Spring 2015
Instructor: Catherine Chang
Class Time: TR 2:00 – 3:15 pm
Office: Bancroft 374
Classroom: OWENS 108
Tel: 323-4957 (Email Preferred)
Credit Hours: 3
Email: changc@winthrop.edu
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 2:00-3:00 pm, Tuesday & Thursday 4:00-5:00 pm, and by Appointment
HIST 300-001: Historiography and Methodology
(CRN Number: 21594)
Course Description:
• History 300 is a tool course with three goals. The first goal is to expose students to the study of
historiography and methodology, which is the study of how history has been written over time. The second
goal is to promote the mastery of writing skills applied to the historical profession. The last goal is to
prepare you for upper-division courses and theses.
• Students will first learn that historians usually disagree about how to interpret the historical events. History
comprises competing understandings, arguments and debates about the past. Students will learn about how
the scientific revolutions and the Enlightenment helped to create a historical profession in the West and
applied their standards on other cultures and societies. Therefore, history as a profession is constantly
evolving. Secondly, students will work on a historiographical essay throughout the semester. A
historiographical essay focuses attention not on a historical event itself but rather on how historians have
interpreted that event over time. It means exercises in writing and rewriting, finding secondary and
scholarly sources, and presenting your work to others. Finally, students will learn to identify the major
schools of thought in the 19th and 20th centuries, and then analyze the approaches, methods, and arguments
in all historical writings, including book reviews, analysis papers, historiographical essays, and research
papers.
Prerequisites: CRTW 201, HIST 211 and 212, and two of HIST 111, 112, and 113 (all can be taken as corequisites), or permission of instructor; sophomore status or permission of the Department Chair.
Requirement: Undergraduate history majors must earn a grade of C or higher, or S on an S/U basis, in HIST 300 in
order to take HIST 590 Capstone Seminar in History and be eligible for graduation.
General Education Program Goals and University Level Competencies: History 300 satisfies the intensive
writing requirement for the general education requirement and for the history major. This course also satisfies
learning outcome number two of the history department program, which is that students after taking this course will
be able to demonstrate an ability to comprehend and explain major issues in historiography. Additionally, this
course satisfies University Level Competency #3: that “Winthrop University students will comprehend the historical,
social, and global contexts of their discipline and their lives.” The study of historiography helps students of history
understand how history became a discipline and how the discipline of history is connected to other disciplines in the
Arts and Sciences.
Required Texts:
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Anna Green, and Katheleen Troup eds., The Houses of History: A Critical Reader in Twentieth-Century
History and Theory. Washington Square, NY: New York University Press, 1999.
Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. Seventh Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels. The Civil War in France. Dodo Press, 2009.
Key to success: Do not expect to understand the readings at the first glance. Give yourself plenty of time to read and
reread the books. Note-taking process before class and reviewing notes after class will help you understand the key
points, approaches, and arguments of each school or each historian. For example, answer the questions in The
Houses of History or raise your study questions in informal writing before class. Be sure to record the approximate
page numbers on which you find the answers. They will be very helpful in preparing your examinations and writing
assignments. After class, look back to earlier chapters to compare the schools or historians' views. If you feel
confused, discuss the questions in class or meet the instructor during office hours.
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Global Learning Component:
This course participates in the Global Learning Initiative. The global learning components of this course are the
following:
• Student will read and compare American, European, and other regions’ schools of thought and will learn
the development of the historical profession in a global context.
• Students will analyze the historical writings from all regions and by authors of different time periods or
cultural backgrounds.
Grading System:
Attendance
In-Class Discussion and Presentation
In-Class Midterm Exam (March 3)
Final Exam (May 1)
Book Review (Feb 21)
Historiographical Essay
• Proposal of the Historiographic Essay (Jan 18)
• Ten Annotated Secondary Sources (Weekly)
• Outline (March 12)
• Rough Draft of the Historiographical Essay (March 28)
• PowerPoint Presentation of the Historiographical Essay (April 21, April 23)
• Final Draft of the Historiographical Essay (April 27)
1.
3.
