COURSE DESCRIPTION:

            This course is designed to introduce students to the historians' craft. In addition to introducing students to the concept of historiography and the range of historical methodologies employed by historians, students will also learn the skills necessary to become more effective scholars. These skills will include the development of writing and organizational skills, effective research methods and how to effectively read scholarly literature.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Richard Evans, In Defense of History                                                                    ISBN   0-393-31959-8

Eric Foner, Who Owns History?                                                                                        0-809-09705-2

Martha Howell, From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods              0-801-48560-6

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, 4^th ed                                                                0-205-30902-X

Kate Turabian, Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses & Dissertations, 8^th ed        0-226-81638-9

COURSE READINGS

            Assigned readings are to be completed by the date indicated in the syllabus. In addition to the required texts, the following supplemental readings are available as full text files either under the Content tab on Blackboard (highlighted items) or via library’s Academic Search Complete or JSTOR databases. Help for Blackboard can be found at https://help.blackboard.com/en-us/Learn/Reference/

Blackboard_Learn_Videos. Students will also be using consulting a web site (highlighted on they syllabus); to access this site click on the link in the electronic version of the syllabus located on my web site (http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/oroszkj/) or in Blackboard.

Joyce Malcolm, “Disarming History,”Reason 34, no. 10 (March 2003): 22-29.

Peter Novick, “There Was No King in Israel” in That Noble Dream (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 593-629.

William G. Moseley, ed., “Did Colonialism Distort Contemporary African Development?” in Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World History, 3^rd ed. (Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009), 53-68.

Clifford Rosenberg, “The International Politics of Vaccine Testing in Interwar Algiers,” American Historical Review 117, no. 2 (June 2012): 671-697.

Antoinette Burton, review of The Absent Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society and Culture in Britain, by Bernard Porter, Victorian Studies 47, no. 4 (Summer 2005) : 626-628.

James Epstein, review of The Absent Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society and Culture in Britain, by Bernard Porter, American Historical Review 112, no. 2 (April 2007) : 587-588.

John McBratney, review of The Absent Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society and Culture in Britain, by Bernard Porter, The Historian 69, no. 4 (Winter 2007) : 836-838.

Ryan Facey, Paper Proposal.

Ryan Facey, “A Comparison of British and American Propaganda Systems.”

REQUIREMENTS

            Academic misconduct (including cheating and plagiarism) will not be tolerated. Buffalo State College policies on academic misconduct, including the possible use of textual similarity detection software, are outlined on page 40 of the college catalog. Please note that the minimum penalty for cases of academic misconduct will be an E on the assignment. All written assignments must conform to the History Style Sheet. When it comes to citation and bibliography formats, Turabian is the Bible for historians.

            This course is a mix of collaborative, cooperative, and independent work. Students will read and comment on the papers and presentations of their peers. Evaluation of students will be based on the quality of written work and collegial participation in all classes. Students are required to submit paper copies of all written work. In addition, copies of the book review and research paper must be submitted electronically as a PDF file. The electronic copies of the research papers will be made available to other students in the course so that they can be critiqued. Book reviews and papers not submitted in both formats will not be read and you will receive an E for the assignment.

            Please note that in order to pass this course you must make a good faith attempt to complete all components and requirements. All assignments are due in class on the designated date. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PRIOR ARRANGEMENT. Incompletes will be granted at the sole discretion of the instructor and require a written application outlining the rationale behind granting the incomplete, a list of outstanding assignments and a timetable for their completion. This application must be signed and, if granted, will constitute a formal contract for the completion of the course.

Pass/Fail         CITI Ethics Training: Even though your specific research project may not require human subjects research, all HIS 300W students are required to complete CITI ethics training by September 8. Failure to do so will result in an F for the course. To complete your training a) go to CITI site and create an account using SUNY Buffalo State from the institutional affiliation drop down box; b) In step 6 of the registration process select “Student Researcher - undergraduate” in the “what is your role” dropdown menu. In step 7 question 1 select “social/behavioral investigators;” in question 2 select make appropriate selection; question 3 can be ignored; question 4 select “social/behavioral responsible conduct course;” question 5 is optional; c) Once you have completed the registration process you will receive an e-mail with a link to validate your account; d) log in to your account and click on the Buffalo State Courses tab and click on the Group 2 link to begin your training. You must complete all modules.

10%                Citation Homework: There will be periodic homework assignments in the form of worksheets with citations that need to be placed in the proper format. Responses are to be typed and are due on the dates indicated.

