Upper-division Writing Requirement Review Form (5/4/09)
I. General Education Review – Upper-division Writing Requirement
Dept/Program
Course # (i.e. ANTH HSTA 461
History
Subject
455) or sequence
Course(s) Title
Research in Montana History
Description of the requirement if it is not a single course
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office.
Please type / print name Signature
Instructor
Jeff Wiltse
Phone / Email
X2987
Program Chair
John Eglin
III Overview of the Course Purpose/ Description
Date
This course is a research and writing seminar in Montana history. Students will learn advanced
research methodology in history and will be exposed to the variety of databases and source
collections in Montana history available locally and online. Students will research and write a
thirty-page, primary-source-based scholarly paper on a topic in Montana history.
IV Learning Outcomes: Explain how each of the following learning outcomes will be achieved.
With guidance from Booth, et al., The Craft of
Student learning outcomes :
Research and in-class workshops, students will
Identify and pursue more sophisticated
learn how to frame a research problem and
questions for academic inquiry
develop research questions that will possibly
yield historically significant answers. They will
develop their specific research problems and
questions by reading in the secondary literature
on Montana history.
Students will be required to research in the
Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize
secondary literature on Montana history and
information effectively from diverse sources
(see http://www.lib.umt.edu/informationliteracy/) conduct extensive primary-source research in
print and online collections. They will use the
secondary literature to inform their analysis of
the primary sources and, in the final paper, will
use the secondary sources to frame and
contextualize their conclusions.
As for teaching the students to “find” diverse
sources, Donna McCrea will introduce students
to relevant Montana history collections in the
Mansfield Library Archives, Special
Collections, and Montana Room. Jennie
Burroughs will introduce students to relevant
material on Montana history in Government
Docs. I will introduce students to Montana
history sources accessible online. Students will
then—with my guidance—conduct extensive
research in primary sources that they will use to
devise and argue a thesis claim in their research
papers.
Students will be required to assess and then
Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate
utilize the perspectives presented in multiple
different secondary sources. And, students will
have to account for differing perspectives in
their analysis of many different primary
sources.
I am assigning Anthony Brundage’s book
Recognize the purposes and needs of
Going to the Sources, which is an excellent
discipline-specific audiences and adopt the
guide to historical research and writing. From it
academic voice necessary for the chosen
and classroom discussions, students will learn
discipline
the function of introductions and conclusions in
historical writing, how to use secondary
sources to frame their thesis claim and
contextualize their topic, effective ways to use
quotes as evidence, and proper footnote format.
They will then apply this learning in their
source-analysis papers and their research
papers.
Students will also read two examples of
carefully chosen scholarly articles and the class
will discuss—with my guidance—the purpose,
audience, structure, argument, conclusion, and
footnoting of each article. These two articles
will serve as models for their research papers.
Use multiple drafts, revision, and editing in
conducting inquiry and preparing written work
Follow the conventions of citation,
documentation, and formal presentation
appropriate to that discipline
Develop competence in information
technology and digital literacy (link)
There are two steps in the revision process in
this course. First, students will write a short
paper analyzing key primary sources that they
have found for their research project. I will
comment on these short papers, and the
students will revise them for inclusion with the
full draft of their research papers. Second,
students will submit a full draft of their
research papers. I will provide written feedback
on the drafts and meet individually with each
student to provide verbal feedback as well. The
students will then use my feedback to guide
their final revisions of the research paper.
The assigned book, Going to the Sources: A
Guide to Historical Research and Writing, has
a chapter on footnoting and documentation,
which the students will read and I will go over
it in class. In addition, I have written my own
style, grammar, and footnote guide—titled
“How to Write a Good History Paper”—that I
will hand out to students in the class.
Using the library’s computer classroom, I will
guide students through many online resources
useful to historians, including World Cat,
America: History and Life, New York Times
Historical, Reader’s Guide Full Text, Access
NewspaperArchive, Google Books, U.S.
Congressional Serial Set, Northwest Digital
Archive, and American State Papers. Students
will be required to use some of these resources
to identify relevant secondary sources and will
be encouraged to use relevant online databases
for finding primary sources.
V. Writing Course Requirements Check list
Is enrollment capped at 25 students?
If not, list maximum course enrollment.
Explain how outcomes will be adequately met
for this number of students. Justify the request
for variance.
Are outcomes listed in the course syllabus? If
not, how will students be informed of course
expectations?
X No
Course will be capped at 20 students. Consent of
instructor required. Enrollment preference will be
given to advanced history majors.
Are detailed requirements for all written
assignments including criteria for evaluation in the
course syllabus? If not how and when will students
be informed of written assignments? Please attach
one example of instructions for written assignment.
 Yes X No
X Yes  No
The syllabus contains a description of each
writing assignment. I will also provide
elaborate assignment sheets that detail the
requirements for each writing assignment.
Briefly explain how students are provided with
tools and strategies for effective writing and editing
in the major.
