For this essay, you are taking the perspective of an ancient Chinese court scholar writing
an essay to the Emperor of China, arguing for the adoption of a particular governing
Philosophy. If your last name begins with a letter between P and Z, you are arguing from a Legalist perspective.
Use your knowledge of Chinese history and philosophy to make this argument. It should be
clear from the essay that your understand the history surrounding the period and the
specifics of the philosophy/ies you describe. This is meant to be a persuasive essay in
which you try to convince the reader to adopt your philosophy. The more successfully you
can convince me that the Emperor should embrace your favored governing philosophy, the
better your grade will likely be.
This essay will be judged both for the quality of the analysis and for the caliber of the
writing, so make sure that your essay flows well, that transition between paragraphs is
clear, and that there are no or very few grammatical errors. Please follow the conventions
of formal academic writing. In this class all written work will be done using Standard
Edited English (The variety of English that is generally acknowledged as the model for the
speech and writing of educated speakers). This essay will be judged both for the quality of
the analysis and for the caliber of the writing, so make sure that your essay flows well, that
the transitions between paragraphs are clear, and that there are no or very few
grammatical errors. A rubric for how this essay will be graded is available in Moodle.
You want to use quotations and citations in this essay; you must use at least two
primary sources and one scholarly secondary source for your essay, properly cited
in Chicago style and with a Works Cited page. You must be sure to use your own work.
Plagiarism is a form of cheating that involves presenting as ones own the ideas or work of
another. Be sure to cite quotations
