Tutor profile: Allison B.

How does one approach writing an academic essay?

There are two essential parts of an academic essay: the accumulation of primary sources and a strong thesis thesis statement. Without these two things, a student will not be able to attain top marks. In order to gather primary sources, think outside of the box: find music, poetry, and video interviews that will help your grader understand the lengths to which you went for source material. Gather research using responsible internet academic collections, such as Project Muse, JStor, and university libraries. Before beginning to write, sit down with a blank piece of paper and write down the single most important thing that you think will help answer the essay question. Is it a quote? An idea? Write it down, and then write underneath it why it matters and connects to the essay question. From there, take this idea and develop it as your own. What can you say about this subject that has not been said before? From there, you will be in a strong place to write an excellent essay.

What did the July 14, 1958 Free Officer coup in Iraq that removed the Hashemite monarchy say about its tenuous hold on imperialism in the 20th century?

The 1958 Iraqi revolt that culminated in the killing of King Faisal II and his family was another nail in the British Empire' coffin. Like Egypt, Iraq was one of Britain's mandates, and the British ruled with a strong self-interest in both countries through the use of a 'puppet' monarchy. The Iraqi royal family was a Hashemite dynasty, like Jordan, meaning that they are known to be descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. This lent serious legitimacy to the dynasty which the British employed for its own means, particularly in terms of oil. More than 90% of British oil in 1958 came from the Persian Gulf, and most of the British oil companies had their contracts there. Predictably, the Tory of government led by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had an extreme reaction to the coup, and sent a military operation into Jordan to protect the British-backed monarchy there (it was also Hashemite, and the Jordanian royal family were cousins to the slaughtered Iraqis). The removal of the monarchy in Iraq represented the end of the British-controlled Middle East, and, more globally, one of the final chapters for the Empire as a true world force. Not even Britain's closest ally, the U.S., would provide military assistance in Iraq or Jordan in 1958, showing the irrelevancy of British interests.

What does Shakespeare reveal about Elizabethan culture in his use of gender ambiguity and cross dressing in As You Like It?

In this play, Shakespeare uses gender fluidity to expose the hypocrisy of the strict gender roles of the English Elizabethan culture. In As You Like It, Rosalind pretends to be the male Ganymede, wooing Orlando while she presents as a man. The name 'Ganymede' denotes the Greek mythical cup-bearer of Zeus who had a homosexual relationship with the King of the Gods. By making Ganymede a woman in disguise, Shakespeare inverts this classical myth in order to provide commentary on Elizabethan culture. While homosexuality in this period was widely condemned, Shakespeare uses Rosalind's character to expose the hypocrisy of this condemnation by expressing a heterosexual relationship through homosocial interactions. The difference between man and woman is paper-thin in this play in order to show that love between people is not defined by their 'authentic' gender expressions. The homo-romanticism between Orlando and Rosalind as Ganymede is Shakespeare's way of revealing the different facets of love contrary to conservative Elizabethan norms of sexuality.