“Create A Unit” Assignment
Making Money, HIST 1180
Due: February 27/27, 2018, on paper, in tutorial
1250 words
The Goals:
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To practice the art of elaboration (based on your learning in the course so far)
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To develop question-asking capacities
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To think pedagogically
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To practice professional correspondence writing
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To practice searching and finding resources on scholarly matters – both human and written
The Assignment:
Assume you are the professor for our General Education course “Making Money.” Create an additional “Unit.”
1.
Write a title for the unit, in the form of a question.
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The question should, ideally, be a good conversation-starting question.
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The question is the title of your assignment.
2.
Articulate three-to-five main points that your lecture would deliver
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That is, provide an outline of the introductory lecture in full sentence form with a logical
organizational flow.
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E.g.: The lecture will begin by addressing the problem “x” by doing 1, 2, and 3. I will then
move on to discuss problem Y. … The lecture will conclude with a reflection on Z.
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This section basically provides your “Answer” to the question that your unit asks (it sketches how
you would answer your question)
o
You may use the question as a point-of-departure to the larger themes / issues about
which your question hints.
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Be sure to note the scholarly field or discipline that is best suited to adopt when trying to answer the
question. (E.g. “democracy & capitalism” was political science, “money’s origins” was
anthropology, “God & money” was religious studies, “does money make me” was
psychology).
3.
Choose two readings to assign and justify why you chose these two
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List them in the order in which you would assign them.
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Include the full citation details of both.
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These readings must be from a scholarly journal or a chapter in a scholarly book (i.e. NOT a
magazine article or blog post, and not a whole book… it’s too much reading!).
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For each reading,
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write a substantial paragraph explaining the argument the author is making;
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describe the kinds of evidence s/he provides to support that argument;
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justify why it is an appropriate reading to include in the unit.
4.
Draft a formal, professional letter inviting a guest lecturer for the second half of your unit
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Identify a real person who would be a good guest to welcome to your class to flesh out the unit.
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The guest does not need to be from York, nor, for that matter, from any university.
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Your professional email should include things like a “Dear___” salutation and a sign off. The letter
should invite your guest to come to your class to deliver a lecture. Write it as if you’re the instructor.
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Remember that the email would be “out of the blue” for your guest, so you’ll want to introduce
yourself (I teach a first year course at York called “Making Money,” etc.), explain what you’re asking,
and spell out why you’re asking this particular person. You should explain to her/him (i.e. justify) why
you think s/he would be a good fit for the unit. Flatter but be accurate and truthful.
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You do not need to find a real email address for this person, but the person has to be a real expert
on your unit question.
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Do not send the actual email.
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The Technical Details & Helpful Tips:
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If you are having difficulty brainstorming questions, spend some time thinking about and combining: the things
we do with money (spend, save, lose, steal, give, take, hoard, use, sue for, etc.); the things we do for money;
themes that interest you (sports, art, nature, politics, computing, sex, celebrity, marriage, war, etc.); scholarly
fields of study at a university: http://futurestudents.yorku.ca/program-search
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Make sure your question/unit “fits” with the overall goals and style of the course.
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Write 1250 words, in 12-point font (equivalent to Times New Roman), double-spaced pages.
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I would advise you to first write as much as you need to write to answer all of the questions above…
…then carefully figure out how to express it all in only 1250. Editing is magic.
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You can use any citation style for the secondary sources / readings.
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If you’ve never written a formal letter, feel free to google search “how to write a professional letter,” peruse
York’s or other institutions’ resources for professional skills / career counseling.
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For the lecture points and the reading summaries, do not write in the “personal” voice. For the letter to your
guests, you probably should use “I.”
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Feel free to trade editing services with a friend or classmate. I’d strongly encourage everyone (no matter how
good your writing already is) to make an appointment with a writing centre. Improving writing is a life-long task
– an extremely valuable one at that.
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Make sure to put your name, your student number, and your TAs name on your paper
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The assignment is worth 10% of the course grade
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Please save drafts of your work. If your TA suspect anything less than academic honesty, they
will as you to show them how you arrived at your final submission.
The Grading:
Please consult the course syllabus as a reminder about the course Late Policy, Submission Policy, for help in Support for
Your Learning, and concerning Academic Honesty. I will follow the History Department’s grading policies:
http://www.yorku.ca/uhistory/undergraduate/grading_policies.html.
A+
90-100
Exceptional
C
60-64
Fairly competent
A
80-89
Excellent
D+
55-59
Passing
B+
75-79
Very good
D
50-54
Barely passing
B
70-74
Good
E
40-49
Marginally failing
Competent
F
0-39
Failing
C+
65-69
“Exceptional” assignments will:
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Be inspiring. They’ll articulate a great new question / dimension to the course that will be considered for future
versions of Making Money.
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Make clear that you’ve devoted concentrated thinking about the logic of the course, and some additional, for
now missing, or under appreciated aspect of money.
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Be grammatically perfect and composed in compelling prose.
“Excellent” assignments will:
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Hit all of the main points in the “The Assignment” and “Tips” sections above.
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Be flawlessly written.
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Evidence clear and careful thinking.
“Very Good” grade assignments will:
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Do all of the above but without panache, precision, or superb writing.
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Evidence your critical capacity, your ability to synthesize a theme and variation materials.
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If your outline, summaries and letter are all solid, but your question is lame, you’ll get a B+
“Good” grade assignments
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Do 2 or 3 but not all 5 parts well (question, outline, readings summary, invitation, quality of writing)
“Competent” grade assignments will:
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Have either rich content but poor writing, or poor content with competent writing.
“Passing” grade assignments will:
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Just barely satisfy the basic requirements and goals of the assignment.
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Have poor writing and poor content, but show that you did the assignment.
“Failing” grade assignments will:
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Miss the point of the assignment altogether with poor writing.
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