History 300W
The Historian’s
Craft
MW 1:00pm-2:50pm, DBH 307
________________________________________________________________________
Contact
Information
Professor: Barry Robinson
Office Hrs: Monday and Wednesday mornings,
Tuesday/Thursday 1:30-2:30pm, or by appt.
Office: DBH
314
Office Phone: 726-4318
Home Phone: 414-9654
(Anytime before
E-mail: bmrobins@samford.edu
________________________________________________________________________
Course
Description and Objectives
“History
is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.”
George Santayana
This
course is designed to provide history majors with the skills needed for
academic success in upper-division courses.
It will provide an introduction to historiography and historical
research methods. We will work from a
seminar format, with weekly projects and discussion instead of in-class
lectures. Students will learn to
evaluate historical concepts and arguments, along with the primary and
secondary sources used to support them.
Projects will cover all aspects of the research and writing process,
including the selection of topics, research and note-taking, developing a
thesis, outlining, and citation and style.
The course will culminate in a substantial research project utilizing
both primary and secondary sources to develop an original argument. Students will present their research in a
public forum at the end of the semester.
This
semester’s projects will focus on the
theme of migration and ethnicity. This
will allow students to conduct archival research in Samford’s special
collections library and in local institutions in the
________________________________________________________________________
(Prentice Hall, 2002)
ISBN: 0130448249
(Bedford St. Martin’s, 2004) ISBN: 0312403569
________________________________________________________________________
Assignments and Grading
I. Class
Participation (20%)
Success in this course depends upon faithfully
attending class, completing the assigned readings, and contributing
productively to class discussions. [See
attendance policy below].
As this is a seminar, I will rarely
lecture. We will be reading and discussing the assigned books and articles, and conversing about
the class assignments and your research. Meaningful
class discussions will be possible only
if you do the assigned reading and research,
attend class, and participate. In addition, we will be carrying on
regular discussions through WebCT. You are required to participate in these
discussions. Please note that class participation accounts for
one-fifth of your grade for the course.
II. Research
and Reflection Assignments (20%)
During the course of the semester you will complete a
number of activities (in class and outside
of class) that we will discuss as a group.
Specific instructions for these assignments
will be given in class. These small
projects include, but are not limited to:
§ What is history?
§ Immigrant historiography
§ Census research
§ Genealogy project
§ Research treasure hunt
III. Research
Project (60%)
The majority of your final grade will be determined by
your performance in the central project
of the course, a 12-15 page research paper that you will construct throughout
the semester. The breakdown of the grading system is listed
below, along with the due dates for each
separate portion of the project.
§ 10% Formal
project proposal
-
Abstract [2/27]
-
Preliminary bibliography (Including primary sources) [3/6]
-
Revised abstract, outline and annotated bibliography [3/13]
§ 10% Research
progress reports
-
Individual meetings w/ Dr. Robinson [Periodic]
- WebCT updates [Periodic]
§ 5% First
draft (minimum 10pp) [4/19]
§ 25% Final
research paper (12-15pp) [5/10]
§ 10% Research
presentation [5/3, 5/8]
________________________________________________________________________
Grading Scale
A 93.0 - 100%
A- 90.0 - 92.9%
B+ 87.0 - 89.9%
B 83.0 - 86.9%
B- 80.0 - 82.9%
C+ 77.0 - 79.9%
C 70.0 - 72.9%
C- 73.0 - 76.9%
D+ 67.0 - 69.9%
D 63.0 - 66.9%
D- 60.0 - 62.9%
F 00.0 - 59.9%
________________________________________________________________________
Attendance Policy
This
course is conducted in a seminar format, and students are expected to attend
every class session and actively participate in discussion and course
activities. Excessive absences will
cause you to fall behind and will hurt your grade. More than 5 total absences will result in a
grade of FA. Exceptions will only be
made in the event of a serious illness or emergency in which the student
provides documentation from the Dean’s office requesting an exception to the
policy. Unless prior arrangements are
made with the professor, it will be the student's responsibility to determine
what was missed during their absence and to arrange for any necessary
remediation.
________________________________________________________________________
Academic Integrity
The
Samford Honor Code governs all work done in this
course, written or otherwise. In all
cases students are expected to present original work, or to properly
acknowledge the source of information gathered from other sources. Please refer to your copy of the Student
Handbook for a more complete discussion of the importance of academic
integrity. If in doubt about a
particular issue, consult the professor.
________________________________________________________________________
Disabilities