3%
15%
5%
15%
5%
10%
This course will be graded on a plus/minus basis. All course components will receive a number grade, but the
final grade will be a letter grade and result from a weighted average of the grades of these course components. I
will only give incompletes in extraordinary circumstances. According to the Winthrop’s academic regulations,
the letter grades are assigned on the following basis:
A (93~)
A- (90-92), B+ (87-89), B (83-86)
B- (80-82), C+ (77-79), C (73-76)
C- (70-72), D+ (67-69), D (63-66)
D- (60-62)
F (0-59)
2.
10%
10%
10%
5%
12%
53%
Excellent, achievement of distinction
Good, achievement above that required for graduation
Fair, minimum achievement required for graduation
Poor, achievement at a level below that required for graduation; must
be balanced by good or excellent work in other courses
Failure, unsatisfactory achievement
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory and regularly graded and will account for 10 points of your course
grade. Each student is permitted two unexcused absences without penalty; every unexcused absence more than
that will result in points being subtracted from your grade. Arriving 15 minutes late or leaving 15 minutes
early will be considered as half-absence. Sleeping, texting, or reading other materials during class time
will be considered as absence. More than 7 absences will result in “F” in the student’s course grade. For
an excuse to be valid, the student must submit written verification from a physician, advisor, or administer to
explain the reasons why the student cannot attend class, or it probably will not be accepted. Excuses will be
accepted for deaths in the family, but must be supported by such evidence as an obituary or a funeral program
containing the student’s surname. The student must understand that the instructor may or may not accept any
excuse for a missed class.
In-Class Discussion and Presentation: The quality of our discussion and classes depends on you and your
classmates—reasoning logically, evaluating and using information sources, appreciating diverse cultural
viewpoints and beliefs, and sharing your opinions, observations, and questions with classmates.
• Each student will conduct at least one 10-15 minute presentation to introduce the main ideas of the
readings and lead the class discussion, which will account for 3 percent of the course grade. A second
presentation will account for another 3 percent of the course grade as extra credit. Each student will
be graded on preparation, critical reading/thinking skills, oral communication skills, and guidelines.
• Each student will report and discuss the essay topic, sources, and writing progress of the historiographical
essay, which will account for 3 percent of your course grade.
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Each student must discuss the writing progress of the historiographical essay with professor, which will
account for 1 percent of your course grade.
• Raise questions and make critical arguments about the readings and respond to other students’ arguments in
class, which will account for 3 percent of your course grade.
In-Class Midterm Exam and Final Exam:
• This midterm essay exam will cover all readings, lectures and discussion up to midterm exam. In addition
to the readings, lectures, and in-class discussion, the final essay exam will also focus on historians’ right
and ethical responsibility as you have learned from all schools of thought in this semester.
• You should bring one BLUEBOOK to the classroom (without your names on them) for each exam. The
instructor will immediately exchange it with a prepared one for your use.
• There is no makeup exam afterwards. If you have a serious illness or an extreme emergency that will force
you to miss any exam, please email me—at least one day before the exam—a written explanation and
discuss with me a firm date on which you will be able to take the makeup exam; you must submit written
verification from a physician, advisor, or administer for as soon as possible for rescheduling the makeup
exam.
• Any student caught cheating in the exams will receive an F for the exam.
Turnitin:
Turnitin ID: 9298291
Turnitin Password: HM001
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Book Review:
• Topic, Length, Grade, Format and the Due Date: You will write one book review of The Civil War in
France at least 1200 words long. This book review will account for 12 percent of the course grade. It
must be typed, double-spaced, in Times New roman 12-point font, and documented in accordance
with the author-date system of Chicago style. Submit an electronic copy of the book review to Turnitin
by the end of Feb 21.
Historiographical Essay—Proposal, Outline, Rough Draft, and Final Draft
• Topic: Each student must work on a historiographical essay on the topic of ONE war or revolution in the
modern period (after 1750 CE) selected from the list below.
The Seven Years' War
The American Revolution
The French Revolution
The 1848 Revolutions
The American Civil War
WWI
WWII
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The Opium Wars
The Crimean War
The Mexican Revolution
The Russian Revolutions
The Korean War
The Cuban Revolution
The Vietnam War
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
Proposal—Length, Format, Grade and the Due Date: This proposal must be two full pages long (doublespaced) and include clearly the topic, introduction to the event, and approaches. It must be typed, doublespaced, in Times New Roman 12-point font, and well documented in Chicago style if you have found and
used some sources in this proposal. This proposal will account for 3 percent of your course grade. Submit
an electronic copy of this proposal to Turnitin by the end of Sunday, Jan 18.