10%                Book Review: Students will write a 3 page critical review of an historical monograph assigned during the September 1. The review must also include a bibliography listing previous scholarly reviews of the work in question. This assignment is due September 22.

10%                Primary Source Analysis: Students will submit a 5 page paper analyzing primary sources handed out in class. What do these documents tell us about the period? How reliable are they? What are their strengths and weaknesses as historical sources? This assignment is due October 1.

Pass/Fail         Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography: Research proposals must clearly identify the topic, a tentative thesis, the major historical questions, a historiographical analysis of the topic and outline a research plan. Proposals must also include an annotated bibliography identifying the primary and secondary sources that will be used. In the case of primary source materials you must also indicate where they are located and explain why you need to consult those sources. Your proposal is due October 6. The last date to have a proposal approved is October 22. Note: Students will not be allowed to proceed with their research until the proposal has been approved. This means that if you do not have an approved proposal by the final due date (October 22) you will not be allowed to proceed and will receive an E for the course.

35%                Research Paper: Although writing is a process and often requires frequent revision, you should not think of this paper as a rough draft. Not only must your paper conform to the History Style Sheet, it should also be the best and most complete paper possible. Essentially you should be turning in the best paper you have ever written. Papers, which are due November 10, must be a minimum of 20 pages and must be substantially based on primary documents. You are required to turn in both a hard copy as well as an electronic copy in PDF format for posting in Blackboard. You must keep this paper, complete with any comments, and resubmit it with your research paper revision.

20%                Presentation, participation and written responses to student papers: Students will meet regularly and work closely with their instructor. Presentations of research papers will take place in the last 3 weeks of the semester during class time as well as during the scheduled final examination period. Presentations will be open to the community and student participation is mandatory. All students will write short (2 page minimum) critical reviews of three assigned papers. Critical reviews must be submitted in duplicate by December 1 (one copy for the instructor and one copy for the student whose work is being reviewed). The instructor’s copy must include the reviewer’s recommended grade for the paper/presentation. This will ensure good preparation and solid performances in the presentations as well as in the revised paper. Full participation in every aspect of the course is required. Students who miss paper presentations for any reason are required to write critical reviews for all of the papers presented that week.

15%                Research Paper Revision: This revision must address and incorporate the comments and critiques made by the instructors and your peers. Consequently, it should be so good that it will essentially be the paper you never thought that you could write. Your revision (in duplicate) is due in class December 10. You are required to turn in both a hard copy as well as an electronic copy in PDF format.

CLASS SCHEDULE

September 1               Introduction and Varieties of History

September 3               Reading and Reviewing Monographs/Why do We Cite?

       Read:                    Novick, “There Was No King in Israel;” Malcolm, “Disarming History;” Burton, Epstein and McBratney reviews

September 8               Deconstructing Journal Article/Writing and Style

    Read:                       Rosenberg, “International Politics of Vaccine Testing;” Strunk and White;

                                    Complete CITI ethics training 

September 10             Library Session (Room BL314): Finding Aids 

    Read:                       Evans, Introduction and Ch 7-8

                                    First Citation assignment due

September 15             Library Session (Room BL 314): Locating Primary Sources

    Read:                       Evans Ch 1-2, 6  

September 17             History and its Uses/Who Owns History?

    Read:                       Foner book

                                    Second Citation assignment due

September 22             Introduction to Historiography/Writing a Proposal

    Read:                       Howell, Introduction and Ch 4-5; Facey Proposal and Paper 

                                    Moseley, “Did Colonialism Distort Contemporary African Development?”

                                    Book Review due

September 24             How to Analyze Sources

     Read:                      Howell Ch 1-3; Evans Ch 3-5

                                    Using Primary Sources on the Web

                                    Third Citation assignment due 

September 29             Critiques and the Art of Presenting

                                    Fourth Citation assignment due

October 1                    Research Problems and Strategies

                                    Primary Source Analysis due

October 6                    Research Problems and Strategies II

                                    Proposals due 

October 8                    Proposal Conferences

October 13                  Proposal Conferences

October 15                 Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

October 20                  Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

October 22                  Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

                                    Must have passing proposal

October 27                  Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

October 29                  Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

November 3                Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

November 5                Work on Paper and meet with Instructor

November 10              Work on Revisions

                                    Papers due 

November 12              Work on Revisions 

November 17              Work on Revisions

November 19              Work on Revisions

November 24              Work on Revisions

November 26              No Class

December 1                Presentations

                                    Paper critiques due

November 3                Presentations

December 8                Presentations

December 10              Presentations

                                    Revisions due

December 15              Presentations 9:40-11:30