The paper for HIST 311 is a straightforward position paper, based on primary sources. The task is to take any clear position from a decent secondary source (like our text on Women in the Ancient World, or on Constantine) and test it with one or more primary sources. For example, you may take Pomeroy's book and find a clear position-statement on the status of women in Rome, then examine the status of women in one primary source, say the Passio of Perpetua, and show how the primary source supports the secondary source, or how it strays from it, or how it destroys the position of Pomeroy, or some combination of ideas.

        Or you might take Eusebius' Life of Constantine and do the same with some position you find that Dr. Jones takes.  Or you may find a good secondary source in the library, or elsewhere, and test its conclusions with some primary source. Using more than one primary source is certainly allowable, if necessary, but with many primary sources (as in the examples cited above), a single primary source will probably yield a great deal of material.

      How long should the paper be? 10 pages would be getting long, while 5 pages would probably be too short. Style? The usual double-spaced mode with history-Turabian/Chicago-style endnotes. How should it proceed? First spend a page or two explaining the context of the secondary source position, along with quoting the particulars openly. Also explain the larger topic which the statement is part of. Then introduce the primary source, and begin to present your evidence. Explain how each piece of evidence relates to your 'take' on the secondary source. Show agreement, variation, ambiguity and disagreement. Sum it up in a conclusion and call it a day. Or a paper.