Response Essay

What the assignment is

You are writing a 34 page response essay that answers this course question:

Based on the assigned reading(look at the Assignment & Guidelines zip), how did the populations living in ancient Palestine/Israel define peoplehood or nationhood?

So this is not just a summary of readings. It is a short argument paper about how different populations defined belonging / collective identity.

What your paper must do

Your essay should:

• Answer the prompt directly (how peoplehood/nationhood is defined)
• Use evidence from ancient texts and/or archaeological material from the course
• Not focus on only one people (you need comparison)
• Be careful with ancient terminology/categories and avoid forcing modern meanings onto them
• Cover all readings up to the due date
• Specifically discuss the reading assigned on the due date!!!!!!!!

Format requirements

The prompt requires:

• 34 pages (for each response essay)
• Double-spaced
• 12 pt Times New Roman
• Normal font formatting

Citation requirements (important)

Primary / ancient sources

Use the in-class convention (author/title/book or section number), like the example format your professor gives in the prompt.

Secondary scholarship

Use parenthetical citation with:

• author surname
• title/article title
• page number

Dont cite New Oxford Annotated Bible as your main analytical source

Use it as the file to access the texts, but in the essay, cite the actual text:

• 1 Kings
• 2 Kings
• Ezra-Nehemiah
• Esther

That looks much more accurate and academically solid.