History
240: The Historians Craft
Section 2: 8398
MWF
William
Caraher Office:
Merrifield 209 a/b
Department
of History Office
Phone: 777-6379
william.caraher@und.nodak.edu Office Hours: MWF
and by appointment
Introduction:
Hello! Welcome back, and I
hope you had a good summer. The following syllabus
outlines the philosophy, procedures, and standards for this class. Most of the course material will be posted on
the class web site including readings, assignments, and general news and notes
that will keep you up to date on the progress of the class.
The
class itself will be organized as a seminar where we will discuss common
readings and our progress toward the completion of a term paper. It is vital, then, that we all keep up on the
reading, engage it thoughtfully, and be open to a wide
variety of opinions. Weekly reading
assignments in addition to a research paper will make this a busy semester! In
the end though, you will have acquired a whole array of basic research skills
and knowledge.
This course will reward in equal measure creativity
and discipline.
Course
Goals:
The
primary goal of this class is to teach you the basics of historical
research. This is a broad task with many
components ranging from improving your library skills, to fine tuning your
writing ability, to developing a greater sense of self-awareness as a young
scholar. At times these diverse goals
will seem to run counter to one another, but we will strive as a class to
demonstrate how historical research, writing, and study are fundamentally
interrelated. To summarize, then, the goals of the class:
Assignments
and Grading:
This
class will not have tests, but rather a series of short writing assignments. The main grade, however, will derive from a
term paper which we will work on over the course of the semester. To summarize:
Short
Papers 40% (10 short papers x 4 points each)
These papers are the core of the
class and will help you formulate your ideas and refine the content of your
final paper. They will also form the
basis for in class discussion. They will
generally be due on Friday unless you are otherwise informed. Each paper is to be 200-300 words or
approximately 1 page. There will be more
than 10 assignments, but I will take your 10 highest marks. I will grade them both on their content and
their style. Papers that reflect a lack
of thought, care, or attention to detail, will receive
low grades.
Participation
20%
This class is a seminar. This means that you must participate (and, by
obvious extension attend). In general
participation will involve responding to specific questions posed by the
instructor and responding to comments made by your fellow students in class.
Paper
40% (10% presentation/ 30% writing)
The paper will be both written and
presented.
The presentations will take place over the last two
weeks of the semester and be 10-12 minutes each. The
paper cannot run over its allotted time or it will be cut off. You should plan to spend 3-5 minutes
answering questions after your paper.
The text of the paper should be 10 pages in length
double spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font with 1.25 inch margins left and
right and 1 inch margins on top and bottom.
In addition to the 10 pages of text, your paper should include a title
page, an abstract, a proper bibliography, and proper footnotes. The paper is due the last day of class:
December 9th. I cannot accept
late papers.
Weekly
The readings in this class will be challenging! I do not expect you to understand every word
of every reading. (Sometimes I
won’t!) I do, however, expect you to
read each assignment carefully and do your best to extract meaning from each
assignment. To do this, it is important
that you do not “give up”. The only way
to improve your reading skills is to read challenging books and understand them
the best you can.
This class requires three books:
J. L. Gaddis, The
Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past. Oxford 2002.
K. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations. 6th ed.
W. Strunk et al., Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York 2000.
In addition to these books, there will be regular
online readings. In general, I will post
these readings on the Blackboard page as Adobe PDF files. You can then either read them on your computer
screen or print them out and take them to class. I would generally recommend that you take
notes on all the readings and bring them to class for discussion.
Week 1
24 August Wednesday
Introduction
26 August Friday
Mommsen, “Rectoral
Address” (delivered at the
http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/why/blackeyintro.htm
http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/WhyStudyHistory.htm
Discussion/Writing: What is History?
In 200 words address the
question: “What is History?” In a brief
conclusion explain why you are studying history.
Week 2
29 August Monday
Introduction to Historical Research: History as
writing and reading
31 August Wednesday
Read:
J. Barzun and H. F. Graff, The Modern Researcher. 4th Ed.
Familiarize
yourself with:
K.
