HISTORY 4398: SENIOR SEMINAR
“PERCEPTIONS OF IDENTITY”
Fall 2006, Monday 7:00-9:30 pm, Holden Hall 127
TEACHER
John Howe
Office: Holden Hall 143
Hours: MTu 9:30-10:00 pm ,
Telephone: 806 42-1004 ext 233 Tu 9:00-11:00 am;
FAX: 806 742-1060
and by appointment
E-Mail: john.howe@ttu.edu
Web: http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/howe (the best way to
access this syllabus)
PURPOSES OF THE COURSE
Were people of past ages the same as us? Or were they different? How a historian answers such questions greatly affects his or her historical research and historical narratives. Yet an answer requires that we know who we are, which is no easy trick as anyone can testify who has ever looked into a mirror and attempted to regard the image objectively. In this senior seminar students will make a general review of historical methodology, research, and academic writing; they will produce a capstone paper. They will do this around the common theme of continuity versus alterity, looking at questions about what we can and cannot assume concerning people who lived before us.
The purposes of the course will be: 1) to provide a broad integrated perspective on studies in history and related disciplines; 2) to test the limits of the types of models historians use by examining one particular psychological and social science model—“identity theory”; 3) to review the techniques of data gathering, source criticism, and historical reconstruction which comprise the historian's craft; and 4) to produce a “masterpiece,” a quality seminar paper that will be the capstone of your training as a Texas Tech historian.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this class students will be able to:
1. Explain the distinction between primary and secondary evidence.
2. Locate primary and secondary historical sources.
3. Attempt to reconstruct historical events from conflicting sources.
4. Apply theoretical models to historical evidence and highlight the resulting consistencies and inconsistencies.
5. Present historical research in papers written in formal scholarly style, with evidence and sources clearly cited.
Methods for Assessing the Expected Learning Outcomes
The expected learning outcomes of the course will be assessed through:
an examination, class discussions, personal meetings with the instructor, a book review, two formal papers, and miscellaneous classroom assessment activities that may include non-graded quizzes, reaction papers, polling the class, and other techniques.
Required Texts
Bull, Marcus. Thinking Medieval: An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages.
New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005.
Diaz-Andreu, Margarita. The Archaeology of Identity: Approaches to Gender, Age,
Status, Ethnicity, and Religion. London / New York: Routledge, 2005.
Marius, Richard, and Melvin E. Paige. A Short Guide to Writing about History. 5th ed.
New York: Longman’s, 2004.
Woodward, Kath. Understanding Identity. London: Arnold / Distributed by Oxford
University Press, 2002.
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, available online.
Required Reading
Specific reading assignments for each class are listed in the
Reading and Lecture Schedule, just ahead of the class date by which they
should have been completed. Each assignment is the subject of the following
lecture or discussion. Read so that you arrive in class prepared to explain,
praise, criticize, and question. The assignments are manageable if read on
schedule, but become overwhelming if neglected.
Class Attendance
Successful completion of this course requires regular attendance at the
scheduled classes and individual student/instructor meetings. In the classroom
difficult reading assignments are discussed, interpreted, and placed into
context; additional subject matter is introduced. In individual meetings
research progress is discussed and intermediate research products are presented.
Part of the course grade is based on class participation, and you cannot
participate if you are not present. There are only eight scheduled full class
meetings and a minimum of three scheduled individual meetings with the
instructor. Any student who misses more than two scheduled class meetings or
one scheduled instructor conference will be assigned to the lowest class
participation grade group (see below).
Student-Instructor Conferences
This class as a whole will not meet on the days typed within brackets in the READING AND LECTURE SCHEDULE. However, each student should attend a minimum of three individual conferences with the teacher: 1) an introductory meeting; 2) a meeting to discuss possible seminar paper topics; and 3) a meeting to present an outline, preliminary bibliography, and evidence of some sort of data gathering system. Unless the research proceeds with extraordinary smoothness, additional meetings will often be required. Failure to attend the necessary conferences will be penalized in the class participation component of the grading.
Preliminary Paper
Students will write a short paper, due Friday, October 7, that demonstrates some way in which medieval people shared or did not share with us a worldview, a mentality, or an implicit assumption. Marcus Bull’s Thinking Medieval will provide some theoretical possibilities; evidence should be drawn from the on-line Medieval Sourcebook. Papers submitted later than 5:00 pm on October 7 will be penalized one grade.
Book Review
Each student needs to obtain a scholarly monograph relevant to the area in which he or she wishes to write a seminar paper. Check with the instructor if you have any doubts about the appropriateness of the book you wish to review. A report of about two double-spaced typed pages (ca. 600 words) is due at an individual student/instructor meeting to be held between October 23 and November 3.