Two of the assigned books—The Craft of
Research and Going to the Sources—contain
sections that provide lessons and strategies
for effective writing and editing. I will also
spend time in class providing students will
additional strategies for writing and editing
that I find useful. Finally, I provide students
will extensive feedback on their written work,
explaining precisely what each student needs
to improve.
Source Analysis Paper
Draft of Research Paper
Which written assignments include revision in
response to instructor’s feedback?
Are expectations for Information Literacy listed in
X Yes  No
the course syllabus? If not, how will students be
informed of course expectations?
VI. Writing Assignments: Please describe course assignments. Students should be required to
individually compose at least 20 pages of writing for assessment. At least 50% of the course grade
should be based on students’ performance on writing assignments. Clear expression, quality, and
accuracy of content are considered an integral part of the grade on any writing assignment.
Formal Graded Assignments
Prospectus (five pages)
Source analysis paper (four pages)
Draft of research paper (thirty pages)
Final research paper (revision of the
thirty-page draft)
These four writing assignments constitute
90 percent of the course grade.
Informal Ungraded Assignments
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form.  The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus preparation
see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
Paste syllabus here.
Professor Jeff Wiltse
LA 263/x2987
jeffrey.wiltse@umontana.edu
Office hours:
HSTA 461:
Research in Montana History
Description
This course is a research and writing seminar in Montana history. Students will learn
advanced research methodology in history and will be exposed to the variety of databases
and source collections in Montana history that are available locally and online. Students
will research and write a thirty-page, primary-source scholarly paper on a topic in
Montana history. This course fulfills the upper-division writing requirement for the
history department and the university.
Course Objectives
Expand students’ knowledge in Montana history.
Teach students how to frame a research problem and develop a research question.
Teach students how to identify relevant primary and secondary sources.
Teach students to research in key online databases, including World Cat,
America: History & Life, American Periodical Series, Congressional Record,
Northwest Digital Archive, and New York Times Historical.
5. Improve student’s ability to analyze historical sources.
6. Improve students’ ability to organize and write a sophisticated, argument-driven
research paper.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Readings
Copies of the following books are available at the bookstore. They are the primary texts
for the course.
Wayne Booth, et al., The Craft of Research
Anthony Brundage, Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and
Writing
Michael Malone, et al., Montana: A History of Two Centuries
Assignments
Prospectus:
A proposal that describes your research project, states your initial
research question, and identifies relevant primary and secondary
sources.
Source Analysis: A preliminary four-page paper that analyzes some of the primary
sources you have collected for the research project.
Draft:
A complete draft of your thirty-page research paper.
Research Paper:
The final, revised version of your thirty-page research paper.
Grading
Your final grade will be the weighted average of your individual grades for the term.
Final letter grades are figured at 90%=A, 80%=B, 70%=C, 60%=D. The dividing line for
pluses is _7% and minuses _3%. You must take this course for a grade. Grades will be
weighted as follows:
Prospectus
10 percent
Source Analysis
Draft
Research Paper
Participation
15 percent
25 percent
40 percent
10 percent
Academic Honesty
Neither plagiarism nor any form of cheating will be tolerated. The work you submit in this
course must be your own. When you draw from the words and thoughts of others,
acknowledge it in footnotes. Plagiarism/cheating will result in a failing grade for the course.
Course Schedule
Week One:
Course Introduction
Week Two:
Historical Research and Writing
Read: Brundage, Going to the Sources, 1-61.
Week Three:
Sources in Montana History I (Meet in Library)
Read: Malone, Montana, 3-186.
Week Four:
Sources in Montana History II (Meet in Library)
Read: Malone, Montana, 187-385.
Week Five:
Research Problems and Questions
Read: Booth, Craft of Research, 29-102.
Brundage, Going to the Sources, 95-117.
Week Six:
Prospectus Workshop
Read: Article on writing a prospectus
Week Seven:
Document Analysis Workshop
Prospectus Due
Read: Document Set
Booth, Craft of Research, 103-170.
Week Eight:
Individual Meetings with Professor (Discuss Prospectus)
Week Nine:
Due
Models of Scholarly History Articles
Document Analysis
Read: Kent Curtis, “Producing a Gold Rush: National Ambitions
and the Northern
Rocky Mountains,” WHQ (Autumn 2009), 275-298.
Eric Clements, “Pragmatic Revolutionaries?: Tactics,
Ideologies, and the Western Federation of Miners in the
Progressive Era,” WHQ (Winter 2009), 445-468.
Week Ten:
Papers)
Individual Meetings with Professor (Discuss Document Analysis
Week Eleven:
Drafting Workshop
Read: Booth, Craft of Research, 171-248.
Week Twelve:
Revising and Rewriting
Draft Due
Read: Booth, Craft of Research, 249-270.
Brundage, Going to the Sources, 118-34.
Week Thirteen:
Individual Meetings with Professor (Discuss Drafts)
Week Fourteen:
Research Presentations
Week Fifteen:
Research Presentations
Research Paper Due