the purposes of this assignment are to let you practice 1 analyzing the significance of buildings within a historical context and 2 articulating that significance using the basic conventions of academic writing you should draw on course content about a

Tasks:

1. Read the text that you select from the options provided. Underline, highlight, or otherwise note the passages about architecture that you think are especially significant.

2. Think about the text and what the author says about the building(s) he describes. What role is architecture playing in the text?

To answer this summative question you might begin by asking questions like:

    • What features does the author record?
    • What does he omit?
    • To whom does he attribute the building?
    • Is the building presented positively or negatively?
    • How accurate is the description?
    • In what context is the author writing?

3. Write an argument-driven academic essay in which you articulate an answer to the question posed in bullet point #2. This essay should be between 600 and 900 words.