History 200 Spring 2011
History 200
Doing History: An Introduction
MWF 1:00 to 1:50, Wyatt 206
Spring 2011
William Breitenbach Office: Wyatt 141
Office phone: 879-3167 Office hours:
E-mail: MWF 10-11; TTh 9-10
Web: http://www.pugetsound.edu/faculty-sites/bill-breitenbach/ and by appointment
After taking this course I realize that liking history is very different from being a historian. We almost need two majors—one called “History” and the other called “History for Historians.”
D. Davis, comment in History 200 class (Dec. 4, 2000)
This is a different kind of history course. It is designed to introduce prospective majors and minors to the discipline of history. In it, you will learn what history is and how historians think and work. One goal of the course is to give you training in the methodology of history at the time when it will do you the most good—at the beginning of your career as a history major or minor. Another goal is to provide all history students with some shared expectations, standards, and experiences. History 200 is set up to be a practical course, with emphasis placed on the skills of reading, analyzing, discussing, researching, and writing history. The course will teach you how to do the two things that historians do: develop original interpretations from primary sources and critically evaluate the interpretations advanced by other historians. Paper assignments will allow you to practice the types of historical writing that will be expected of you in upper-division history courses. In the second half of the semester, you’ll have a chance to put together everything you’ve learned as you undertake an independent research project. If all goes as planned, by the end of the course you will be better prepared for success in your chosen discipline and you will be more engaged with and excited about the study of the past.
READINGS
The following required books can be bought at the University Bookstore. Those marked with an asterisk are available on reserve at Collins Library.
Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 6th ed. (Boston: Bedford, 2010)
Jenny L. Presnell, The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)*
Kate L. Turabian, A Guide for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007)*
Michael Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003)*
History 200 Readings Packet for Spring 2011 (cited in the syllabus as [RP])
PROCEDURES, REQUIREMENTS, AND EXPECTATIONS
Class participation
This course will be a workshop. By enrolling in it, you have indentured yourselves as apprentice historians. Like all apprentices, you will learn the craft by doing it. In the weeks before midterm, you’ll be trained in the tools and rules of the trade. After that you’ll be turned loose on some raw material and allowed to fashion some history yourselves.
Because History 200 stresses practical training, much of your learning will occur in the classroom as you try your hand at doing history. Taking this course is like learning to drive a car: success depends on the daily accumulation of skill and experience. If you cut a class or skip an assignment, it’s a certainty that you’ll be unprepared for some situation down the road. So show up on time, ready and willing to work, with all assigned readings and exercises completed.
To help you get ready for class, I have provided a “prep” in the syllabus for each session. Sometimes the prep involves a short writing exercise. Other times it simply asks you to think carefully about questions raised by the reading. In either case, you’ll be a better participant if you have completed the prep, thought critically about the reading, and jotted down a few ideas or questions before coming to class. To facilitate your participation in discussions, please bring to class your copies of the assigned readings, along with your notes and written exercises.
Your regular attendance and thoughtful, informed participation will be important factors in determining both the success of the course and the grade that you receive in it. After every class, I’ll evaluate your contribution to other students’ learning. These daily scores will be used to calculate a participation grade, which will count for 15% of the course grade. Students who miss too many classes (normally six or more), without providing documentation of a serious illness or emergency that prevents class attendance, will be dropped from the course. For more details, see the handout on attendance, participation, and classroom conduct.
Short writing exercises
In this course, you will do a lot of informal writing. These exercises are not busy-work; rather, they are designed to train you in specific skills and move you by easy stages toward the successful completion of longer paper assignments. You might be asked to bring a brief written response to assigned readings or, after you’ve begun your research project, written work related to it. Six of the writing exercises will be collected and evaluated; these appear in the syllabus in bold print. Others will be collected and examined but not graded. Exercises are due at the beginning of class; late or emailed exercises will not be accepted, except in cases of documented illness or emergencies. The six evaluated exercises count for 10% of the course grade.
Formal papers. In addition to the writing exercises, there will be five formal graded papers:
1. Due Wednesday, February 2, at the beginning of class: a paper about the Jefferson-Hemings controversy (3 pages); counts for 7.5% of the course grade.
2. Due Friday, February 18, at the beginning of class: an interpretive essay based on a primary source (3-4 pages); counts for 12.5% of the course grade.
3. Due Friday, March 11, at the beginning of class: a review of a scholarly article in a history journal (3-4 pages); counts for 15% of the course grade.
4. Due Monday, April 18, at the beginning of class: first draft of a research paper (8-10 pages of text); counts for 15% of the course grade.
5. Due Monday, May 9, by 2:00 p.m. at Wyatt 141: final draft of a research paper (10 pages of text plus annotated bibliography); counts for 25% of the course grade.
Writing and researching help
I am eager to discuss course assignments and to provide advice on research and writing during my office hours or by appointment. On research and writing days, when the class does not meet, I’ll be available in my office during the normal class period.
Peggy Burge, the reference librarian who will be leading our two library session, is also available for individual appointments to discuss your research project. She’s very helpful!
The Center for Writing and Learning is located in Howarth 109. Its mission is to help all writers, whatever their level of ability, become better writers. To make an appointment with a writing advisor, call 879-3404, email , or drop by Howarth 109.
