HIS102: WEST IN THE WORLD
Spring 2016
Dr. Padraic Kennedy
Office: Humanities 203
Phone: x1405
Email: pkennedy@ycp.edu
Office Hours: MWF 9-10
TTH 11-12
(or by appointment)
*I reserve the right to revise or alter this syllabus at any time.
Catalog course description
This course investigates the major trends in Western civilization in the context of global developments
from the sixteenth century to the present. Students will examine the political, economic, social, and
cultural developments that characterize the history of the West in that period, and also consider the
historical roots of present global or international issues as they develop through interactions between the
West and other world regions.
Certified for Foundations Element category: Global Citizenship
HIS 102: The West in the World provides students with the basis for understanding some key
developments that continue to shape lives, including the challenges of democratic systems; the role of the
state and government in people’s lives; political, economic, cultural and social globalization; and the role of
the individual as a potential historical actor. Because the West has had a profound influence on world
developments, and the West in turn has been shaped by that same interaction. The content and skills
associated with this course enable students to engage with contemporary issues through a broader
understanding of the historical development of those issues.
Note to students who matriculated at YCP before FALL 2015: Beginning in Fall 2015, York College
will simultaneously operate two general education systems. Students who entered the college before Fall
2015 will remain under the Core/ADR systems, while new students to the college have a different set of
non-major (general education) requirements that are part of a system called Generation Next. You,
however, remain part of the Core/ADR system, and will finish out that system with its current
requirements. Some courses belong to both the “old” and “new” systems. That’s okay. A course may be an
ADR course, in groups I-V, and at the same time, may be a Disciplinary Perspectives Course, or a
Foundations Course, or a Constellations course. For instance, this course is in the current ADR under area
IV, but in the new system, is a Foundations-Global Citizenship course. A student sitting next to you may be
taking the course as a Generation Next requirement or for a Core or ADR requirement. The course is
serving you both well as a requirement in your separate systems.
Student learning outcomes
1) Demonstrate an understanding of past and/or present global or international issues and processes, and the
political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions of those issues, including their past and/or present
interconnectedness.
2) Demonstrate an understanding of diverse perspectives and approaches to those past and/or present global
or international issues.
3) Demonstrate understanding of the norms, values, and practices important to members of another culture
and/or nation.
4) Extend knowledge from their own personal background and academic disciplines to consideration of
global issues and/or solutions.
5) Analyze primary and secondary sources in order to develop interpretations, presented as arguments, and
supported by evidence.
6) Convey an accurate understanding of the narrative of major historical periods and their associated
events, individuals, developments, causes and effects.
7) Students will solicit and respond appropriately to feedback from peers and faculty.
8) Students will present work with professional appearance and demeanor.
9) Students will be able to write competently, including using correct mechanics and style appropriate for
audience, and cite sources as required by the instructor.
Techniques to be used in this course to achieve the course student learning outcomes:
Students’ understanding of global issues and diverse perspectives will be developed through readings and
discussions that address relevant material about the relationship between the West and the World. Your
understanding of the content will be assessed via in-class or take-home essay writing assignments for which
you will answer a prompt that requires you to construct your own argument, using specific readings from
the Sources book and the Manifesto.
Students will develop communication skills through class discussions and debates, during which students
will be provided with the opportunity to think critically about the readings.
Students will be assigned a range of materials used by historians to understand the past, including primary
and secondary source materials, which may be available in print; as video, art and or music; or Web-based
information resources. Students will be expected to work with this material to develop the analytical skills
necessary to construct interpretations and offer arguments backed by evidence drawn from that material.
