Upper-division Writing Requirement Review Form (5/4/09)
I. General Education Review – Upper-division Writing Requirement
Dept/Program
Course # (i.e. ANTH
History
HSTR 418
Subject
455) or sequence
Course(s) Title
Research Seminar: Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century
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
Date
Instructor
8 ix 2010
John Eglin
Phone / Email
john.eglin@umontana.
edu
Program Chair
John Eglin
III Overview of the Course Purpose/ Description
HSTR 418UG W Research Seminar: Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century. 3 credits. Offered spring
alternate years. Students will discuss specific issues in the historiography of the long eighteenth century
in British history (c1660-1800) and produce research papers grounded in primary sources. Consent of
instructor required for enrollment; preference given to advanced history majors.
This course will be one of the few upper division writing courses offered in the department that focuses
on European history. It also provides students an opportunity to use Early English Books Online,
Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and other invaluable electronic resources available through
Mansfield Library.
IV Learning Outcomes: Explain how each of the following learning outcomes will be achieved.
In the process of refining their topics,
Student learning outcomes :
students learn to frame them as research
Identify and pursue more sophisticated
problems that lead to contestable claims.
questions for academic inquiry
There is an electronic resources workshop
Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize
early in the semester, after which students
information effectively from diverse sources
(see http://www.lib.umt.edu/informationliteracy/) compile a working bibliography of primary
and secondary sources. Each student selects
a primary and secondary source item to be
read and discussed by the entire class.
Students must summarize the secondary
Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate
literature on their topic, and consider
counter-arguments to their own claims.
Students read and discuss samples of
Recognize the purposes and needs of
secondary literature in the discipline.
discipline-specific audiences and adopt the
academic voice necessary for the chosen
discipline
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)
Students turn in a paper proposal for
comment by the instructor, and submit a
draft for review by the instructor and their
peers.
Students are familiarized with University of
Chicago style.
The course is heavily dependent on online
resources such as JSTOR, EEBO, ECCO,
and the ODNB and OED.
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?
Limited to 20 students.
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.
One of the required texts for this course is
Booth, Colomb and Williams, The Craft of
Research (University of Chicago Press),
which incorporates detailed instructions for
writing research papers, from formulating
topics to submitting a final draft.
Briefly explain how students are provided with
tools and strategies for effective writing and editing
in the major.
Students are guided through all the
stages of crafting a research paper, from
selecting a topic to completing the final
draft. For example, they must frame their
topic as a research problem, write a
research proposal, and meet with the
instructor weekly to discuss the process
of research and writing.
Students hand in a draft that is reviewed
by the instructor and by a subset of the
other students in the class.
Which written assignments include revision in
response to instructor’s feedback?
Yes
Are expectations for Information Literacy listed in
Yes
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.
Three: a prospectus and working
Formal Graded Assignments
bibliography, 1000 words; a draft paper,
5000 words; a final paper, incorporating draft
and revisions, 7-8000 words.
Informal Ungraded Assignments
I have assigned an ECCO “scavenger
hunt.”
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.
History 418: Research Seminar:
Britain in the Long Eighteenth
Century.
J.A. Eglin -- Office LA 257A -- MWF 10-11AM, R 2-3PM or by appointment (x6755;
john.eglin@umontana.edu), or by happy accident
This class is an undergraduate/graduate research seminar ultimately aimed at
producing polished historical writing grounded in primary sources. It meets the upper
division writing requirement for history majors. It is primarily intended for students
with some background in the period, and will allow these students to delve deeper
into its historiographical debates, using both secondary scholarship and printed
primary sources drawn from Early English Books Online (EEBO), and EighteenthCentury Collections Online (ECCO). For the most part, the topics we cover will be
topics that you choose.
Readings for the course will be assigned week to week, and we will rely mostly on the
Mansfield Library Reserve system, EEBO, ECCO, JSTOR, and other online databases.
You will need to become intimately familiar with these and other electronic resources.
Typically, a week's reading will consist of a primary source selection together with one
or two articles from academic journals, or chapters from scholarly books. Generally,
these readings will be chosen by the presenter(s) for that week in consultation with the
instructor. You will need to prepare the assigned readings before the seminar meets.
I have ordered the textbook by Frank O’Gorman, Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century,
and you should purchase it if you don't have it from last semester. I have also ordered
Booth, Colomb, and Williams' The Craft of Research, which, although not specifically
geared to historical research, is the best guidebook to research and writing that I have
yet run across. Finally, Kate Turabian's Guide for Writers of Research Papers outlines the
University of Chicago notation style, which is the preferred style not only in this
department, but in the historical profession generally.
Attendance at all weekly sessions is mandatory. Grades will be determined as follows:
20% preparation and participation in seminar (including individual meetings, reading
group meetings and presentations); 10% on the preliminary bibliography; 10% on the
paper prospectus (1000 words in length), 20% on the draft research paper (5000 words
in length, exclusive of bibliography); and 40% on the final research paper (7000-8000
words in length, excluding footnotes and bibliography). NOTE: These percentages
only obtain if ALL written work is turned in. Failure to turn in any written assignment
will result in failure of the course. Late work will not be accepted except by prior
arrangement (extensions will not be granted after the due date) for reasons that are
verifiable and allowed under university regulations. Otherwise, all written work must
be turned in on the due date, in class, and in person. History Department policy does not
allow incompletes to be granted for upper division writing courses.
Written work will be evaluated, in roughly equal proportions and as appropriate, on
the basis of (1) style: grammar, diction, voice, spelling, etc.; (2) argument: framing
questions, considering counter-arguments, defending claims; and (3) sources:
selection, analysis, use as evidence, documentation.
Course Schedule
27 January. Course Introduction. ECCO Scavenger Hunt.
3 February.
Topics due. Library Electronic Resources tour.
10 February.
Preliminary bibliography due.
17 February.
24 February.
3 March.
Prospectus due.
10 March.
17 March.
24 March.
31 March. Spring Break. No seminar meeting.
7 April.
14 April.
21 April.
Draft papers due (hard copy to the instructor; electronic copies to reading group).
28 April.
Reading Group Meetings.
5 May. Final Session.
Final Research Paper due in LA 256 by 3 PM Wednesday 13 May.
VII. Copies and Electronic Submission Submit approved original, a copy, and electronic file
to o the Faculty Senate Office, UH 221, camie.foos@mso.umt.edu.