Seminar Paper
Each student will produce a "masterpiece," a major seminar paper of about twenty-five double-spaced typewritten pages. It will be devoted to a historical problem of his or her choice concerning a problem of “identity,” and may involve any historical place or time, subject to the instructor's approval (which is contingent upon the ability to access sufficient primary source materials). To help in choosing a topic students will meet with the instructor in a conference to be held between October 9 and October 20, presenting a single sheet listing a project idea and a tentative research strategy (allow extra time, since this getting a project defined and approved often requires more than one meeting). Students will meet at least once more with the instructor during the period from October 23 through November 3, bringing a book review of a scholarly monograph closely related to your approved project, a tentative outline of your seminar paper, a partial bibliography indicating primary and secondary sources to be used, and examples of the data processing system you are and will be using. The preliminary draft will be presented to the instructor on November 20 and returned November 27; the final draft will be due by 5:00 on December 13. Students should be prepared to discuss their research in class on November 20 and November 27. A final, rewritten draft must be submitted by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, December 13.
Examinations
There will be a single midterm examination on Monday, October 9, devoted to problems of historical method and identity theory. It will include multiple-choice questions, identifications, and a single essay (to be selected from two or more choices). Students receiving a grade below "C" on a midterm should bring the examination to a meeting with the teacher (this will be part of the class participation grade).
There will be no final examination--the seminar paper itself, due in final draft at the scheduled time of the final, will itself determine your mastery of the course in particular and of historical research in general.
NOTIFICATIONS
Necessary Accommodations
Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some
special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the
instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made.
Observance of a
Religious Holy Day
Texas House Bill 256 requires institutions of higher education to excuse
a student from attending classes or other required activities, including
examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day. The student shall also
be excused for time necessary to travel. An institution may not penalize the
student for the absence and allows for the student to take an exam or complete
an assignment from which the student is excused. No prior notification of the
instructor is required.
Academic Integrity
This a “writing intensive” class as defined by Texas Tech University. Be careful not to violate the History Department and University guidelines on plagiarism ("offering the work of another as ones own, without proper acknowledgement"). The penalties for violation are severe (see the student handbook).
GRADING
The course grade will be computed as follows: 5% from class
participation; 20% from the preliminary essay on “medieval” people; 20% from the
midterm; 10% from the book review; and 45% from the seminar paper (5% of which
will be awarded for a timely and satisfactory topic choice; 5% for a timely and
satisfactory preliminary bibliography and outline; and 35% from the paper
itself.
The class participation grade is computed on the basis of attendance, class preparation, and class contributions by dividing students up at the end of the semester into three groups: 1) outstanding; 2) generally average; and 3) significantly below acceptable standards. In computing the course grade, the first group gets the class participation component credited as an `A'; the second group has these points dropped out (so they neither help nor hurt); and the third group has them credited as an `F'.
READING AND LECTURE SCHEDULE
M Aug 28 Introduction / What Is History? / How Do Historical Models Work?
Sign up for an individual meeting and meet with the instructor;
Marius vii-x, 1-51; Woodward 1-23; Díaz-Andreu 1-12
[M Sept 4 Labor Day Holiday]
M Sept 11 Problems of Individual “Identity” / Historical Evidence
Bull, 1-41; Díaz-Andreu 13-128; Marius 52-74
M Sept 18 Problems of Social Identity and “Periodization” / Historical Writing
Start work essay no. 1; Bull 42-141; Marius 75-98
M Sept 25 Historical Research / Library and Internet Resources
Continue Work on essay no. 1; Marius 99-143
M Oct 2 MEET in Library 203 (in the stacks, opposite the level 2 elevator)
Organizing the Evidence / Problems with Writing
F Oct 7 Finish essay no. 1 and hand it in by 5:00 on Friday, Oct 7.
Study for the midterm examination; begin Marius 144-224
M Oct 9 Midterm Exam on Historical Method / Documentation and Citation in
Historical Papers / How to Write a Book Review
No classes: sign up for individual meetings and meet with the instructor, having in hand a single sheet presenting a project idea and a tentative research strategy. Completing this stage may require more than one meeting. Finish this process by Oct 20. Finish Marius 144-224.
[M Oct 16]
[M Oct 23]
No classes: sign up for an individual meeting and meet with the instructor, having in hand a book review of a scholarly book closely related to your approved project, a tentative outline of your seminar paper, a partial bibliography indicating primary and secondary sources to be used, and examples of the data processing system you are and will be using. This may require more than one meeting. This stage should be completed by Friday, November 3.
[M Oct 30 Final day to declare pass fail intentions]
[M Oct 30]
Write the preliminary draft of your paper, which must be completed for submission in class on November 20.
[M Nov 6]
[M Nov 13]
M Nov 20 Individual reports on seminar research on “Identity”
M Nov 27 Individual reports on seminar research on “Identity”
Read the returned drafts. Rewrite into a final draft that must be presented prior to 5:00 pm on Wednesday, December 13.
[F Dec 1 Last day to withdraw from the university]
[M Dec 4]
[W Dec 13 Final exam day]
No final exam, but the final drafts of seminar papers are due in by 5:00 pm.