Course Materials
The following books are available at the campus bookstore. All are required:
McKay, Crowston, Wiesner-Hanks & Perry, A History of Western Society, Eleventh
Edition, Vol. 2, (Bedford St. Martins, 2014) “Value Edition” [hereafter McKay]
Sources for Western Society, Vol 2. 3rd Edition (Bedford St. Martin’s, 2014) [hereafter
Sources]
Marx, The Communist Manifesto, Edited by F. Bender. 2nd Edition (Norton Critical
Edition, 2013) [hereafter Manifesto]
You must use these editions of the books! Other editions are available, but the assignments will not
match.
You will also be required to access documents on Moodle which you will have to print, read and bring to
class with you. All the photocopied material for the course (syllabus, document handouts, essay guidelines,
etc.) will be available on Moodle in the “Course Documents” folder.
Basis for Course Grade
Quizzes & Reading Questions
Class Participation
Class Debates
Take Home Essay
Communist Manifesto Assignment
“After” Quiz
Final Exam
300
200
150
100
100
50
100
1000 points total
Quizzes & Reading Questions: You will take a quiz on this syllabus as well as occasional quizzes on
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lectures and on the McKay textbook. These are meant to gauge whether you have read and understood the
McKay textbook and listened to and comprehended the lectures. Most quizzes will be completed in class.
For many of the readings from the Sources book, you will be required write out your answers to questions
about the documents and turn those in at the beginning of class. You will also take a “before” and an
“after” quiz meant to gauge what content you know before the course begins, and what you know when it
ends. Whichever of these you score highest on will count towards your final grade.
Participation: About half the class periods will be devoted to discussion of the reading assignments from
the Sources book and handouts. Some of these discussions will be in groups, some as a class. Your
participation grade will be based on the quality of your contribution to class and group discussions. Simply
being present for discussion is not enough; you must actively participate. That means you must read the
assignments carefully and completely beforehand, have the reading with you in class, think critically about
the questions asked, and make an effort to answer it. When in discussion groups, you must take
responsibility for completing your share of group assignments and try to involve others in the group
discussion.
Active participation also implies that whether lecture, discussion or debate, you pay attention, come to class
on time, turn off and put away your mobile device, don’t leave and/or re-enter class unless there is a break
or some emergency, don’t work on outside assignments or other material during class, don’t read or
respond to text messages, don’t update your Facebook status or Twitter feed, don’t surf the net, etc. If you
do not actively participate you will be marked as absent on the roll and will lose a portion of your
participation grade. If you disrupt the class, you will be asked to leave.
Debates: We will have two class debates during the semester. For these you will be evaluated both for how
well your group performed and for how well you contributed to the group effort. In other words, part of
your debate grade will be based on teamwork. In order to deter individuals from undermining the group
effort, anyone who does not adequately contribute to the group preparation can be thrown off the team by
unanimous decision of the other members of the group. In those circumstances, I will determine what
additional assignments and penalties are appropriate for the offending student.
Essays: You will write three analytical essays outside of class in response to questions I will provide, one
based on the Sources documents you’ve read, another on material from The Communist Manifesto, and the
last on the textbook, the Sources book and handouts. All essays will be evaluated for content (did you get
the facts right?), analysis (did you make a reasonable, convincing argument that answers the prompt?),
organization (did you organize the essay logically and coherently?), and writing (style, grammar, and
typographical errors). Essays must be submitted digitally through “Turnitin.com.” You need not turn in
hard copies of your essays.
I abide by York College’s statement on writing standards, which states: “York College recognizes the
importance of effective communication in all disciplines and careers. Therefore, students are expected to
competently analyze, synthesize, organize, and articulate course material in papers, examinations and
presentations. In addition, students should know and use communication skills current to their field of
study, recognize the need for revision as part of their writing process, and employ standard conventions of
English usage in both writing and speaking. Students may be asked to further revise assignments that do not
demonstrate effective use of these communication skills.” (Source: Faculty Manual, C2.11)
Because writing is an important way students in this class and professionals in all fields learn, communicate
knowledge, and are assessed as members of the discipline and because individual feedback throughout the
writing process helps writers develop, all written assignments except the last essay (or any assignment
turned in late) may be rewritten as many times as you wish. To submit a rewrite, you must a) rewrite the
essay within one week of the date you received the graded [or re-graded] essay; b) turn in all your markedup previous drafts with your rewrite, and c) explain to me in person how you will respond to the comments
or criticisms I made of your previous drafts. The grade you earn for your last rewrite is the grade for the
assignment, regardless of the original or intervening scores.
