Assignments

Students are required to complete a series of three writing assignments spaced throughout the seminar.

Paper 1

A five page paper that compares the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles. Your paper should make use of the readings for sessions 2-4 of the seminar, as well as the document that you will select in conjunction with our Session 4 field trip to the South Sea Bubble Resources Collection in the Kress Collection at the Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

The paper is due during Session 5, and is worth 15% of the final grade.

Guidelines for Paper 1 (PDF)

Paper 2

A six to seven page paper on the American or French Revolutionary materials. Your paper should make use of the readings and relevant materials up through Session 11.

The paper is due during Session 12, and is worth 20% if the final grade.

Guidelines for Paper 2 (PDF)

Paper 3

A nine to ten page paper on the significance of the relationship between slavery and capitalism. Your paper should make use of the readings for Sessions 6, 12, and 13, among other materials that you may choose to draw upon.

The paper is due during the final class, Session 15, and is worth 25% of the final grade.

Guidelines for Paper 3 (PDF)

Student Examples

The following papers were provided by MIT students and appear here anonymously upon their request.

"A Tale of Two Companies: East India Companies and Revolution in 18th Century Britain and France (PDF)." 

"The Corporation as a Dynamic Modern Capitalist Institution that can either Support or Conflict with Representative Democracy (PDF)."