the library or academic periodicals found in the library’s scholarly databases (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/erie.html). Online sources are not acceptable for this assignment. (Material found on the PSU library website, such as journal databases and digital copies of books, does not count as an online source.) In addition to these five sources, you may also use your textbook as a supplemental source. You can find information about citation online at via the library at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/researchguides/citationstyles.html.
Answer all of the questions listed above, utilize at least five sources, be written in third person, be double spaced, be set in an appropriate font (Times New Roman 12 or Courier New 10), have 1-inch margins.
All quoted and paraphrased material must be cited, although quotes from your sources should be used sparingly. Unless it is a direct quote, any information taken from class notes can be considered common knowledge and does not need to be cited.