History 300: Introduction to Historical Studies

Fall 2003

8:30-9:20 MWF

Rosalind C. Hays

Office 309 Lewis

Office hours: 10:45-11:45 WF; 9:30-10:30 TR and by appointment

Office phone: (708)-524-6836

Home phone: (708)-386-7141

haysrosc@dom.edu

The purpose of this class is to give those interested in pursuing majors and minors in historically related fields (History, American Studies, and Social Science) a technical basis for the study of history and a basic understanding of assumptions and issues in the discipline of history. To do so we will explore technical issues, particularly those related to the evaluation of historical sources, doing historical research, and presenting historical interpretation in oral and written form. Most readings will consist of the ways historians of the past and present have thought about their discipline.

Course Goals

At the end of this course each student should have acquired

- A foundation of knowledge and skills for historical study

- An understanding of problems and issues in the practice of history formed through discussion of the ways in which historians of the past and present have practiced or thought about their calling

- Every-day survival skills for history classes

- More developed skills in historical research and a fuller acquaintance with the diverse methodologies used by historians

- Acquaintance with major bibliographic and similar tools used by historians and how to find them

BOOKS TO BUY

Appleby, Joyce, Lynn Hunt and Margaret Jacob. Telling the Truth about History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.

Tosh, John (ed.). Historians on History: An Anthology. Harlow, England and New York:: Longman, 2000.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

To receive a grade for this course you must

- Participate in class discussion --25%

- Complete a BlackBoard journal --25%

- Complete an out-of-class essay based on a work of historical scholarship--25%

- Complete a final take-home examination--25%

CLASS DISCUSSION

Your participation in class discussion is important both for your learning and for that of your classmates. Your grade for class discussion will be based on the extent to which you are present in class, prepared for class, and contribute to furthering the discussion of issues important in the course.

BLACKBOARD POSTINGS

The BlackBoard journal that you keep this semester will be an important part of the course. Your journal will consist of exploratory writing based on assigned readings. Exploratory writing is part of the process of thinking and a documentary record of thinking. The process of writing should stimulate your own imagination as well as the imaginations of other class members and help all to generate ideas about the course. Entries in your journal should allow you to enjoy writing, actively involve you in the discussion of issues raised by the course, and prepare you for other, more formal writing assignments.

You post "initial entries" regularly on the class web board at blackboard.dom.edu. These "initial" postings should be between 150 and 200 words long. Your classmates will respond to them and you will comment on other classmates' postings.

How and when to write initial postings

Step 1: Every posting except #9 is on time if it is entered by 6:00 pm on Sunday evening. In order to do the posting, by Sunday afternoon reflect on the reading you've done (for the next "Mon-Wed" on the Calendar) and on class discussion since your last posting.

Step 2: Select a passage or passages [from the reading assigned for the next couple of days] that you see as addressing some aspect or problem relevant to fundamental issues and questions we have been discussing.

Step 3: Once you've chosen your passage or passages, begin your writing by citing its [their] location[s]. Then write between 150-250 words (the equivalent of 1/2 to 1 full double-spaced typewritten page) about the passage and how it addresses issues raised in the course.

Step 4: Think about how you would raise these issues (at least three different issues) in class discussion. Add a note to your draft posting specifying the issues you think could be raised in class (you may also add other issues that are not related to the passages you chose to discuss).

Step 5: Print all this out and also post the file on the Blackboard under the appropriate posting number.

How and when to write responses:

After class discussion on Monday or Wednesday (or after Friday's discussion in the case of Posting # 9), comment on two of your classmates' entries for the relevant posting. Due by Friday evening of each week in which a posting is required.

Journal grades: A semester's BlackBoard journal is worth 100 points. Eight points are for enrolling in BlackBoard in a timely fashion. An ordinary version of each initial entry is worth five points. Each of the two responses required per week is worth one point. If all entries (10 total) are recorded and each of the two required responses is recorded the student has earned 78 points or a C+ for this part of the course. If I think an entry or response particularly good, it may receive an extra point. Entries or responses posted late each loses one point. A missing posting loses 5 points and a missing response loses a point. You may earn extra points (at my discretion) by contributing to POSTING 11, a freeform thread in which you may raise issues that seem outside the readings for the week, to respond to readings on which no postings are required, etc., but entries on that thread do not necessarily earn points.

Point totals (for the semester) of 90 or above earn some form of A, 80-90, some form of B; 70-80, some form of C; 60-70 some form of D.

