Papers, Exams, and Requirements

Papers and Exams

Books and Documents: There are five books required for the course. All books are available at the URI bookstore in Providence or online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. If you purchase the Norton textbook online, be sure to get the correct volume and edition. Feel free to use any edition of The Killer Angels. All documents are or will be posted on this web site.

Norton, Mary Beth et al, A People and A Nation: Seventh Edition, Volume I. (Houghton Mifflin Company.)

Jordon, Winthrop, White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812. (University of North Carolina Press; Reissue edition (September 1, 1995))

Wood, Gordon, The American Revolution: A History. (Modern Library; (August 19, 2003))

McPherson, James, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States). (Oxford University Press, October, 2003)

Shaara, Michael, The Killer Angels.

Assignments and Evaluations: Students in this class are responsible for writing three papers (two 2-3 page papers and one 5-6 page paper), for attending and participating in class discussions and exercises, for passing a midterm quiz, and for passing a final exam.

Evaluations for this course will be decided on the following basis:

Class Participation 10%

Short Papers (2-3 pgs) 30% (15% each)

Midterm Quiz 10%

Long Paper (5-6 pgs) 25%

Final Exam 25%

Short Paper 1: The point of this paper is for you, the student of history, to gain some additional experience at working with primary sources, and to try to learn a bit more about how such sources can best be viewed, analyzed, and employed. There is a short (2-3 page) paper due by Saturday, October 9, 2004 (note that we do not have class that day - click here for an explanation). For this paper you must read either the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, George Washington's Last Will and Testament (July 9, 1799), or the Supreme Court's 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison.. Using your knowledge of the historical period, explain what you as a historian can learn from this primary source document and place the document into historical context. Think about what you find unusual about the document: does it say anything you didn't expect it to say? Is anything you expected to be there missing? Why has this document been selected by your all-knowing teacher as an important document for you to examine? Alternately, if you would rather work with images, carefully examine the image of the Boston Massacre as depicted by Paul Revere's print "Carnage". (If you choose to examine the print, you must perform additional research about the print to determine whether it is accurate or inaccurate, what it depicts, any effect it might have had, etc.) As with the documents, write about what you as a historian can learn from this print, and place it into historical context. Your final product should be well-structured, grammatically correct, and highly-polished. (Be sure to check out the writing guidelines available on this site.)

Short Paper 2: The point of this paper is for you, the student of history, to gain some additional experience at working with secondary sources, and to try to learn a bit more about how such sources can best be viewed, analyzed, and employed. There is a short (2-3 page) paper due Saturday, November 6, 2004. For this paper you should analyze Winthrop Jordon's White Over Black (NOT the whole thing - just the chapters we read plus the intro and conclusion, if you think necessary). Try to write about what you as a historian think about this book. What is Jordon's argument? Does it make sense? Do you agree? Why or why not? How good are his examples? What is he missing? Try to be critical without being nasty - in other words, critique this book as a historian might. You are in a sense writing a historian's book review of this book - examples of serious book reviews will be posted to this site soon to give you an idea of how you might go about doing this. Your final product should be well-structured, grammatically correct, and highly-polished. (Be sure to check out the writing guidelines available on this site.)

Quiz: The point of this quiz is to test your knowledge of a couple of identifications and to ensure that you know how to answer an identification-based question. You will be presented with three identification questions, of which you must answer two in twenty minutes. In some sense, identifications represent trivia. While history is not simply the study or knowledge of trivia, it is important for historians to know facts and opinions. Thus, identifications represent "necessary but not sufficient" information for historians. In answering an identification question, you should include as much information as you know about "who, what, where, when, how, and why important." One sentence is not enough; generalities are not sufficient. Each of these identifications has been selected because it tells us something important about the time or the course material . . . so feel free to say everything that you know.

Final Paper: The point of this paper is for you, the student of history, to learn how to phrase and attack questions for historical research. An additional point of this paper is for you to put together your experience with writing about primary sources and your experience with critiquing secondary sources. A final (5-6 page) paper is due at the second-to-last class meeting (December 4, 2004). For this paper you should come up with an interesting question (which you must submit for your instructor's approval by November 13, 2004) raised by the course, and should then answer the question using the course materials, including the textbooks, films, lectures, and primary documents, as well as any other books and documents necessary to answer the question that you have posed. Use this as an opportunity to do some research beyond the bounds of the readings assigned in class. As with your short paper, your final product should be well-structured, grammatically correct, and highly-polished.

Final Exam: The point of this exam is to test your knowledge of some of the fact- and opinion-based material presented in this course and to determine whether you can effectively craft your knowledge into an analytical essay. On the last day of the class there will be a 1.5 hour final exam. The exam will consist of one forty-minute discursive essay on general questions raised by the class (40%), forty minutes of identification questions (you will be presented with six "identification" questions, of which you will select four to answer - 40%), and a fifteen-minute short essay question about one of the books or articles we have read for the course (20%). A list of identifications has been posted to this website; all final identifications will be drawn from this list.