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HIST 3310: History of Texas
Spring 2012 - (Section 001): TR 11am – 12:20pm – 104 Holden Hall
Professor (contact information):
Dr. Sean P. Cunningham
Email: sean.cunningham@ttu.edu
Website: courses.ttu.edu/secunnin
Office: 45 Holden Hall
Office Hours: Tue (12:30-1:30), Thurs (12:30-2:30)
Course Description and Purpose
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This course provides a broad survey of Texas history, tracing the major social, cultural, political, and
economic developments of the state into the modern era. Students will be expected to read three books, take
three book quizzes, and complete three exams, which will cover information conveyed by lecture, through
readings, and in videos. The course satisfies 3 hours of the state of Texas legislative / core curriculum
requirement in Social and Behavioral Sciences - U.S. History.
Required Texts:
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Crisp, J., Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett’s Last Stand and Other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution
Egan, T., The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Gillon, S., The Kennedy Assassination–24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson’s Pivotal First Day as President
Assignments and Grading:
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Your overall grade in this course will be based on the following assignments:
 Book Quizzes (3):
25%
 Exam I:
25%
 Exam II:
25%
 Exam III:
25%
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Overall course grades will be determined on the following scale:
 93 – 100%
=
A
 90 – 92%
=
A 87 – 89%
=
B+
 83 – 86%
=
B
 80 – 82%
=
B 77 – 79%
=
C+






73 – 76%
70 – 72%
67 – 69%
63 – 66%
60 – 62%
<60%
=
=
=
=
=
=
C
CD+
D
DF
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Book Quizzes:
 Each student will read three books and take three quizzes over the content of those books.
 Quizzes will be administered in class and will consist of multiple-choice and/or true-false questions.
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Exams:
 There will be three exams for this course. Students will be allowed 80 minutes for each exam.
 Exam I will be given on Tuesday, February 21.
 Exam II will be given on Tuesday, April 3.
 Exam III will be given on Tuesday, May 8.
 The Final Exam (Exam III) is not comprehensive.
 You will be required to use a new blue book for each exam. You may not use the same blue book for
each exam.
 Exams may consist of some combination of multiple choice, short answer / ID, short essay, and / or
longer essay questions covering lectures, videos, and readings.
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Attendance Policy:
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Attendance is not formally taken, but students are, nevertheless, expected to attend all classes and discussion
sections.
Students missing exams or quizzes due to an EXCUSED absence will receive one opportunity for a makeup.
All makeup exams and makeup quizzes will be offered ONCE, at 1:30pm on Thursday, May 10.
 Makeup exams and quizzes will contain a different combination of questions than was offered in the
original exam or quiz.
All EXCUSED absences require proper documentation and must fit one of the below categories:
 Illness requiring, by written doctor’s orders, the student to miss a regularly scheduled exam or quiz or
at least one week of classes leading up to the date of an exam or quiz.
 University-sponsored events – professional, academic, or athletic – that require the student to miss a
regularly scheduled exam / quiz or at least one week of classes leading up to the date of an exam or
quiz. See University Standard Operating Procedure 34.06.
 Unexpected emergencies or immediate family death/tragedy that can be verified and/or documented,
which requires the student to miss a regularly scheduled exam or quiz or at least one week of classes
leading up to the date of an exam or quiz.
 Religious Holidays as approved by University Standard Operating Procedure 34.19.
In unusual cases that do not conform to the above policy on EXCUSED absences, the instructor reserves all
rights to grant or refuse a student’s request for a makeup exam or quiz.
Discussion Sections:
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Each student registered for this course is required to be concurrently enrolled in a discussion section.
Discussion sections will be led by a Teaching Assistant and will meet each week unless otherwise announced
in class or by email. These meetings provide an opportunity to review lectures, readings, and other classrelated material. Discussion sections further provide students with an opportunity to receive graded quizzes
and exams.
Students are strongly encouraged to attend these weekly sections in order to review class-related material and
seek guidance on test-taking strategies and other related issues.
Lecture Notes:
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Lecture Outlines, “Framing Questions,” and Summaries are available online and may accessed in advance of
each class by visiting the course page on the professor’s website: (courses.ttu.edu/secunnin).
However, students will NOT be provided with digital or paper copies of lecture notes unless the professor is
unable to make it class due to illness, emergency, or other complications.
Students absent from class, regardless of reason, are responsible for acquiring all missed information.
Students with a documented learning disability who are registered through the SOAR Learning Center or the
Testing Center should contact the instructor about necessary classroom accommodations, including the
designation of an in-class note-taker. Again, however, students will NOT be provided with digital or paper
copies of the instructor’s lecture notes.
Social Sciences (US History) – Core Competency:
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This course fulfills three hours of the University’s six hour United States history requirement which is
included under the University’s Social and Behavioral Science Core.
Social and Behavioral Science Core Competency Statement: “Students graduating from Texas Tech
University should be able to demonstrate the ability to critically assess claims about social issues, human
behavior, and diversity in the human experience.”
Social and Behavioral Sciences Curriculum Objective: The objective of a social and behavioral science
component of a core curriculum is to increase the student’s knowledge of how social and behavioral scientists
discover, describe, and explain the behaviors and interactions among individuals, groups, institutions, events,
and ideas. Such knowledge will better equip students to understand themselves and the roles they play in
addressing the issues facing humanity.
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Expected Student Learning Outcomes
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Identify and critique alternative explanations for claims about social issues and human behavior.
Demonstrate knowledge of the origins and evolution of U.S. and Texas political systems.
Recognize ways in which the social sciences, in this case, the history of Texas, are fundamental to the health
and survival of any society.
