HIST
4484W
Senior Seminar
Spring
2013
Tuesday
3:30-6
Pafford
206
Dr.
Michael de Nie
TLC
3204
Office Hours: TR 10-11, 1-3:30, and by appointment
Tel.:
678.839.6033
Email: mdenie@westga.edu
Course
Description
This
course provides students with the opportunity to conceive and execute their own
original historical study. It thus represents the capstone of the history
major’s course of study at the University of West Georgia. The work in this
course is the apex to which the history program at West Georgia has been
building. In the first part of the course we will do some common readings
together. Our analysis of each of these readings will focus on examining what
evidence the historians found and how they used that evidence to construct an
original historical argument. These readings will offer models and guidance for
students’ own research projects. In the second part of the course, the focus
shifts to the research and writing of those student projects. Along the way,
there will be several milestones that must be reached.
This
course is writing-intensive. Effective writing is essential to the historical
discipline and to a liberal education. The “W” designation for this course
indicates that it is a Discipline-Specific Writing course.
Prerequisites
Each
student must have already completed HIST 2302 and have senior standing. Any
student registered for the course who has not completed the prerequisites must
see the instructor.
Required
Reading:
Hellstern, Mark, Gregory
Scott, and Stephen Garrison. The History
Student Writer’s Manual
Learning
Outcomes
This
course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to conceive and
execute their own original research project. As part of that work this course is
designed to permit students actively engaged in the learning process with the
opportunity to develop further the following skills:
·
to
recognize and to pose significant historical questions;
·
to
find useful primary and secondary sources;
·
to
analyze sources critically;
·
to
cite sources properly;
·
to
write and to speak clearly;
·
to
construct a persuasive historical argument based on evidence; and
·
to
think historically.
Thinking
historically requires one:
·
to
seek to understand the people of the past;
·
to
seek to understand the perspective of historical actors and to view those
historical actors from a critical, scholarly perspective;
·
to
recognize that people, events, ideas, and cultures have influenced later people,
events, ideas, and cultures;
·
to
recognize that history involves both change and continuity over time; and
·
to
draw and to explain connections between par particular people, events, ideas, or
texts and their historical contexts.
Grade
Participation
10%
Topic
statement
5%
Question
and bibliography
5%
Primary
source presentation
5%
Introduction
and historiography section
10%
Final
presentation
10%
Paper
50%
Reflective
essay
5%
I
do not accept late or electronically submitted
assignments.
Each
student will write an original, typed, double-spaced research paper of 20-25
pages in length examining some question of interest related to the course. The
paper must assert a thesis and sustain it on the basis of evidence drawn from
both primary and secondary sources. The paper must incorporate at least six
primary and ten secondary sources. The paper must cite its sources in footnotes
and list works consulted in a bibliography according to the documentary note
style specified in section 5.3 of The History Student Writer’s Manual.
That citation style is based on documentary note style of the Chicago Manual
of Style.
The
project must be an original work undertaken for this course. The paper will be
graded on the basis of the rubric set out at the end of the syllabus. The paper
is due at the beginning of class on April 16. Each student must submit two
copies of the final paper.
We
will start the semester with some common readings. The readings are intended to
help us to consider how best to understand the past and to write about it.
Students should consider the readings as potential models for their own work.
Students should bring all of the completed readings with them each week, because
we will compare and contrast approaches among them.
Each
student is encouraged to consult with a professor who specializes in the field
that the student is researching. Students should submit a written draft
bibliography to an expert professor for advice and heed that advice in
researching their questions.
On
January 22 each student must submit a topic statement. The topic statement is a
typewritten statement of the topic to be addressed by the paper. A clear,
workable topic statement submitted on time will receive an “A.” One letter grade
will be deducted from that topic statement grade if the statement of the
question presented diverges from the topic statement. One letter grade will be
deducted if the primary source presented does not address the topic selected.
One letter grade will be deducted if the final paper does not address the topic
selected in the topic statement.
On
February 5 each student must submit a statement of the question to be addressed
and a bibliography. The written statement of the question to be addressed should
represent a refinement of the paper’s topic. The question should be sufficiently
interesting and important to merit at least a twenty-page paper. It should be
sufficiently narrow to be answerable adequately within at most a twenty
five-page paper. The question should be answerable in a statement that will be
the paper’s thesis. A question that meets those requirements and that is
supported by a bibliography will receive an “A.” One letter grade will be
deducted from the grade awarded for the question presented if the primary source
presented does not address the question stated. One letter grade will be
deducted if the final paper does not answer the question stated.
In
the primary source presentations, each student will pick one important primary
source from among the primary sources used for the paper. The presentation will
describe the source to the class and explain how the paper will make use of the
source in its argument. Students should come to class with copies of the source
or relevant extracts of the source for everyone in the class. The presentation
should address questions such as: Who wrote the document? Who was the audience
of the document? What was the purpose of the document? What does it say? Why is
it significant? Each student will also answer questions from the group about the
source. Grades will be based primarily on the quality of the analysis.
