Grade Components:

PROFESSIONALISM  (10 points):

This grade is pretty simple. Turn in every assignment. Turn it in when it’s due. Turn it in in the format requested. Come to class. Come to class on time. Be presentable. Treat others and yourself with respect. Treat email as a professional communication tool. Don’t make excuses. Be interested in learning. Be proactive.

discussion/Participation (10 points)

Have something to say. Do the reading. Do the writing. Help people. Ask questions. Engage. Be there in mind and spirit. Focus on what others are saying. Pay attention. Have examples. Have points you wish to make. Ask for clarification. Support points (your’s and other’s) with information drawn from the text. Bring notes. Bring your book. Simply attending class without any further involvement in our discussions will result in only a fraction of the available discussion and participation points.

Reading Handouts (32 points, 8 points each)

One of the goals of this course is to introduce a more logical and systematic approach to reading scholarship. In this case, we will be reading four recent monographs, detailed studies of a specific historical subject. With each text, students will complete book-specific handout that usually asks you to recognize and briefly sum up a book’s argument, read and summarize how it was reviewed, and to briefly summarize and explain individual chapters. Each of these will be worth 8 total points.

Lecture notes (8 points)

There will be four total lectures in class. After each, students will submit the notes that they took on the lecture and provide a two-page summary of the lecture.

Research process and project (40 total points)

Each student will, over the course of the semester, complete an independent research project on some aspect of American history since 1945. A great deal of this course will be introducing and practicing specific sets of research, organization, and production skills. Success in research is dependent on steady regular and logical progress. The grading for this process and project reflects that reality.

100% completion: Every draft. Every assignment. On time. 5 points. These five points are only available to those who fulfill these prerequisites. 

Historiography Handouts. Early in the project. Each student, working with me, will prepare their own version of our monograph handout for the five essential books of their subject. 7 points.

First Draft. 7 points

Second Draft. 7 points

Introduction. 7 points

Third Draft. 7 points.

Make no mistake, second and third drafts are not simply correcting a few spelling or punctuation errors. These are full tear downs and rebuilds. The classes in the last half of our semester will be devoted to working on this crucial skill.