HISTORY 3296 Section 002
Intermediate Writing Seminar – College Life in Historical Perspective
MWF 12-12:50pm Gladfelter Hall 824
(l) Poster from 1925
film The Plastic Age
starring Clara Bow; (r)
still from 1978 film
Animal House, starring
John Belushi
This is a writing-intensive course for history majors. Writing assignments will help students
develop or practice specific writing skills and the research skills that will be critical for success
in the senior-level capstone seminar. This section uses the theme of the history of American
higher education to help students synthesize broad historical narratives, to teach research skills,
and to produce original writing based on historical research.
Required Texts available at Temple Bookstore:
John Thelin A History of Higher Education
Christopher Newfield Ivy and Industry
Clark Kerr The Uses of the University
William Buckley, Jr. God and Man at Yale
GRADING
Classroom Participation
Semester Project
-Topic Approval
-Book Review
-Annotated Bibliography
-Rough Draft
-Peer Review
-Class Presentation
-Final Draft
Quantitative/Map Assignment
Student Newspaper Assignment
30%
45%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
20%
15%
10%
READINGS and CLASS SCHEDULE
L = Lecture D = Discussion/Presentation
WEEK 1
August 30 (Mon): L Introduction
September 1: Thelin, A History of American Higher Education, Introduction, ch. 1
VISIT TO TEMPLANA COLLECTION
Sept 3: L/D Turner, Campus, excerpt on Blackboard
WEEK 2
Sept 6 (Mon): NO CLASS
Sept 8 L Thelin, ch. 2 Yale Report of 1828, Blackboard; Julie Reuben, The Making of the
Modern University, Blackboard
Sept 10 D Discussion, Discussion about assignments, papers
WEEK 3
Sept 13 (Mon): L Ronald Smith, Sports and Freedom on Blackboard.
Fiction reading on Blackboard
Sept 15 D Student-Life at Harvard
Sept 17 D Student-Life at Harvard
RESEARCH SESSION
WEEK 4
Sept 20 (Mon): L Thelin, ch. 3
Sept 22 D Helen Horowitz, Alma Mater pp. 1-9, 105-202 (or -178), 371-381, on Blackboard
Sept 24 D Student publication exercise
WEEK 5
Sept 27 (Mon): L Thelin, ch. 4
Sept 29 D No Class – Meet with Professor
Oct 1 D Conversation with Faculty #1 (Tentative)
SUBMIT PROPOSED PAPER TOPIC
WEEK 6
Oct 4 (Mon): L Newfield, chs. 2-5
Oct 6 D Gordon, “The Gibson Girl Goes to College” on Blackboard
Oct 8 D Conversation with Faculty #2 (Tentative)
STUDENT NEWSPAPER ASSIGNMENT DUE
WEEK 7
Oct 11 (Mon): L Thelin, ch. 5
Oct 13 D Ellen Schrecker, No Ivory Tower, Blackboard
Oct 15 D Mapping Workshop
WEEK 8
Oct 18 (Mon): L Thelin, ch. 6
Oct 20 D Turner, Campus; Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto; Winling, “Students and the
Second Ghetto,” on Blackboard
Oct 22 D Conversation with Faculty #3 (Tentative)
BOOK REVIEW DUE
WEEK 9
Oct 25 (Mon): L Newfield, chs. 6-7
Oct 27 D Bailey, Sex in the Heartland, on Blackboard
Oct 29 D
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
WEEK 10
Nov 1 (Mon): L Thelin, ch. 7
Nov 3 D Buckley, God and Man at Yale
Nov 5 D
SUBMIT STUDENT HOUSING ASSIGNMENT
WEEK 11
Nov 8 (Mon): L Kerr, The Uses of the University
Nov 10, D COHEN, The FSM and Beyond
Film: Berkeley in the Sixties
Nov 12 D Berkeley in the Sixties cont’d
Oral history reading on Blackboard
WEEK 12
Nov 15 (Mon): L Newfield, chs. 8-10, 1.
Nov 17 Reading TBD
Nov 19 SUBMIT ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER
WEEK 13
Nov 22 (Mon): D Harvey, Neoliberalism, on Blackboard
Nov 24 PEER REVIEW
Nov 26: NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING
WEEK 14
Nov 29 (Mon): Presentations
Dec 1 Presentations
Dec 3 Presentations
WEEK 15
Dec 5 (Mon): NO CLASS
Dec 8 FINAL PAPER DUE
ASSIGNMENTS
Map/Quantitative Assignment – Students will work in groups to conduct data entry of archival
student and faculty directories. Using ArcGIS, students will create maps illustrating the
changing distribution of student and faculty residences at Philadelphia universities, then write a
short analytical paper about these findings.
Student Publication Assignment – Students will be assigned a topic after consultation with the
instructor, then conduct primary research on student publications (newspapers, yearbooks,
literary magazines, etc.) at a local institution. After conducting primary research and
incorporating secondary sources, students will write a short paper on the topic.
Semester Project – Students will select a topic for a semester-long 10-15 page research paper in
consultation with the instructor. Assignment includes selection of a topic, assembly of an
annotated bibliography, completion of a rough draft, written peer evaluation, and final draft.
Students MUST complete each step before they will be evaluated on the next step.
Discussions:
Discussion of fiction/memoirs –
1. What do Tripp and Johnson’s novels tell us about late 19th and early 20th century higher
education, and how it changed between the two books?
2. What can fiction and memoirs more generally tell us about the history of higher education and
about college life? What are their strengths as sources and what are their weaknesses?