9.

The Age of Industrial Revolution

(reading assignment instructions 2004/2005)

PREPARATION FOR A ROUND TABLE CLASSROOM DISCUSSION ON THE RISE OF THE

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN (HOME ASSIGNMENT)

Your task is to prepare for a classroom discussion on the above topic. This requires a careful and
thorough reading of the assigned passages. Here’s a suggestion how you can make on overview the
passage/s you’ve have read help you prepare for the classroom discussion.

1. All groups (A, B, C) read selected sections from the article The Rise of the Industrial Age.
Read your assigned passages/article sections and think of the most important idea/ideas that
the passage puts across. Write down this idea as a central thesis (The thesis should be a
sentence or two that answer the question: What is the author/authors’ main argument in this
passage?)
2. Read through all the paragraphs that form the body of your passage/passages. Number each of
them and then think of a subtitle title for each numbered paragraph (These titles again express
the most important point being dealt with in the paragraph).
3. Under the heading of each paragraph title write a list of individual problems/issues/items the
authors deal with. You can also add here any comments/observations of your own that you
thought of when you were reading the passage.
4. Rewrite a final draft of the complete overview (osnovu) of the passage/passages. (if you read
two passages, write two overviews). What you should end up with is a three-layer structure. At
the very top of the page there should be an overall title of your assigned passage, followed by
the main thesis. Below there should be the subtitles of the individual paragraphs. Under the
paragraph subtitles there should follow your own comments and observations.

PASSAGE ASSIGNMENT FOR GROUPS A, B and C

The reading assignments for all groups have been taken from Western Civilization. Ideas, Politics &
Society. Third Edition, Volume II (from the 1400s) by Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, James R. Jacob,
Margaret C. Jacob and Theodore H. Von Laue (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989, ISBN 0-395-
48647-5)

GROUP A: 1. The Industrial Revolution: The Rise of the Industrial Age (introductory passage, pages
461 – 462)
2. The Population Explosion (pages 462 – 463)
3. The Agricultural Revolution (463 – 464)

GROUP B: 1. The Industrial Revolution: The Rise of the Industrial Age (introductory passage, pages
461 – 462)
2. Britain First (pages464 – 465)
3. Changes in Finance (pages 468 – 470)

GROUP C: 1. The Industrial Revolution: The Rise of the Industrial Age (introductory passage, pages
461 – 462)
2. Changes in Technology (pages 465—468)