Would the world miss humanity if we
were to suddenly disappear? What is Alan
Weisman’s answer, and, drawing evidence
from The World Without Us, what is your
answer
Your paper should be about two pages long, typed,
double-spaced, with regular font sizes and margins. Neither a title page nor a “works cited” page is
necessary. Submit your paper as a file upload on Canvas before the beginning of class on Tuesday,
May 7. Please note there are no excuses for late papers, and that late papers will be marked down
one full grade per day beginning at the minute they are due, so please plan accordingly and make sure
you submit your paper well ahead of the 9:30AM deadline.
You are responsible for making sure you correctly submit your work on Canvas. If you have a
problem, please follow on-screen help instructions if they appear, and/or contact the IT Help Center at
818-677-1400 or request assistance online at http://techsupport.csun.edu. If you still have trouble with
Canvas, you may as a last resort email to me a file containing your paper.
Academic integrity. No resource other than The World Without Us may be used to complete your
paper. Unless you’re citing the assigned text, all the words and ideas in your paper will be yours and
yours alone. If you use Grammarly or an AI like ChatGPT, if you plagiarize, or if you otherwise act
dishonestly with the intent to gain unfair academic advantage, you risk a failing grade for the course, and
you may be referred to the Office of Student Affairs for disciplinary action. Please see our course policy
on the second page of our syllabus under “Academic integrity” for more.
1
What is a good paper? A successful paper (1.) clearly and directly answers the question. (2.) It
supports what it’s saying with the strongest relevant evidence from the assigned text, cited in footnotes in
proper Chicago style. (3.) It shows you have a solid understanding of the assigned text. And (4.) it
communicates in simple, clear, proofread prose.
How do I cite evidence? Please provide at least two footnotes citing, in response to the
prompt, what you see as the strongest evidence from the assigned text. You want important quotes or
paraphrases that speak directly to the paper question. No irrelevant or insignificant textual evidence,
please.
Cite evidence in footnotes (not endnotes) in proper Chicago style. Do not try to format footnotes
manually. Your word-processing program can do them for you. For example, in a recent version of
Microsoft Word, you choose “References” in the toolbar, then “Insert Footnote” with your cursor at the
place in the text where you want to insert the footnote number. If you are using some other wordprocessing application, there is usually some kind of “Insert” drop-down menu in the toolbar with an
option to choose “Footnote.”
If you are unfamiliar with Chicago style—the style historians most frequently use—it’s not hard
to learn. When citing a book for the first time, format your footnote like this. For subsequent citations, 1
use a shortened form like this. (Chicago style discourages the use of Ibid.) For further questions about 2
Chicago style, please refer to a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style. (University Library has it as an ebook.) Or you can refer to the Turabian Quick Guide online, which is essentially Chicago style: https://
www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian/turabian-notes-and-bibliography-citation-quick-guide.html
No “works cited” section is necessary at the end of your paper. All the bibliographical
information your reader needs should already be in your footnotes
double-spaced, with regular font sizes and margins. Neither a title page nor a “works cited” page is
necessary. Submit your paper as a file upload on Canvas before the beginning of class on Tuesday,
May 7. Please note there are no excuses for late papers, and that late papers will be marked down
one full grade per day beginning at the minute they are due, so please plan accordingly and make sure
you submit your paper well ahead of the 9:30AM deadline.
You are responsible for making sure you correctly submit your work on Canvas. If you have a
problem, please follow on-screen help instructions if they appear, and/or contact the IT Help Center at
818-677-1400 or request assistance online at http://techsupport.csun.edu. If you still have trouble with
Canvas, you may as a last resort email to me a file containing your paper.
Academic integrity. No resource other than The World Without Us may be used to complete your
paper. Unless you’re citing the assigned text, all the words and ideas in your paper will be yours and
yours alone. If you use Grammarly or an AI like ChatGPT, if you plagiarize, or if you otherwise act
dishonestly with the intent to gain unfair academic advantage, you risk a failing grade for the course, and
you may be referred to the Office of Student Affairs for disciplinary action. Please see our course policy
on the second page of our syllabus under “Academic integrity” for more.
1
What is a good paper? A successful paper (1.) clearly and directly answers the question. (2.) It
supports what it’s saying with the strongest relevant evidence from the assigned text, cited in footnotes in
proper Chicago style. (3.) It shows you have a solid understanding of the assigned text. And (4.) it
communicates in simple, clear, proofread prose.
How do I cite evidence? Please provide at least two footnotes citing, in response to the
prompt, what you see as the strongest evidence from the assigned text. You want important quotes or
paraphrases that speak directly to the paper question. No irrelevant or insignificant textual evidence,
please.
Cite evidence in footnotes (not endnotes) in proper Chicago style. Do not try to format footnotes
manually. Your word-processing program can do them for you. For example, in a recent version of
Microsoft Word, you choose “References” in the toolbar, then “Insert Footnote” with your cursor at the
place in the text where you want to insert the footnote number. If you are using some other wordprocessing application, there is usually some kind of “Insert” drop-down menu in the toolbar with an
option to choose “Footnote.”
If you are unfamiliar with Chicago style—the style historians most frequently use—it’s not hard
to learn. When citing a book for the first time, format your footnote like this. For subsequent citations, 1
use a shortened form like this. (Chicago style discourages the use of Ibid.) For further questions about 2
Chicago style, please refer to a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style. (University Library has it as an ebook.) Or you can refer to the Turabian Quick Guide online, which is essentially Chicago style: https://
www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian/turabian-notes-and-bibliography-citation-quick-guide.html
No “works cited” section is necessary at the end of your paper. All the bibliographical
information your reader needs should already be in your footnotes