On March 12
students will turn in the introduction and historiography section of their
papers. That section should be about three pages in length. It should introduce
the historical question the paper examines and briefly state the paper’s answer
to that question. It should also place the paper in its historiographical context and identify the paper’s original
contribution to the existing historical writing related to the question under
examination. Note that the section handed in should not be a rough
draft. It should be a polished draft, as good as it can be, since it will be
graded, and that grade will weigh 10% the final grade for the
course.
I
will comment on the introduction and historiography section and assign it a
grade. Each student should take into account those comments in the final paper
and incorporate a rewritten introduction and historiography section in the final
paper. The final paper should represent an improvement over the earlier version
of the section. The marked-up draft of the introduction and historiography
section must be turned in along with the final paper.
In
the final presentations, each student will describe the paper’s argument and
supporting evidence to the class in a ten-minute talk. Students should not
simply read excerpts from their paper. Students will then answer questions from
the group. Grades will be based on the quality of the oral presentation of the
paper’s argument and evidence and responses to questions posed.
The
reflective essay due at the end of the course should be 2-3 pages in length and
it should address the following question: What have you learned during your time
as a student at West Georgia? The essay will be graded on the basis of the
quality of the reflection and the writing. It is due on April 23.
Statement
on Plagiarism
Please
note that anyone committing plagiarism in any written assignment will earn an F
for the course and may face further disciplinary action. Plagiarism is defined
in the University of West Georgia Handbook as “representing
the words or ideas of another as one’s own. Direct quotations must be indicated
and ideas of another must be appropriately acknowledged.” Please see the UWG’s
History Department statement on plagiarism at http://www.westga.edu/~history/plagiarismhtm.htm
and the UWG English Department’s guide for avoiding plagiarism at: http://www.westga.edu/~engdept/Plagiarism/index.html.
In accordance
with the Americans with Disabilities Act and university policy, I will make
reasonable accommodation for any recognized disability. Students should contact
me during the first three weeks of the course and present documentation from the
University’s Student Development Center.
Course
Schedule
Jan.
8
Introduction
Jan.
15
How do I make an original
argument?
Readings:
J. Harrison Powell, “‘Seven Year Locusts’: The Deforestation of Spotsylvania
County during the American Civil War,” Essays in History
http://www.essaysinhistory.com/articles/2011/4
Writer’s
Manual,
pp. 118-22 and ch. 2
Jan.
22
How do I structure my paper?
Readings:
de Nie, “‘Speed the Mahdi!’
The Irish Press and Empire During the Sudan Conflict of
1883-1885” (distributed by instructor)
Writer’s
Manual,
ch. 10
Written
topic statement due
Jan.
29
Strengths and weaknesses
Readings:
Lauren
MacIvor Thompson, “‘I wish I could forget
myself...’: Mary Todd Lincoln and the Pursuit of True
Womanhood, 1818-1882,” Essays in History (2011) online:
http://www.essaysinhistory.com/articles/2011/31/
Tyler
Green, “George B. McClellan: Political Forces and Generalship,” The
University of Arizona Undergraduate Historical Review 1 (2009) (online)
Kirk
McFarland, “A Split Decision: How Republican Division Ensured Democratic
Victory” The University of Arizona Undergraduate Historical Review 1
(2009) (online)
http://clubs.asua.arizona.edu/~pat/Journal/Summer%202009%20UA%20Undergrad%20Historical%20Review.pdf
Feb.
5
Written statement of question to be addressed and
bibliography due
Feb.
12
Individual meetings
Feb.
19
Presentations of primary sources
Feb.
26
Presentations of primary sources
Mar.
5
Discussion of use of primary sources
Mar.
12
Introduction and historiography
section due
Mar.
26
Discussion of introduction and historiography sections
Apr.
2
Final presentations
Apr.
9
Final presentations
Apr.
16
Final presentations
Paper
due
Apr. 23
Reflective Essay due
Rubric
for Senior Seminar Papers
1.
Academic Honesty
Does
the paper adhere to the fundamental requirement of academic honesty? Pass/Fail
2.
Analysis
A.
Does the paper pose a significant historical question?
B.
Does the paper offer a clear, persuasive thesis making a claim worth arguing
about?
C.
Does the paper position its thesis within the context of the existing
historiography?
D.
Does the paper effectively use evidence in support of its argument?
E.
Does the paper demonstrate critical analysis of sources?
F.
Is the paper free from any failure to document sources, including omissions that
appear inadvertent or otherwise not egregious?
G.
Does the paper demonstrate an ability to think historically?
H.
Is the analysis marked by particular originality or insight?
3.
Research
A.
Does the paper reflect a substantial amount of research?
B.
Has the paper found and engaged with the most important primary and secondary
sources?
C.
Does the paper reflect in-depth knowledge of the subject?
4.
Organization
A.
Is there a logical organization to the paper?
B.
Are paragraphs within the paper logically organized?
C.
Does the paper flow smoothly?
5.
Writing
A.
Is the writing clear and precise?
B.
Is the writing persuasive?
C.
Is the writing free from grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, spelling,
citation format, or other errors?
6.
Other
A.
Does the paper reflect that its author considered comments offered previously by
the instructor?
B.
Does the paper indicate that a good deal of effort went into it?
C. Does the
paper give an overall impression of high quality?