Essay writing tips
Stage 1. – think about themes we studied in the course such as
- divisions among East European Jews
- Zionism
- relations between Jews and their non-Jewish environments, acculturation/assimilation
- anti-Semitism
- the first Aliyyot
- political responses among Jews
- Mandate Palestine and the growth of the Jewish community
- the different experiences and cultures of European Jews and Jews from the Arab or Muslim world
- the Holocaust
- Messianism
Stage 2 – read through the chapters highlighted in the book with those themes in mind
Stage 3 – Take notes of every time one of these themes emerge, paying particular attention on how they are remembered /understood. You won’t need to talk about *every* theme in your essay but you’ll need to draw from more than one as your examples.
Stage 4 - Ask yourself: how do these different voices view and understand the past (the past being all those events, ideologies, processes mentioned in stage 1)? What are the similarities and differences in the way they understand the past? How is Israeli society shaped by these differences? Are there aspects of the past that are left out?
Stage 5 – Your answers to stage 4 will form the focus of your essay.
February 28 2010 08:08 pm | assignments