Outline—Length, Grade and the Due Date: This outline must be at least four full pages long. This
outline will account for 5 percent of your course grade. Submit a hard copy to the instructor at the
beginning of the class on March 12.
Rough Draft—Length, Format, Grade and the Due Date: The rough draft must be at least 10-12 pages
long, but this length requirement does not include the bibliography. Give footnotes and a bibliography.
The draft must be typed, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12-point font, and well documented in
Chicago style. This rough draft will account for 15 percent of your course grade. Submit an electronic
copy of this rough draft to Turnitin by the end of March 28.
Final Draft—Length, Format, Grade and the Due Date: The final draft must be at least 15-18 pages long,
but this length requirement does not include the bibliography. Give footnotes and a bibliography. The
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draft must be typed, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12-point font, and well documented in
Chicago style. This rough draft will account for 10 percent of your course grade. Submit an electronic
copy of this rough draft to Turnitin by the end of April 27.
Annotation of Ten Sources—Number, Grade, Length, Format, and the Due Date:
o To work on your historiographical essay, you will annotate at least 10 secondary academic sources
(including books and journal articles which have with proper documentation and bibliography) in total
as writing an annotated bibliography throughout most of the fall semester.
o Each annotation accounts 1.5 percent of your course grade.
o Each annotation should be less than one page long. Submit a hard copy a hard copy of your
annotation and the evidence (such as photocopies of the Table of Contents or/and important pages)
that you have looked at the source at the beginning of the class of the due date as scheduled on pp.
6-7. It must be typed, double-spaced, and in Time New Roman 12-point font. The components of
each annotation should include the following:
Checklist of the Components in the Annotation of Each Secondary Source
The full title of the source like a bibliographical entry in Chicago style
The author's background (discipline, expertise, etc)
The primary sources analyzed by the author
The major arguments, the reasoning process, and the schools or theories developed by the
author
Strength and weakness of the source
The author’s possible prejudices
The assessment of its value to the topic of your historiographical essay
Key to Success, Step by Step:
1) In the beginning of the semester, prepare a folder to keep all ten annotated sources (with
the instructor's feedback), the proposal, the outline and the rough draft as a file in order
that you can easily refer to them in your writing.
2) Start your search with finding at most two secondary sources with general introduction
to the topic you choose for the historiographical essay.
3) Later, find more specific sources in order to gradually narrow down your topic. Pay attention
to their introduction and literature review to find important scholarly sources the first two
historians have used. If there is no clear section of a literature review, use the bibliography
or the suggested readings in the end of each book to help you find more sources. Start with
the earliest and the most significant source, and then find more sources in chronological
order and with different approaches. So you could find the views of different schools and
historians, and national perspectives on the topic. You should also explore what types of
primary materials each historian uses, and compare and analyze all historians' findings and
arguments. Ultimately, you will be able to find the evolution historians' views and
interpretations on the historical event.
4) The checklist above with components in each annotation will be the basic materials you could
use in the historiographical essays.
o Failure to Meet the Requirements of the Annotated Sources: Any late submission of the annotated
source will result in the deduction of 0.5 point of your course grade. Failure to submit the evidence
along each annotation will result in the deduction of 0.5 point of your course grade. Any missing
component from the list above will result in the deduction of 0.2 point of your course grade.
• Presentation of the Historiographical Essay—Length, Grade, Rubric, and the Dates: In the end of the
semester, each student must conduct a 10-12 minute PowerPoint presentation to introduce the evolution
of diverse arguments and findings made by historians as you have found in your historiographical essay.
Email the PowerPoint slides to the instructor immediately after the presentation. Each student will be
graded on preparation, critical reading/thinking skills, oral communication skills, arguments and evidence,
and organization. This presentation will account for 5 points of your course grade. The scheduled dates
are April 21 and April 23.
The Documentation and Sourcing Workshops: To ensure your success in documentation and sourcing for
your book reviews and historiographical essays, you must attend these two workshops. Failure to attend any of
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them will result in the deduction of one letter grade of the book review or the rough draft of the historigraphical
essay.
Three In-Class Writing Workshops: Before the due dates of the book review, and the two drafts of the
historiographical essay, there will be writing workshops (Feb 17, March 12, and April 16). Attend the
workshops for more discussion with your classmates and the instructor. Failure to attend any of them will
result in the deduction of one letter grade of the writing assignment.