Harvard University’s Writing Center has a website with useful advice on writing academic essays: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr. Click on “Writing Resources.” You’ll find links to a “Brief Guide to Writing the History Paper” and eighteen “Strategies for Essay Writing.”
Grading
Grade ranges are: A (93-100), A- (90-92), B+ (87-89), B (83-86), B- (80-82), C+ (77-79),
C (73-76), C- (70-72), D+ (67-69), D (63-66), D- (60-62), and F (below 60). I will round up to a higher letter grade when the numerical score is within 0.2 points of the cut-off (e.g., 89.8 to A-).
Weighting of grades: class participation 15%, writing exercises 10%, paper on the Jefferson-Hemings controversy 7.5%, primary source paper 12.5%, article review 15%, first draft of research paper 15%, and final draft of research paper 25%.
Late work, missing work, extensions, and “Incomplete” grades
Normally I do not grant extensions or Incomplete grades, except for weighty reasons like a family emergency or a serious illness. If you are facing circumstances beyond your control that might prevent you from finishing a paper or writing exercise on time, talk to me early about the possibility of getting an extension. Provide written documentation supporting your request from a medical professional; the Counseling, Health, and Wellness Services; the Academic Advising Office; or the Dean of Students Office.
Late papers should be slipped under my office door at Wyatt 141. If Wyatt is locked, you may send me the paper by email in order to stop the penalty clock, but you must subsequently give me an unaltered hard copy at the first opportunity. Unless I have granted an extension, a late paper will be marked down substantially. It is imperative that you meet the deadline for the first draft of your research project. No late paper will be accepted after 5:00 p.m. on Friday of final exam week. Students who do not submit all five formal papers will get a WF for the course.
Other policies
Students who want to withdraw from the course should read the rules for withdrawal grades in the Academic Handbook (link provided below). Monday, February 28, is the last day to drop with an automatic W; thereafter it is much harder to avoid a WF. Students who are dropped for excessive absences or who abandon the course without officially withdrawing will receive a WF.
Students who cheat or plagiarize, help others cheat or plagiarize, invent or falsify their research, mark or steal library materials, or otherwise violate the university’s standards of academic integrity will receive an F for the course and will be reported to the Registrar. If you do not know what counts as academic dishonesty at the University of Puget Sound, read the section on “Academic Honesty” in the Academic Handbook (link provided below). Ignorance of the concept or consequences of plagiarism will not be accepted as an excuse.
In matters not covered by this syllabus, I follow the policies in the current Academic Handbook, which is available online at http://www.pugetsound.edu/student-life/student-resources/student-handbook/academic-handbook/.
CLASS SCHEDULE
All reading assignments, preps, and exercises are to be completed before class on the day for which they are listed. Bring this syllabus to class along with the readings assigned for the day.
UNIT I: WHAT IS HISTORY, ANYWAY?
Historical thinking, in its deepest forms, is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development. Its achievement, I argue, actually goes against the grain of how we ordinarily think. This is one of the reasons why it is much easier to learn names, dates, and stories than it is to change the fundamental mental structures that we use to grasp the meaning of the past.
Sam Wineburg, “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts”
Our hardest task as teachers is to keep antiquity accessible while stressing its ineffable strangeness. Such understanding requires not only empathy with the past but awareness of its unbridgeable difference. The past was not only weirder than we realize; it was weirder than we can imagine. However much we strive to know them, past minds remain opaque to us. To link us with precursors while accepting the unlikeness of their worlds, we must somehow convey the past’s mysterious affinity.
David Lowenthal, “Dilemmas and Delights of Learning History”
There is a tendency to freeze the present and project it back upon an unchanging past. If you can get beyond this in a history course—well, you’re on third base!
Lawrence W. Levine, lecture at UPS (March 20, 2001)
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between
This introductory unit raises issues and lays down assumptions that are fundamental to the course and to the discipline of history itself. The unit aims to show that history is a craft with a distinctive method, that history is interpretive, that evidence is constructed and not just discovered, and that historians disagree both about the interpretations proposed by their colleagues and about the very nature of historical knowledge. We’ll get at these issues by considering just what distinguishes historical thinking from non-historical thinking about the past. By the end of this unit, you should have a better idea of what is meant by that ugly term “historical-mindedness.”
1. Wed., Jan. 19: Introduction to the Course
Questionnaire (used for History Department assessment purposes)
Eyewitnesses and historical evidence: looking at a poster
2. Fri., Jan. 21: Stories of a Past Event
History 200 syllabus (This is your agreement with me. Read it!)
Rampolla, Pocket Guide, 1-5
Raymond Queneau, Exercises in Style, trans. Barbara Wright [RP, 3-8]
Jonathan Zimmerman, “Revisionists, Get Out of Florida” [RP, 9-11]
Prep: Decide which of Queneau’s stories is the best history of the incident and write a couple of sentences explaining why. Write your own story (with title) about the incident. Write a brief paragraph discussing what the Queneau stories imply about the Florida legislators’ quest to ban revisionist history.
3. Mon., Jan. 24: Is History Relativistic or Objective? Is It an Art or a Science?
Carl L. Becker, “Everyman His Own Historian” [RP, 12-20]
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Mr. Everyman Buys Coal” [RP, 21-22]
Robin G. Collingwood, “The Limits of Historical Knowledge” [RP, 23-27]