Assessment guidance

There is no 'perfect' essay or assessment. But below I will talk through some of the many ways to produce excellent and creative work that will meet or exceed the criteria for each piece of work.

Let's start with the basics! What I hope you will all learn across the module is how to 'read' the perfectionist demands of the world we live in for what they are: invitations to judge and assess bodies-- including our own -- according to a wide variety of standards and assumptions that are deeply cultural and historical. The call to perfect ourselves is also an invitation to consume an endless array of products and information sold on the basis that they will move you ever closer to an ever-receding 'perfect'. So there is an emphasis across the assignments below on developing your skills at identifying and critically analysing primary sources that manifest humanity's historical search for 'perfect' bodies.

Equally, this module is focused on setting ideas of human perfectibility into their historical context. What a given culture establishes as 'perfect' embodiment changes based on the politics, economics and moralities of the day, as well as the availability of tools to reshape how we live in our bodies, and how our bodies look, feel, and function. So across the assessments, I'll be looking for you to root your arguments and evidence in a detailed contextual frame, drawing on the best quality scholarly literature. That means drawing on our module required, background and further readings, and other sources that you can find in scholarly databases like JSTOR and Project Muse, and in the Library. It is absolutely fine to get started with a quick look at Wikipedia, just to learn some good search terms and parameters (chronology, geography, major events and actors, that sort of thing), However:

Neither Wikipedia nor the materials churned out by the various AI-assisted search engines can be relied on as authoritative scholarly sources.
Nor should you use journalism (online or in print) as a trouble-free source of facts. Treat the media as another primary source, always in need of interpretation and contextualisation.

So: on to the specifics!

1500 Word Essay (10%)

This essay will explore a single historical source promoting bodily perfection. This might be an image, an advertisement, a piece of historical reporting, or an excerpt from the self-help literature. It could also be a film, television show, an artisitc work, an object or a piece of literature. Students will situate that source in its historical context and use close analysis to understand what ‘perfection’ entailed, and who could or could not become ‘perfect’ in that historical time and place.

How to do this assessment:

First, you need to identify a primary source. If you don't immediately think of one you want to explore, look through the topics of our seminars, and pick one that interests you. Take a look at the day's mini-powerpoint. It will include examples of relevant primary sources. If the types of sources there don't excite you, try searching for your topic in the historical newspapers, the many archive and museum websites I mentioned in seminar 2, or on Box of Broadcast. If all else fails, come chat with me.
Second, having identified a primary source, think about how it came into being. The questions will vary slightly based on what you have chosen, but should always include:
- When and where? (Remember, context is key to meaning and thus interpretation!) Who created this source?
- Who funded its creation?
- Who or what popularised it, if it is a mass-produced item or text?
- What status did it have in its own time (was it for elites or for the masses, for example; did it represent or promote voluntary or mandated behaviour)?
- And did the introduction of your primary source produce a response in the world?

You will not be able to answer every question about every primary source. But answer as many as you can!

Based on all of the answers you find, frame your argument about your object and how it relates to the themes of our module -- the 'pursuit' of perfect bodies.

Technical aspects:

Please include an image or link to your primary source.
Please submit your essay in a 12 point font, and double spaced.
Use footnotes, not inline citation, please, following the Departmental style guide, or see my own set of answers for unusual items, here.

I will assess this piece based on the following criteria:

Have you identified a suitable primary source, one that reflects or speaks directly to the questions and themes of our module?
Have you explicitly addressed how your source speaks to questions about the pursuit of perfection?: i.e., does it confirm, contradict, or nuance the claims made in the wider secondary literature, like our readings on any given topic? Does it shed new light on an aspect of human perfectibility that has been neglected? Does it give us traction on particular aspects or visions of the 'perfect' body or individual?
Have you contextualised and critically assessed your source, thinking about who produced it, for what audience, and in what historical context, location, and culture?

3000 Word Source-Based Essay (40%)

Use close analysis of a selection of primary sources write a blog for A-level students on a topic related to the pursuit of perfection. Your blog should include eye-catching images and links to reliable, authoritative sources that are accessible to your audience. It should encourage your audience to question and compare notions of human perfection over time, across different geographies, or targeting different groups of people. You must use historical primary and secondary sources to inform your approach.

How to do this assessment:

Here I am asking you to combine two skill sets: first, I want to see your research skills and familiarity with the scholarly literature around the topic you select. Second, I want to see your ability to communicate well with a given, non-academic audience -- in this case, A-level students (not necessarily of history). To demonstrate this, you will need to use the public history literature to identify the needs of this audience, and the styles of communication that appeal to them. See the sources below to get started. Then choose a topic!

A few sources on public history:

A Companion to Public History. Edited by D. M. Dean. First. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2018.

Wolfe, Kristin R. Blogging: How Our Private Thoughts Went Public. London; Lanham, Maryland;: Lexington Books, 2014.

Mark Tremayne Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media. London;New York;: Routledge, 2007.

Cole, Juan. ‘Blogging Current Affairs History’. Journal of Contemporary History 46, no. 3 (2011): 658–70.

Once you have a topic related to our module and appealing to your cohort of A level students, you need to produce a clear, direct, and appealing account of it that also represents the highest quality of historical research. Think about how you can use visual primary sources and linked content (ensuring that the students will be able to access the items!) to enrich and extend your textual narrative.

Technical aspects:

Please include captions for your visual primary sources. These should direct readers (and me) to the original source in a museum, archive, or similar.
Your blog will not have footnotes; instead, you can name-check key authors and texts, adding hyperlinks to sources where possible.
Note that there are no penalties for under-length: blogs can be shorter than standard academic essays, particularly when they use visual or quantitative materials to add depth without adding words.
Please submit your blog in a 12 point font, and double spaced. You can present it as a word document or use an alternative template captured as a pdf.
Please include a bibliography of your scholarly and public history sources following the Departmental style guide, or see my own set of answers for unusual items, here. This will not count towards your word limit.

I will assess this piece based on the following criteria:

Have you identified a suitable topic: one that reflects the questions and themes of our module, but also speaks directly to A-level students?
Have you produced a clear 'hook' to gain their attention? (Draw on the public history literature to do this.)
Have you expressed yourself in ways that are clear and appealing to the A-level age group? (Top tip: be yourself, and draw on your own experiences as a consumer of media.)
Have you contextualised and critically assessed your topic to produce high quality historical content for your audience?

3000 Word Essay (40%)
Drawing on and extending the case studies we have explored across the module, use the historical literature and primary research to analyse the pressure to be ‘perfect’ and the ways in which individuals, societies, corporations and states experience and respond to changing expectations and ideals of embodiment.