HISTORY 499—Spring 2003
The purpose of this course is to
familiarize you with the process of historical research and to help you
write the capstone project required of all history majors. You will be
required to write an original thesis of approximately 25-30 pages, based
mostly on relevant primary sources. Within the very broad confines of the general
subject areas listed in the appendix to this syllabus, you are to pick
a topic that interests you dealing with some aspect of
Each of you will have a student referee who will critique your written work throughout the semester. You, in turn, will be a referee for one of your colleagues. The quality of your work as a student referee will be critical for determining your class participation grade. For purposes of this class, you are required to have an email account, and to learn to use it. If you don’t already have one, access the UCCS home page and apply for one immediately.
REQUIRED TEXT
Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History
Jan. 21 Administrative Details and Library Visit. Panic
Reduction Session.
Establishment of email accounts. Distribution of
Library Research Exercise.
By Friday,
January 24, please pick, at the least, a subject area for your
research. At the end of this syllabus you will find a list of some
possible subject areas. Let me know by turning in a paragraph at my
office, or (preferably) on email. Also give me an idea of at least one
potential topic within that subject area. Begin to search for relevant
primary documents for your subject/topic area of interest.
Jan.
28 Discussion of Assigned
1) Declaration of Subject Area of Research.
2) Discussion of plagiarism and signature on form explaining that you
understand and accept the departmental and university policy on
plagiarism.
3) Discussion of library research exercises.
By
Friday, Jan. 31, please give to me (email me, or place outside my office
door) a one–page project statement in which you give me as specific an
idea as you can about what you wish to research and write on this
semester.
Feb. 4
Continuation of Jan. 28: discussion of project statements and
library research exercises. Assignment of student
partners. Formation of groups based on broad subject areas.
Assignment:
For Week of Feb. 4 to Feb. 11: Find one or two PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
that you will use in your research that you will bring to class. Prepare a
3 pp. paper, to be turned in to me and referee. Give me one hard copy or
an email, and give a hard copy or email it to your student partner by
Friday February 8. Your paper should address the following questions:
1) What is the main theme of the
document?
2) What is the historical context of
your document?
3) What is the main problem or
question that arises from your document? (for
example, who or what influenced its author(s)? Did other author(s) state
similar ideas? To whom is the document
directed? What was the author’s purpose in writing this document?
4) What is the title of another
primary document that would help you answer the questions above?
5) Name two secondary sources, one
general and one specific, that will help you answer the question.
Feb.
11 Come to class with your primary document analysis AND a copy of at
least one page of your primary document to hand out to the class. Present
your paper to the class, and be ready to respond to questions that I or
your student partner will raise.
Feb 18 Continuation of Primary Document Analysis Exercise
By Friday, Feb. 22, you
should have your annotated bibliography, divided into primary and
secondary sources, to me and to your student referee, hard copy. April
29
Group Three: Discussion of
Rough Drafts (perhaps will reschedule for a non–class time period
during week of April 21–25 if student schedules permit) May
6
No class. work on final drafts.
May
13
FINAL ALL CLASS MEETING:
Discussion and evaluation of process of writing
a senior thesis. Discussion of process of
revising rough drafts. Class evaluation. BRING YOUR FINAL PAPER TO CLASS ON MAY 13. YOUR SENIOR THESIS PAPER WILL BE DUE NO LATER THAN THAT CLASS PERIOD. You
are responsible for always backing up your work in more than one place
so that, even in case of a computer crash, you will not lose your
senior thesis. I am not interested in hearing your tale of woe
about your computer. All students on campus have access to network
accounts, which make a handy way to keep backup files of everything on
the campus network. Your
work as a student referee partner is critical to this class. I
take this exercise very seriously, and failure to perform your duties
as a partner may result in you failing the class.
Feb.
25
Full Class: Research and Citation exercise Read Rampolla,
pp. 40-50, skim footnote and bibliographic models in second half of Rampolla.
Discussion of annotated bibliographies.
Assignment: Bring to class
today ONE example of how you will footnote (or endnote) one of your
PRIMARY sources and one of your SECONDARY sources. Bring questions about
citing difficult sources that you may have.
Responses
by me and student referee to annotated bibliographies. We will try to
determine if the
March 4 No Class.
Individual Research and Writing
By
Friday, March 8: Prepare an outline of your paper, give to me and to
student referee. Include a projected introduction and thesis statement and
outline of major structure of paper. Meetings individually with groups one, two, and three. Discussion
of student outlines.
Come prepared with comments on your colleague’s outline and projected
body of paper.
March 11 Individual Meetings with groups 1, 2, and 3.
Discussion of student outlines. Come prepared with comments on your
colleague's outline and projected body of paper.
March 18 No Class. Individual research and writing time
Note:
from 1 April to 15 April I will meet with each student individually, for a
period of 15 to 30 minutes, to individually discuss projects, progress,
difficulties, and timetables for completion.
Friday, April 4: Turn in three pages of a draft to me and student partner.
I will give you comments during your individual meeting with me. No class. Individual meetings with
students.
April 15 No class. Individual meetings with
students.
ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPERS DUE BY
April
22
Group One: Discussion of
Rough Drafts
Group Two: Discussion of Rough Drafts
Assignment: Come with a typed 2-3 page
single-spaced response to your colleague’s paper. Come prepared to
formally respond to your partner's paper. Prepare a hard copy for me and
for your partner of your response. 20 minute
discussion of each paper.
Special Notes for Class: