History: Reflection Paper. Raquel Porter. WISE History. Professor Underwood. 29 April Make the Effort, Take the Opportunity. I have found something about myself that I want and need to change. Throughout this semester I have realized that I do not do my best in my blogger.comted Reading Time: 3 mins History Reflection Paper. Words4 Pages. Growing up and going through K education at a public school, I can see how my gender could influence the way I was treated by teachers, the way my peers treated me, and the way I was taught. At the same time, I wouldn't say it was that prominent in my personal education or school in general How to Write a Reflection Paper in History: Preparations and Preliminaries 1. Choosing a Topic. Usually, your professor will pick an article, a book or another subject for you to write about. 2. Ask Questions. A reflective paper should not retell the reading or review it. It is not an analysis in
Writing a history reflection paper - My Essay Planet
This essay attempts to answer his question. History students write numerous papers on people and events in history, but how many of us stop to think history reflection paper the discipline of history—separate from the events? Do we ever think about what the historian does? In taking a composition class paired with a history class, I expected to polish my writing skills while learning more about writing history papers—and I did.
But in looking at history in this new light, in considering history as a verb, something one does that requires tremendous effort and skill, I developed a greater appreciation for historians and their work, and realized not only that I had chosen the right major, but also history reflection paper much I loved it. Doreen hijacked the assignment. As her title indicates, Doreen was more interested in her own response to the question than in debating the relative merits of the arguments of Edward Hallett Carr and Barbara Tuchman.
Her essay reveals a comfortable familiarity with the assigned authors, and while she draws on them as sources, she goes beyond them in her synthesis, incorporating her own experience of the Berlin Crisis. I n JuneI left Berlin, Germany, with my parents, my sister, and my Swedish cousin enroute to Sweden for what was to be two weeks of Scandinavian fun. The Russian soldiers who processed us through the checkpoints were impeccably dressed in jodhpurs and the shiniest black riding boots I had ever seen.
It was obvious they had been carefully selected for this job, which entailed a goodly measure of public relations; the Communists displayed only their best. The soldiers were not only good looking and efficient, history reflection paper our papers quickly; on that day they were noticeably relaxed, with genuine smiles on their faces.
A week earlier than planned, my family returned to Berlin, driving through the same checkpoints. This time the atmosphere was tense. There were no smiles. Passports and other papers were scrutinized slowly, creating long delays, much to our discomfort, history reflection paper. What had caused the change? An event that will be taught in history classes for hundreds of years. An history reflection paper that even a thousand years from now will be at least a footnote in the history books.
Barbara Tuchman history reflection paper argue—correctly, I think—that it is too soon to write the history of the Berlin Crisis. History reflection paper contemporary generation, born and raised in the tensions of the Cold War, will record the facts and write the narrative, but we are too close to have a good perspective on it Tuchman For the interpretation of those facts, we will have to wait for the generation now being born, a generation which will have few, if any, emotional attachments to the event and therefore be better able to analyze it with some objectivity—or ignorance, as Edward H.
Carr would call it 9. This is how history is written. It is a process—a recording of facts and later an interpreting of those facts to relate them to the future generations. The question, of course, is what history our descendants will write.
Human beings are by nature egocentric. In the West we assume future historians will see the crisis as we history reflection paper. The wall was not constructed for noble reasons; it was a manifestation of the evil empire, was it not?
It is often said that history is written by the victors, and at the moment it appears the West won the Cold War. We, the victors, are now history reflection paper the facts as we see them. The atrocities of the Communist regimes will be stressed, the tales of false imprisonment told, the stories of desperate people who died trying to escape recounted and weighed against history reflection paper freedom democracy offers, history reflection paper. All this will be carefully noted, referenced, given contemporary comment, and then passed on to future generations for interpretation Tuchman Given our technology and its ability to produce the written word, the historian in two hundred years, studying the Berlin Crisis ofwill be overwhelmed with evidence.
But what if the predominant society in the world two hundred years from now is neo-Spartan? What will they do with the facts we leave them? Somewhere in eastern Europe today some historians still loyal to the fallen Communist governments are writing their version of the events modern technology now history reflection paper it possible for even the defeated to tell their story. They are describing the poverty that is prevalent in capitalist societies, the moral and physical laxity and the greed the capitalist system produces, and are comparing all this to the achievements of East Germany and Communism—achievements derived from the collective sacrifice and hard work of the people.
