Course Description:
This is a different kind of history course. Instead of examining past events, this class will focus on the history of historical writing. It is designed to introduce history majors to a wide variety of historical approaches by exploring the development of history as a field of knowledge from its beginnings in the ancient world, through its emergence as a profession, to twentieth and twenty-first century developments in historical analysis. In addition to a general survey of historiography, students will also explore the various historical interpretations on a particular topic of their choosing.
The course will be conducted both as a reading and research seminar. On Tuesdays the class will meet to discuss the mechanics behind writing a historiography paper and do research on their topics. On Thursdays students will be required to read a variety of secondary sources, including excerpts from historical monographs, journal articles, and essays about the nature of the discipline and discuss in detail how historians understand and write about the past. Regular attendance and active participation in class discussions are essential if a student wishes to do well.
Course Goals:
The objectives of this course are to help students become knowledgeable about the ways historians have approached the writing of history from the classical period to the present, and to assist them in producing a polished piece of historical scholarship. Writing assignments and class discussions are also intended to develop students’ analytical skills, and improve their writing and verbal communication abilities.
Required Texts:
The following paperback books are available at the campus bookstore.
- Mark Gilderhus, History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction
- Adam Budd, The Modern Historiography Reader, Western Sources
- Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations
Attendance Policy:
This class meets on Tuesdays from 9:30-10:45 in the Memorial Library Class Room (second floor) and on Thursdays in Evans 203.
Class attendance is mandatory and your grade will be lowered by a third of a letter grade for every absence over two. Arriving to class over 5 minutes late will also be counted as an absence. You will be excused from class because of an intercollegiate athletic event or other school sanctioned function only if I am informed prior to the absence.
Technology:
This course makes use of Viking Web other internet sources to supplement class lectures. Discussion readings, handouts, and other material related to class will be posted on the site. You are required to make active use of these resources.
The use of electronic devices such as laptop computers, voice recorders, and cell phones is strictly prohibited in this class without my prior, explicit approval. Each unauthorized use of an electronic device will be counted as an unexcused absence.
Grading and Course Requirements:
Your grade for the course will be based on assignment sheets, class participation, quizzes, and a historiographic paper. Each Thursday you will be expected to turn in typed, single-spaced answers to a series of short questions on the assigned reading(s). These assignment sheets should reflect that you have read and critically thought about the material. Assignment sheet answers should be between one and two pages in length. Each assignment sheet is worth 15 points. Answers less than one page in length cannot receive higher than 8 points. Assignment sheets turned in late or not at all will receive 0 points. The combined score of your assignment sheets are worth 20% of your final grade.
Class participation will be averaged into your grade. Participation grades will be based on discussion of the assigned readings. Discussion participants will receive high grades for listening attentively and answering questions in a thoughtful and insightful manner. Low marks will be given for being late, unprepared, uncommunicative, inattentive, dismissive, or defensive. A discussion grade worth 20% of your overall average will be assigned at the end of the semester.
You should expect to take short, in-class quizzes over the reading material on Tuesdays. Quizzes may be suspended if students come to class prepared to participate in Tuesday discussions. Quizzes will be worth 5% of your final grade and your lowest quiz will be dropped.
Each student is also responsible for completing a 20-25 page historiography paper on a historical topic of their choosing. This project will analyze all the relevant literature on the chosen subject to discover how and why historians’ perceptions of the event have changed over time. The paper is broken down into six different assignments: an annotated bibliography (5%), rough draft on first 10 pages of the paper (10%), 1st peer review (5%), rough draft on second 10 pages of the paper (10%), 2nd peer review (5%), and final paper (20%). Any bibliographies, rough drafts, or final papers turned in late will be penalized 10% for every day late. Any rough drafts turned in late will be unable to participate in the peer review process and will forfeit the points for that part of the assignment. No assignments will be accepted more than a week overdue.
The class will meet during the scheduled final exam period to watch and discuss a documentary on the nature of history and to allow historiography papers to be handed back. Not coming to the scheduled final exam period will result in you losing a full letter grade from your final course average.
All students are expected to demonstrate academic integrity in their course work. Academic dishonesty includes, cheating on tests, plagiarizing, facilitating the academic dishonesty of others, submitting the work of another person, submitting work done for another course without informing the instructor, and tampering with the academic work of other students. To help insure academic integrity all assignments must be turned in by the person who did the work. A single instance of academic dishonesty in this course will receive a 0 for the assignment and will be reported to the Provost. Multiple incidents of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the course.
