INSTRUCTIONS
This midterm exam is designed in the style of a “take-home” test. That means you will complete the exam on your own time, consulting the textbook and other course materials as much as you choose. However, all your answers must be written in your own words, expressing your own ideas. Copying directly from other sources (including the textbook) is not permitted; neither is copying someone else’s text but changing the words.
That’s because the purpose of an exam like this is to demonstrate your ability to reason about concepts from the course—using course facts to make, explain, and defend conclusions of your own. Strong answers will use specific information from the course as evidence while articulating an original set of thoughts.
Formal academic citations are not necessary for information that comes from the course (i.e., the textbook, course videos, or other resources provided on Brightspace), as long as it is expressed in your own words. You should not do any research in outside sources for this exam.
FOR THIS ESSAY IT IS RECOMMENDED YOU HAVE THE BOOK “THE WEBS OF HUMANKIND” VOLUME 2, FIRST SEAGULL EDITION
ESSAY
Choose one of the topics below and write a short essay (300-500 words) providing an original response to it. In your response, demonstrate your familiarity with information covered in the course so far. Use that information to explain and provide evidence for your position.
-Which of these was a more important factor in world history between 1500 and 1800: technological change or the development of new ideas?
-Based on the information covered in the course so far, what region of the world (Africa, the Americas, Asia, or Europe) would you say changed the most between 1500 and 1800?
-On balance, were the changes that happened between 1500 and 1800 a positive thing or a negative thing for humanity?