OUT OF CLASS ESSAY

A work of historical scholarship will be the basis for this 10-15 page essay. The essay critically and thoughtfully examines a book, chosen in consultation with the instructor, locating the work in the history of historical writing, "historicizing" it as much as possible, also explaining its scope, methodology, choice and use of evidence, rhetorical strategies, etc. Ambitious students who would rather do so may write papers comparing two sharply contrasting works on the same topic (but also historicizing the works, explaining their scopes, uses of evidence, and rhetorical strategies in the course of the comparison).

This essay must observe conventions of historical writing, standards of attribution as they are explained in Historians' Workshops.

FINAL OUT-OF-CLASS ESSAY

The essay topic will be posted in early December.

CALENDAR

The calendar below is, of course, subject to change if necessary. The common material for class discussion is listed below. With the exception of the Posting due the week of November 17, students should complete a Blackboard "Posting" on the calendar on the Sunday before the day of discussion.

Note: All "reserve readings" will be accessible through Blackboard and on reserve at the Library circulation desk.

Day	Date	Assignments, Topics, etc.
Wed.	Sept 3	Introduction to the course/enrollment in Blackboard
Fri	Sept 5	Discussion Appleby, Introduction
Mon-Wed	Sept 8-10	Appleby, chaps 1 and 2; Posting #1
Fri	Sept 12	Historians' Workshop--Sources (reserve readings)
Mon-Wed	Sept 15-17	Appleby, chaps 3 and 4; Posting #2
Fri	Sept 19	Historians' Workshop--Other assignments (reserve readings)
Mon	Sept 22	Appleby, chapter 5; begin reading chapter 6 and begin an on-line discussion of chapter 6 on Wednesday
Wed-Fri	Sept 24-26	Presentation of Library databases and web resources for historical study--Kara Giles, Systems Librarian, Rebecca Crown Library; Crown 111
Mon-Wed	Sept 29-Oct 1	Appleby, chapter 6; Historians' Fallacies--Fallacies of Question Framing (reserve readings) Posting #3
Fri	Oct 3	Research topics in history--developing topics--the relationship between topic and methodologies (see reserve readings)
Mon-Wed	Oct 6- 8	History as Literature--Macaulay and Trevelyan (reserve readings); Posting #4
Fri	Oct 10	Historians' Workshop--Conventions and documentation (reserve readings); out of class essay topics due
Mon-Wed	Oct 13-15	Appleby, chaps 7 and 8; Posting #5
Fri-Sun	Oct 17-19	Long Weekend--No Classes
Mon-Wed	Oct 20-22	Tosh, Part I
Fri	Oct 24	Tosh, Political Histories, pp 47-82
Mon-Wed	Oct 27-29	Marxism: Handouts (reserve readings) and Tosh, pp 83-106; Posting #6
Fri	Oct 31	Pokrovsky, et al (reserve readings)
Mon-Wed	Nov 3-5	History from Below--Ludtke (reserve readings); Tosh pp 107-25; Posting #7
Fri	Nov 7	Gender: Tosh, pp 127-49
Mon-Wed	Nov 10-12	Novick, chap 14 (reserve readings); Posting #8
Fri	Nov 14	Tosh, pp 151-66
Mon-Wed	Nov 17-19	History as Social Science; Tosh pp 213-70; Posting # 9 on Braudel or Fogel by Wednesday, Nov 19
Fri	Nov 21	Braudel or Fogel (reserve readings)
Mon	Nov 24	Learning from History; Tosh, pp 167-211
Wed-Sun	Nov 26-30	Thanksgiving vacation--no classes--have a good Thanksgiving
Mon-Fri	Dec 1-5	The Historian and Objectivity--Novick, chap 1 (reserve readings); Posting #10
Mon	Dec 8	Post-Modernism and the Wider World; Tosh, pp 271-39
Mon -Fri	Dec 15-20	Examination Week--final take-home essay due at the time the final exam is scheduled by the Registrar

Dire Warning (I know most of you faithfully observe the requirements of academic honesty, but the warning is necessary for those that don't, and perhaps for those who are careless!) All students are expected to give appropriate credit to all sources used in the composition of all writing assignments; appropriate credit includes lists of works consulted (unless such consultation is specified in the assignment), appropriate use of quotations marks, and notes linking your writing to appropriate passages in sources used. (Generally, you should provide notes indicating sources for almost everything you say!) Assignments submitted that do not give appropriate credit to sources used may receive a failing grade; serious cases of academic dishonesty will entail further consultation with the Dean of Rosary College of Arts and Sciences.