I will also happily comment on your drafts if you submit it at least 48 hours before the deadline. You may send
the drafts by email or in hard copy. The best way is to make an appointment to discuss your essay in person.
Failure to Meet the Requirements of the Writing Assignments: Failure to meet the length requirement of
each writing assignment will result in an automatic deduction of the grade in accordance with the ratio to
the length requirement. Late submission of any of the four writing assignments (book review, outline, or the
rough and final drafts of the historiographical essay) will receive a late penalty of twenty points for each day
(including non-class days and weekends). Because the late assignment would be rejected by Turnitin after the
deadline, submit it to me via mail.
Student Code of Conduct—Academic Integrity—Cheating and Plagiarism: All academic work (including
both tests and short essays) produced by you is the result of your own efforts and the explicit acknowledgement
of other people’s contribution. Avoid cheating and particularly plagiarism. If any part of your proposal, book
review, annotation, outline, or the two drafts of the essay is plagiarized, or if you recycle your old writing
assignments (part or whole), you will receive a grade of zero on the writing assignment. Plagiarism is taking
someone else's words or ideas and passing them off as your own without giving proper credit to the source of
your information. It is intellectual theft and is considered one of the most serious forms of academic dishonesty.
No proper documentation of your sources in essays will be considered plagiarism. Serious violations of
academic integrity by students result in both academic sanctions (e.g., failing the course) and disciplinary
sanctions (e.g., suspension or dismissal). To avoid plagiarism, please check the section of “Using Sources and
Avoiding Plagiarism” and "The Correct Use of Borrowed Information" in your Prentice Hall Reference Guide
(pp. 378-403). The university-wide policy on plagiarism is found in the Student Conduct Code, as listed in the
2014-2015 Student Handbook (You can find it in the following website < http://www.winthrop.edu/studentaffairs/ > under Section V of "Student Academic Misconduct" (pp. 38-9). In the most severe cases, an act of
plagiarism can lead to suspension or expulsion from the university. For more information, please consult
academic regulations and the following website: http://libguides.library.winthrop.edu/content.php?pid=264124.
If you have an illness or an extreme emergency that will force you to miss any deadline, please email me — at least
one day before the deadline — a written explanation and a firm deadline by which you will be able to complete
the assignment; you must also submit written verification from a physician, advisor, or administer as soon as
possible for rescheduling the deadline.
Writing Center:
The Center located in 242 Bancroft Hall Tutors helps writers analyze assignments, address audiences appropriately,
improve their composing processes, strengthen the focus and organization of their writing, and improve their control
of the language. Center hours and additional information can be found in the following website:
http://www.winthrop.edu/wcenter/.
Students with Disabilities:
Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a disability and require specific
accommodations to complete this course, contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at 323-3290. Once you
have your official notice of accommodations from the Office of Disability Services, please inform the professor as
early as possible in the semester.
Classroom Manners:
To improve our learning environment, there is no toleration of any disruptive behavior. Except the three In-Class
Writing Workshops, computers, cell phones, pagers, IPods, I-Pads, and other electronic devices must be turned
off (not just silenced) and put away during class. No food is allowed in classroom. Personal conversations
should be restrained. Any disruptive behavior listed above will cause the student to be considered as absence. If
the student has any emergency and need to keep the cell phone on, please inform the instructor before the class
begins. The professor will leave her cell phone on (on vibration mode) only for campus emergency purposes in order
to be notified.
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Syllabus Change and Classroom Policies:
The instructor does her best to adhere to the syllabus, but circumstances, whether based in the class’s own
experiences, in world events, in weather conditions, or health conditions, may require a change in syllabus. Any
changes and modification of the classroom policies, events, or items on this syllabus will be announced during class.
All students are responsible for knowing these changes, regardless of attendance.
Schedule of Lectures/Presentations, Readings, and Assignments: The instructor reserves the right to revise the
reading schedule and assignments with one week's notice.