L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations. 6th ed.
2 September Friday
Discussion/Writing: Topics and Starter Bibliography.
In 200 words describe your
topic. Please include a brief
bibliography listing at least 3 monographs (i.e. not surveys, not popular
books, not encyclopedias) and 3 journal articles on your
topic.
Week 3
5
September Monday – LABOR DAY
7 September Wednesday: Reading Primary Sources
Assorted Primary Sources (available online in Week 3 Folder)
9 September Friday
Meet at Archives in Library
Week 4
12 September Monday
Meet at Archives in Library
14 September Wednesday: Topic to Thesis
W.
V. Harris, “On War and Greed in the 2nd C. BC,” American Historical Review 76 (1971), 1371-1385.
R. MacMullen, “Social Mobility and the Theodosian
Code,” Journal of Roman Studies 54
(1964), 49-53.
16 September Friday
Discussion/Writing: Transforming your topic.
Examine the bibliography
that your sources use. What are other
secondary sources are prominent? What
primary sources feature significantly in their analysis? Are these available to you (i.e. can you read
the language? Are they published? Can
they be obtained locally? et c. )?
Week 5
19 September Monday: Electronic Sources: Strengths and
Pitfalls
21 September Wednesday: Internet Sources for History –
Read:
From: http://chnm.gmu.edu/resources/essays/
K. Schrum, “Surfing for the Past: How to Separate the
Good from the Bad”
Roy Rosenzweig,
"Scarcity or Abundance? Preserving the
Past in a Digital Era"
David A. Bell, "The
Bookless Future: What the Internet is Doing to Scholarship"
23 September Friday
Discussion/Writing: Using and Citing Internet Sources
in your work.
Find three websites relevant
to your topic. One must be bad,
horrible, egregious; two must be good. How did you differentiate between “good”
sites and “bad” sites? How was this
process different for electronic sources than from those in print? In general, is “internet history” better or
worse than using books, journals, and other print resources?
Week 6
26 September Monday: Introduction to (the) Historical
Method(s)
Gaddis Handout
28 September Wednesday
J. L. Gaddis, The
Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past. Oxford 2002.
30 September Friday
Discussion/Writing: Thesis and Annotated Bibliography
What is your thesis? State your working thesis clearly at the top
of the page.
Prepare an annotated
bibliography of at least 15 sources. At least three of them must be PRIMARY
SOURCES. The other 12 should be
evenly split between articles and books (5 and 5) with no more than 2 online
sources.
An annotated bibliography is
a standard (properly formatted) bibliography with a brief description of each
book, article, or source following the bibliographic entry. This brief reference must include the thesis
of the book or article (for secondary sources) and a brief evaluation of any
online sources. For the primary sources
you should state who, what, where, why, and when for the primary source and
clearly evaluate the value of the source for your research paper.
To goal of this assignment
is to begin to get a feeling for the following questions: How have people
looked at your subject in the past? What
sources have they used? How have they
constructed their arguments? How is your
work different?
Week 7
10 October Monday: The Topics of History: Great Men
and Great Battles
12 October Wednesday
R.
G. Collingwood, “The Subject Matter of History” from The Idea of History,
E.H.
Carr, What is History?
14 October Friday
Discussion/Writing: The Individual in History
Consider your topic and
thesis from the angle of “traditional history”. What are the central figures in
your work? Are there any key events
which frame your discussion? How would
your paper be different if you emphasized this event or the decisions made by
individual to the exclusion of other possible causes?
Week 8
3 October Monday: The Scope of History: Micro History
and the History of Regions
5 October Wednesday
C. Ginzburg, The Cheese and the
P. Horden and N. Purcell, The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford 2000. 26-49.
G. Kornblith, “Making sense of quantitative evidence”
7 October Friday:
Discussion/Writing: Thesis and Rough Outline:
Beginning to limit your topic.
How do you intend to limit
your topic? Is your topic defined
primarily by geography or by time or by the sources available? Describe at least two different ways to draw
limits on your topic (perhaps one as the smallest possible time, area, or
number of sources, and one as the largest possible time, area, or number of
sources). How do these different
approaches to your research question effect the types
of conclusions you can draw?
