Importantly, each student is required to write a research paper (20-30 pages long) on a viable topic related to the ancient Near East (including Egypt and Anatolia). Here the student will formulate a specific topic in agreement with the professor from a range of general themes and issues provided by the latter, or else the student might suggest a theme of his/her own. The student will proceed in a methodical manner to research and write the paper over the length of the term, beginning with general readings, formulation of the topic, composing an annotated bibliography, outlining the paper, authoring first and second drafts, and completing the final draft. In the second-draft stage, the student will present a formal oral report to the seminar on issues and findings for group discussion. At all points of the process, the student will remain in close consultation with the professor.

In this regard, the course focuses on European contacts with eastern cultures through the ages in order to determine how Europeans conceived of themselves particularly as a "western" civilization. Thus, the course engages such issues as how did the West perceive the non-West (and act on those notions), and, commensurately, how did the non-West perceive the West? Discussions will include European contacts with the Middle East, Africa, and Asia; invasions by the Mongols, Moors, and Turks, European invasions of the Middle East, Jews living in Europe, and the extent of Arabic knowledge and erudition in Europe in the Middle Ages. As a case in point, the course will consider the Crusades from both the European and Arab perspectives to show how different cultures viewed the same historical processes differently. Through this approach, we seek to understand the extent to which a common European identity derived from a sense of shared values versus entirely different people in other places who did not share those values. Finally, we hope to answer the basic questions: what is Western Civilization, and how did the West become the West?