Dates
Topics & Tasks
Jan 13
Jan 15
Introduction: Syllabus
In-Class Report: the Topics of the
Historiographical Essay and In-Class
Presentation
Jan 18
Jan 20
Jan 22
Jan 27
Jan 29
Feb 3
Feb 5
Feb 10
Feb 12
Feb 17
Feb 19
Feb 21
Feb 24
Feb 26
Readings & Assignments (finished by the date on the left)
Week 1
Report: introduction to the selected topic and types of sources
of individual historiographical essay
Report: the selected topic of in-class presentation
Week 2
Proposal of the Historiographical Essay Due at the end of the Day
Historical Consciousness and
Read: "Historical Consciousness in the Modern Age" and
Professional History
"Professional History in Recent Times," pp. 29-49, 86110 (on Blackboard).
Empiricism: Writing with Historical
Read: The Houses, Chap 1, pp. 1-11.
Sources
A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, Chap 2
Week 3
Think and Write Like a Historian
Read: A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, Chaps 3-5
Due: Annotation of the 1st Source of the Historiographical
Essay
Documentation Workshop: The
Read: A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, Chap 7
Chicago Documentation Style
Week 4
Read: Writing Guide to Book Reviews (on Blackboard)
How to Write a Book Review?
Examples of Book Reviews (on Blackboard)
A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, Chap 3 (pp. 36-7)
Due: Annotation of the 2nd Source
The Age of Revolutions: the
Read: The Civil War in France
Nineteenth-Century Europe
Week 5
Karl Marx and 19th-Century Marxism
Read: The Communist Manifesto
(https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/co
mmunist-manifesto/)
Due: Annotation of the 3rd Source
Marxist Historians in the 20th Century
Read: Read: The Houses, Chap 2
Week 6
In-Class Writing: Book Review of
Due: Annotation of the 4th Source
The Civil War in France
Reread: The Civil War in France
Bring: 1) a hard copy of your draft of the book review of
The Civil War in France; 2) your laptop; and 3) A
Pocket Guide to Writing in History
Freud and Psychohistory
Read: The Houses, Chap 3
Book Review of The Civil War in France due at the end of the day
Week 7
Historical Sociology
Read: The Houses, Chap 5
Due: Annotation of the 5th Source
Sourcing Workshop
Meet at the Ground Level of the Dacus Library to raise
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Guest Speaker: Dr. Gale Teaster
Mar 3
Mar 5
Mar 10
Mar 12
Mar 24
Mar 26
Mar 28
Mar 31
Apr 2
Apr 7
Apr 9
Apr 14
Apr 16
Apr 21
Apr 23
Apr 27
May 1
questions and to have hands-on experience.
Week 8
In-Class Midterm Exam
Bring Bluebook.
Individual Meeting with the professor to discuss the progress (topic, issues, sources and outline) of
the historiographical essay
※making an appointment asap
Example of a historiographical essay Read: A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, pp. 37-9
Kornblith and Lasser, “More Than Great White Men:
A Century of Scholarship on American Social
History,” pp. 11-20 (on Blackboard)
Due: Annotation of the 6th Source
Week 9
The Annals
Read: The Houses, Chap 4
Due: Annotation of the 7th Source
Due: Outline of the Historiographical Essay
In-Class Writing of the Rough Draft
Bring: 1) a hard copy of your draft of your outline; 2) your
laptop; and 3) A Pocket Guide to Writing in History
Week 10
Spring Break; No Class
Week 11
Quantitative History
Read: The Houses, Chap 6
Due: Annotation of the 8th Source
Anthropology and Ethnohistorians
Read: The Houses, Chap 7
Rough Draft of the Historiographical Essay Due at the End of the Day
Week 12
• Capstone Seminar and the Graduate Read: The Houses, Chap 9
Due: Annotation of the 9th Source
School
Guest Speaker: Dr. Edward Lee
• Oral History
Global History
Read: TBA
Guest Speaker: Dr. Ginger Williams
Week 13
Gender and History
Read: The Houses, Chap 10
Due: Annotation of the 10th Source
Postcolonial Perspective
Read: The Houses, Chap 11
Week 14
Poststructuralism / Postmodernism
Read: The Houses, Chap 12
In-Class Writing of the Final Draft
Bring: 1) a hard copy of a new outline or your working
draft of the final draft; 2) your laptop; and 3) A
Pocket Guide to Writing in History
Week 15
Student Presentations on the Historiographical Essays
Student Presentations on the Historiographical Essays
Week 16
Final Draft of the Historiographical Essay Due at the end of the day
Final Exam @ 8:00 am
Bring Bluebook.
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