Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response

Research papers from Paper Masters can use specific books to serve as the foundation of the research. For example, Bernard Lewis' book What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response is an excellent book to use in a cause and effect research paper when studying the Middle East.

According to Lewis, many enduring contributions of Islam to Western economic development, overall social development, and civilization emerged as a result of Western contacts with these flourishing commercial systems. Among the most important contributions is the "Arabic" system of numerals now employed across the West and in much of the rest of the contemporary world -and, of course, as a central part in modern trade, commerce, and finance. Other critical and enduring contributions include the decimal system as well as central concepts in geometry and algebra that remain important even today.

The advancements of Islamic societies during their glory days were in large part attributable to their remarkable openness to the rest of the world. At a time when most Western societies were extremely conservative and inward-looking, many predominantly Muslim societies in the Middle East and elsewhere evinced strong penchants for studying the knowledge and technologies from the diverse societies with which they interacted, incorporating what was gained into their own bodies of wisdom and technological wealth, and building upon these to further enhance their understandings of the world and how it works, and to develop even more sophisticated technologies and commercial systems.

This is how you should structure your cause and effect research paper that uses What Went Wrong : Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response:

The length provided here for items (1), (2) and (4) are suggestions which are meant to help you structure your review. The final decision as to how to structure your paper is yours to make. However, item (3) should be at the very least 2 1/2 pages and item (2) at least 1/2 a page per chapter.

1. Introduction - One-half to one full page of introduction- in which you should outline, in a narrative manner, the overall content and perspective of the book, including some data about the author of the book (for which you need to do some research on the Internet).
   
2. Summary of the different chapters of the Lewis' book - In this summary, you may include quotes. Since you have limited space to summarize the whole chapter, please be selective with the quotes you choose. They must be representative of the content of the chapters.
   
3. Critically Analyze the content of the book - 2.5 to 3.5 pages - Take a position, and base it on knowledge drawn from other sources if needed. Encyclopedias will be very helpful in this project as well as the books used in class, presentations and videos. If you use the presentations and/or videos in your review, you must provide the exact title of lecture, date and place viewed as customary in citing bibliography of such sources.
   
4. Conclusion- 1-2 pages - In this part of your review, you should include the importance of the book. Would you recommend or not recommend this book to an interested reader? Why or why not? You may include any other additional information you feel appropriate.

Guidelines in detail for What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response Research Paper:

1. A good way to go about writing the review is to read the instructions in booklets that are designed for instructing students in writing book reviews/reports, such as "How to Write Book Reports," by Harry Teitelbaum, Arco Book, Macmillan USA, 1995, (or later versions/editions) that may be found in any book store or on the Internet. However, if you choose not to use these guides, please follow the guidelines above very carefully.
2. Spell check your paper for typos and errors and make all necessary style corrections before you hand in your paper. A paper written badly will lead to a reduced grade.
   

Topics on Middle Eastern and Western Integration

A good topic for research on the Middle East is a study that critically examines Islam and economic development, focusing especially on the role of Islam in the development of the West. The study demonstrates that although Islam is often presented as inimical to economic development, many aspects of this major world religion actually have the potential to promote robust economic growth and advancement. The study also demonstrates that Islamic societies played major roles in the economic development of the West. Through contacts with people who believed in Islam, Westerners gradually acquired the knowledge, technologies, and wealth to extract themselves from underdevelopment and backwardness and push their societies along the road towards longstanding economic development.