Communicate a thorough and accurate understanding of the overall narrative of Texas history as well as an
understanding of how our present has been shaped by our past and how future decisions and courses of action
can be informed by history.
Methods of Assessment
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1) Examinations – Students will be required to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the expected learning
outcomes, as outlined above, through some possible combination of short essays, multiple choice and true /
false questions, identifications, or longer essays.
2) Book Quizzes – Administered in multiple choice and / or true / false format, designed to test the students’
comprehension of assigned readings.
More detail on individual assignments can be found in the above section, “Assignments and Grading.”
Texas Tech University Academic Honesty Statement
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It is the aim of Texas Tech University to foster a spirit of complete honesty and a high standard of integrity.
The attempt of students to present as their own any work that they have not honestly performed is regarded by
the faculty and administration as a serious offense and renders the offenders liable to serious consequences,
possibly suspension.
Cheating: Dishonesty on exams and quizzes or on written assignments, illegal possessions of exams, the use of
unauthorized notes during an examination or quiz, obtaining information during an examination from the
examination paper or otherwise from another student, assisting others to cheat, alteration of grade records,
illegal entry to or unauthorized presence in an office are instances of cheating.
Plagiarism: Offering the work of another as one’s own, without proper acknowledgement, is plagiarism;
therefore any student who fails to give credit for quotations or an essentially identical expression of material
taken from books, encyclopedias, magazines, and other reference works, or from themes, reports, or other
writings of a fellow student, is guilty of plagiarism.
Professor’s Academic Honesty Statement
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Any student caught cheating – whether that be through plagiarism of a published or unpublished work, the use
of a paper purchased online, improper collaboration with a fellow student, or any other act which undermines
your ability to produce original work – will receive a zero on their assignment, will not be permitted to repeat
the assignment, may fail the course, and could be subject to punishment that includes expulsion from the
university.
Classroom Behavior
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Courteous and appropriate classroom behavior is expected at all times. Since this class will demand
everyone's complete attention, students should avoid all forms of inattentive and/or offensive behavior.
Examples of behavior that will not be tolerated include reading newspapers, surfing the web, listening to IPods
or similar devices, working on assignments for other classes, napping, talking with neighbors, coming to class
excessively or consistently late, leaving before class is over and without prior notice, text messaging or other
cell phone usage, or any other behavior that distracts either you, other students, or the instructor from the
complete focus and attention of the class.
o All cell phones MUST be turned OFF at the beginning of each class. Students violating this policy
may be asked to leave class.
The instructor reserves the right to dismiss students from class for any of the above-listed activities and, if
necessary, issue a reduction of up to 5 percentage points in the student’s overall final grade average.
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Lecture and Assignment Schedule:
Week One:
 Thursday, January 19:
Class Introduction, Syllabus Overview
Week Two:
 Tuesday, January 24:
 Thursday, January 26:
LEC / VID / DIS: Texas Mythology & the Imagined West
LEC: “Discovery” & Exploration
Week Three:
 Tuesday, January 31:
 Thursday, February 2:
LEC: Spanish Texas
LEC: Mexican Texas
Week Four:
 Tuesday, February 7:
 Thursday, February 9:
LEC: The Texas Revolution
Book Quiz I: Crisp, Sleuthing the Alamo
Week Five:
 Tuesday, February 14:
 Thursday, February 16:
LEC: The Republic of Texas
Review for Exam I
Week Six:
 Tuesday, February 21:
 Thursday, February 23:
Exam I
LEC: Antebellum Texas & the Civil War
Week Seven:
 Tuesday, February 28:
 Thursday, March 1:
LEC: Reconstruction
NO CLASS: Individual Study Day
Week Eight:
 Tuesday, March 6:
 Thursday, March 8:
LEC: Old West & New South
LEC: The Age of Reform
Week Nine:
 Tuesday, March 13:
 Thursday, March 15:
NO CLASS: Spring Break
NO CLASS: Spring Break
Week Ten:
 Tuesday, March 20:
 Thursday, March 22:
LEC: Prosperity to Depression
Book Quiz II: Egan, The Worst Hard Time
Week Eleven:
 Tuesday, March 27:
 Thursday, March 29:
VID / DIS: Surviving the Dust Bowl
Review for Exam II
Week Twelve:
 Tuesday, April 3:
 Thursday, April 5:
Exam II
LEC: Wartime & Postwar Texas
Week Thirteen:
 Tuesday, April 10:
 Thursday, April 12:
LEC: Race, Ethnicity, & Civil Rights
LEC: Economic Growth & Modernization
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Week Fourteen:
 Tuesday, April 17:
 Thursday, April 19:
VID / DIS: LBJ: Beautiful Texas
VID / DIS: JFK: Breaking the News
Week Fifteen:
 Tuesday, April 24:
 Thursday, April 26:
Book Quiz III: Gillon, The Kennedy Assassination–24 Hours After
LEC: Politics & Partisan Realignment
Week Sixteen:
 Tuesday, May 1:
 Thursday, May 3:
LEC / VID / DIS: Texas Mythology & the Imagined West (redux)
Review for Exam III
Week Seventeen:
 Tuesday, May 8:
 Thursday, May 10:
Exam III
Makeup Exams / Quizzes (1:30pm)
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The instructor reserves the right to make alterations to this syllabus. Alterations, should there be a need, will
always be announced in class. Students are responsible to attend class and make note of changes to the
schedule. The instructor is not responsible for the student’s failure to make note of schedule changes.
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Any student who, because of a disability, may require special arrangements in order to meet the course
requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary arrangements. Students
should present appropriate verification from Student Disability Services during the instructor’s office hours.
Please note: instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodations to a student until appropriate
verification from Student Disability Services has been provided. For additional information, please contact
Student Disability Services in West Hall or call 806-742-2405.