Week 9
17 October Monday: Material Culture and History: Text
and Context
19 October Wednesday
J.
B. Jackson, “The Westward Moving House,” Landscape
2 (1953), 10-42.
E.
F. Athanassopoulos, “Historical Archaeology of
Mediterranean Landscapes,” from Mediterranean
Archaeological Landscapes: Current Issues.
Ed. by E. Athanassopoulos
and L. Wandsnider. Philadelphia 2004. 81-98.
W. R. Caraher, “A Second Fortification on
21 October Friday
Discussion/Writing:
The study of archaeology,
architecture, and material culture more broadly opens new perspectives on the
traditional topic of history, texts.
Propose a material culture element to your own research. How would a discussion of architecture, archaeology,
or objects change your approach to your topic?
How could it contribute to your interpretations?
Week 10
24 October Monday: Contested Histories: Whose History
is it?
26 October Wednesday
E. Said, Orientalism.
Y. Papadakis, Echos from the Dead Zone. London 2005. 1-44.
T. Mathews, The Clash of Gods.
rev. ed.
28 October Friday
Discussion/Writing: Whose
History?
History can often be shaped
by unspoken assumptions. Consider your
thesis. Whose history are you writing?
What perspective do you offer to the particular problem that is uniquely
rooted in your own social, cultural or even individual experiences? How can you make these assumptions explicit?
Week 11
31 October Monday: The Style of History.
2 November Wednesday
W. Strunk et al., Elements of Style. 4th ed.
New York 2000.
Excerpts
from Various Authors (available online in Week 11 folder).
4 November Friday: First Drafts: Problems and
Prospects
Discussion/Writing: Identify
a book or article that is, to your mind, well written and one that is poorly
written. What makes one work
well-written and the other poorly composed?
Be specific.
Week 12
7 November Monday: History as a Discipline
9 November Wednesday
http://www.historians.org/governance/pd/Curriculum/plagiarism_intro.htm
Arthur
S. Link, “The American Historical
Association, 1884-1984: Retrospect and Prospect,” American Historical Review 90
(1985), 1-17.
P. Novick, That Noble
Dream: the "objectivity
question" and the American historical profession. Cambridge
1998. chapter 2.
Various authors, “What We See and Can't See in
the Past,” Journal of American History 83
(1997), 1217-1281.
11
November Friday – Veterans Day
Week 13
14 November Monday: Second Drafts
16 November Wednesday: Peer Reviews
Second Drafts Due
18
November Friday – Off
Week 14
21 November Monday: Teaching History
23 November Wednesday:
Teaching History and Public History
A.
Hood, “The Practice of [American] History: A Canadian Curator’s Perspective,” Journal of American History 81 (1994),
1011-1019.
J.
Fleming, “
T.
Cripps, “Historical Truth: An Interview with Ken Burns,” American Historical Review 100 (1995), 741-764.
Read
2 articles from: The History Teacher:
http://www.historycooperative.org/htindex.html
[R. Starn, “A Historians Brief Guide to New Museum Studies,” American Historical Review 110 (2005),
68-98.]
Discussion/Writing:
Develop ideas to make your
project visible, it contents understandable, and its value clear. Be sure to consider when doing this some of
the issues involved in teaching history and the role and function of the museum. Remember that when you present your paper as
a history major it is not only an example of history, but also a model that
future history majors. Consider the
methods you used to complete your research, problems you experienced, and
solutions you found. Be sure to be clear
what the motivated you to chose and pursue your particular topic of research
(e.g. the availability of sources, personal motivations, social motivations,
end goals et c.).
25
November – Thanksgiving
Week 15
28 November Monday: Presentation 1
30 November Wednesday: Presentation 2
2 December Friday: Presentation 3
Week 16
5 December Monday: Presentation 4
7 December Wednesday: Abstracts, Outlines, and
Formatting
9 December Friday – Last Day to submit all assignments