How will historians in the neo-Spartan world interpret what happened in Berlin? Will they give more credence to the East German explanations?
What will they do to the facts we in the West have passed down? Will they be ethical enough to preserve these facts, even if they disagree with their implications? I use Berlin as an example to illustrate the problems historians face in trying to piece together the past and relate it to the present. Although we would like to think of history as composed of never-changing facts, history contains many rumors, opinions, and deliberate falsehoods that were passed on as truths.
The story that emerges is usually described in terms of economic pressures and political maneuverings. The names mentioned are the major players—presidents, prime ministers, history reflection paper, generals. Technology is often added to the list of factors affecting the outcome: the side with the most advanced weapons usually wins a war; those with the best propaganda machines win the people's souls.
Exceptions to the rule always make for exciting stories; defiance has caused the path of history to change many times. The stories of kings and queens, generals and popes are important, especially to provide the framework of thought and events of the times, history reflection paper. But their stories are only the skeleton, the bare bones of events Carr 4. What is often left out, often not even recorded for us, is the flesh and blood of history, history reflection paper, the stories of individuals who were just as caught up in the times as were the major players.
What the compilers in the past too frequently failed to realize is that the major events are an aggregate of individual experiences.
The History reflection paper wall means nothing without the thousands of nameless families it separated and the acts of desperation it caused, history reflection paper. She was half his age, and he would never marry her, yet he risked his life, her life, history reflection paper, and an international incident to help her escape. Before the temporary wall of barbed wire was replaced history reflection paper concrete, another man, a journalist for an East Berlin newspaper, made his escape by using his own ingenuity and the vanity of a border guard.
Eager to show his fellow East Berlin citizens that despite the rifle slung on his back he really was a friendly sort, the Volkspolitzei agreed to pose for a picture that showed him accepting a history reflection paper of flowers from a child. Using the German custom of shaking hands to his advantage, history reflection paper, the journalist had the guard shake hands with the child while accepting the flowers. His story made the West Berlin paper the next day, giving the West Berliners a badly needed laugh at the expense of the Communists, history reflection paper.
But it is doubtful his story will ever be cited by historians. There were nearly three million people living in Berlin inhistory reflection paper, each of them with a tale to tell, and each tale, funny or poignant, is part of history, history reflection paper.
Few of these tales will make it into history books, however; there is not enough room. What about the stories of the past? Why should we care? Because no generation lives in isolation.
Germans who were caught behind the wall are now suffering economic and psychological distress that experts believe will take much more than a generation to overcome. The history reflection paper among former East Berliners is so high that the birthrate has fallen to levels lower than normally seen during wartime.
Though the wall has been torn down, it will continue to affect lives for at least another fifty years, probably more. This example should cause us to reflect on how history reflection paper of our present has been affected by the past.
It is more than most of us realize. History, then, is the concatenation of human experiences. And they reflect all that their parents did and thought. And so on, back history reflection paper war after war, changes in philosophy, and the rise and fall of empires. And that is reason enough to search out the past, to study history, and to record it for the future, history reflection paper.
It is, perhaps, the only way to know who we are. Carr, E. London: MacMillan, Tuchman, Barbara. New York: Knopf, About Current Volume The Contest The Rules Enter Here The Archive - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Do We Get to Win This Time?
Generation X's Feminists Star Trek Iconoclast The "Happy Days" Syndrome The Path to Awakening: Capturing Natalie Goldberg's Breath Your Attention, Please - - - - Curated Collections, history reflection paper.
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Writing a reflection
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Write a page paper reflecting on your experience in conducting an oral history interview. This paper should include a clear thesis statement, organized body paragraphs and a conclusion (summarizing the key points in your paper, and include the following: 1) It is more than most of us realize. History, then, is the concatenation of human experiences. We are today the result of (and often a reaction to) our parents’ knowledge and ignorance, their victories and pain, their enlightenment and prejudices. And they reflect all that their parents did and thought History: Reflection Paper. Raquel Porter. WISE History. Professor Underwood. 29 April Make the Effort, Take the Opportunity. I have found something about myself that I want and need to change. Throughout this semester I have realized that I do not do my best in my blogger.comted Reading Time: 3 mins
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