QUESTION

The Essay Prompt:
All four genocides that we have studied took place in the midst of larger military conflicts, but
that wartime context played less of a role in motivating and determining the course of the last two
instances of persecution and genocide (Cambodia and Rwanda) than it did in the first two (Armenia
and the Holocaust).
Do you agree or disagree, and why?
The Process:

2
In a well-organized essay of 2,500 words (about 10 pages), clearly address the prompt. Draw
only on the material that we’ve read and discussed in this class so far – the books by Philip
Gourevitch, Loung Ung, Joe Pell, Christopher Browning, and Ron Suny as well as the lectures and
section conversations.
You must incorporate at least twelve (12) direct quotations in this essay:
 at least four (4) from Gourevitch’s book
 at least four (4) from Ung’s book
 at least two (2) from Pell’s book
 at least one (1) from Suny’s book
 and at least one (1) from Browning’s book
A “direct quotation” is a full sentence of quoted text. You should introduce every quotation,
telling the reader who said the words inside the quotation marks, and cite the source of the
quotation in a footnote or an endnote. Here’s an example:
While discussing the way in which state forms changed in the early 20th century, Ron Suny
writes, “In their ideal forms nation and empire stand at opposite ends of a political spectrum.”1
Focus on the prompt. Your answer to it constitutes your thesis, which the rest of your essay
should seek to support. If a piece of information does not advance your thesis, do not include it. Also,
since this is a historical essay, use dates to provide the reader with the necessary context for a given
quotation or analysis. Finally, observe the following:
 No quotation should be longer than 40 words (i.e. NO block quotations).
 Always underline the title of a book, like this, or place it in italics, like this (but do not do both).
 Use apostrophes carefully, particularly with respect to Nazis/Nazis’ (you will never use Nazi’s)
and Armenians/Armenians’. In both cases the latter form is the plural possessive — i.e., “The
Nazis’ policy of extermination evolved over time.”
 Capitalize “Holocaust” and “Armenian Genocide,” but not the word “genocide” when it refers to
the concept in general.