Course Outline:
| Date: | Subject: | Readings: |
| 12 January | Introduction | |
| 14 January | Interpretation, Objectivity and Truth in History | · Gilderhus, Ch. 1 · Furay, “Interpretation” (Viking Web) · Novik, “Nailing Jelly to the Wall” (Viking Web) · Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Viking Web) |
| 19 January | How to Write a Historiography Paper and Build a Bibliography | · Brundage, “Exploring Changing Interpretations: The Historiographic Essay” (Viking Web) · Turabian, Ch. 3, 16-17 |
| 21 January | The Ancients (Greek, Roman, and Christian historiography) | · Gilderhus, Ch. 2 · Herodotus-Thucydides-Bede Readings (Viking Web) |
| 26 January | Annotated Bibliography Due | |
| 28 January | Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment Historiography | · Gilderhus, Ch. 3 – pages 29-41 only · Niccolo Machiavelli, Florentine History (Viking Web) · Melanchthon, “Enumeration of Synods” (Viking Web) · Budd, Ch. 5 |
| 2 February | Engaging Your Sources | · Turabian, Ch. 4 |
| 4 February | Romanticism & Historicism | · Gilderhus, Ch. 3 – pages 41-46 only · Budd, Ch. 13, 15-18, and 20 |
| 9 February | Drafting Your Paper | · Turabian, Ch. 6-7 |
| 11 February | Marxism
|
· Gilderhus, Ch. 3 – pages 46-48 only · Budd, Ch. 26, 34-35 |
| 16 February | First Draft Due – Peer Review | |
| 18 February | Philosophy of History – Speculative Approaches | · Gilderhus, Ch. 4 · Budd, Ch. 30 · Toynbee, A Study of History, Ch.4 (Viking Web) · Neibuhr, Faith and History, Ch. 13 (Viking Web) |
| 23 February | The Spirit of Research | · Turabian, Ch. 12 and 14 |
| 25 February | Positivists and Idealists | · Gilderhus, Ch. 5 · Budd, Ch. 25 and 28 · Hempel, “The Function of General Laws in History” (Viking Web) |
| 1 March | Quoting | · Turabian, Ch. 25 |
| 3 March | Progressive Historians and the Annals School | · Gilderhus, Ch. 6 – pages 86-95 only · Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier” (Viking Web) · Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (Viking Web) · Bloch- The Historian’s Craft (Viking Web) · Budd, Ch. 32 |
| 8 March | No Class – Spring Break | |
| 10 March | No Class – Spring Break | |
| 15 March | Grammar and Punctuation | · Turabian, Ch. 21-23 |
| 17 March | Consensus Historians and Cliometrics
|
· Gilderhus, Ch. 6 – pages 95-97 only · Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition (Viking Web) · Boorstein and Fogel Reading (Viking Web) · Fogel and Engerman, Time on the Cross (Viking Web) |
| 22 March | Revising and Editing | · Turabian, Ch. 9-11 |
| 25 March | Psychoanalytical and New Left History | · Gilderhus, Ch. 6 – pages 98-100 only · Besancon, “Psychoanalysis” (Viking Web) · Erikson, “The Fit in the Choir” (Viking Web) · Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (Viking Web) |
| 29 March | Second Draft Due – Peer Review | |
| 31 March | Social History | · Gilderhus, Ch. 6 – page 100 only · Harding, “Beyond Chaos” (Viking Web) · Blassingame, The Slave Community (Viking Web) · Budd, Ch. 38 |
| 5 April | Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty | · Readings, TBA |
| 7 April | Women’s History
|
· Gilderhus, Ch. 6 – pages 101-102 only · Smith-Rosenberg, “The Female World of Love and Ritual” (Viking Web) · Budd, Ch. 4 and 44 |
| 12 April | No Class- Student Scholarship Symposium | |
| 14 April | Cultural History and Post-Colonialism
|
· Gilderhus, Ch. 6 – pages 103-107 only · Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight” (Viking Web) · Darnton, “Workers Revolt: The Great Cat Massacre” (Viking Web) · Chakrabarty, “Postcoloniality” (Viking Web) |
| 19 April | Historiography Paper Due | |
| 21 April | Post-Modernism
|
· Gilderhus, Ch. 7 · Budd, Ch. 42-43 · Foucault, This is Not a Pipe (Viking Web) · Porter, “This is Not a Review of This is Not a Pipe” (Viking Web) |
| 26 April | Intellectual Honesty and the Purpose of History | · Readings, TBA |
| 28 April | Final Exam, 2:00-4:00 |
Accommodation:
Federal law guarantees all students with disabilities a learning environment that provides reasonable accommodation of their disability. Students with documented disabilities may request accommodations that will enable them to participate in and benefit from all educational programs and activities. For information contact the Academic Support Center in Evans 106 or by phone at 706-233-4080.