I also strongly encourage you to regularly visit the writing center to work with a writing tutor. The
Center’s website is: https://ycpwriting.wordpress.com/. Contact the Center to make an appointment by
calling 815-1216 or stopping by HUM Room 01.
Late or Incomplete Assignments: Unless otherwise indicated, all assignments are due at the beginning of
the class period on the date specified in the course schedule. Any work turned in late without the prior
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permission of the instructor may be marked down a full grade for each class period that it is late, or may
not be accepted at all. Late assignments may not be rewritten.
Failure to complete all of the major assignments (participation in the debates, writing the essays,) will
result in a 0 for the course, regardless of how many points you have otherwise earned.
Course Philosophy
Think of history as a collection of stories, some written by the people who participated in the events,
some by later generations based on earlier accounts, and some by modern historians reinterpreting the
original and intervening versions. All stories ever written – from history texts to children’s picture books
to last night’s news to the latest Hollywood blockbusters – present a unique point of view and an
underlying message or moral. However, the perspective and intended lesson are sometimes obscured, and
the reader often ignores them. Their deeper meaning and importance are revealed only through careful
examination and critical analysis. By questioning and interpreting what you read, see and hear you gain
greater understanding, not only of these stories, but also of your own society and of yourself. Hence,
studying history entails more than simply reading and repeating old stories; it means examining them
critically to develop your own interpretation of the meaning of past events and ideas.
Because history is a record of our collective past, rich with stories on practically everything touching
human existence, it is ideal material to use to improve reading, analytical, writing and speaking skills. In as
much as you must have a clear grasp of facts and context to successfully analyze and produce your own
interpretation, you will have to be familiar with certain concepts, recognize certain names, and remember
the chronology of certain events. However, I am more interested in the process of examining these stories
than in your retention of a lot of facts. For most of you, knowing the details of the French Revolution will
be unimportant, but the ability to comprehend unfamiliar material, think critically about its meaning and
implications, and clearly express a reasoned opinion about it will help you in any job you take.
I will lecture to try to highlight the most important material and ideas and frame them in a way that
encourages analysis and interpretation, but a majority of class time (and most of your learning) will be
comprised of your contributions. Listening to me lecture or your classmates talk will not necessarily help
you become a better thinker, speaker or writer. You must work on these skills by coming to class prepared,
thinking about (and challenging) what you hear and read, actively participating in class and group
discussions, and writing (and rewriting if necessary) quality essays.
Attendance Policy
As you can see by the grading criteria and assignments, much of your grade depends on being in class. In
this sense, class attendance is required. To further encourage you to show up, I take the roll every class and
offer a significant point bonus to students who complete the course without an absence. You may be absent
(for whatever reason) for three days without any penalty. For these absences you will be allowed to make
up any missed assignments, though it is your responsibility to make the necessary arrangements with me.
Upon your fourth absence (for whatever reason), however, you will not be able to make up assignments. If
you miss more than nine classes, you should withdraw from the course. No student who has missed more
than nine classes has ever managed to pass the course.
Use of Personal Technology in the Classroom:
College Policy: While York College recognizes students’ need for educational and emergency-related
technological devices such as laptops, mobile devices, cellular phones, etc., using them unethically or
recreationally during class time is never appropriate. The college recognizes and supports faculty
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members’ authority to regulate in their classrooms student use of all electronic devices.
Class Policy: All mobile devices must be turned off and stowed in your bags or pockets. If I see a phone
on the desktop I might remind you to put it away. If you feel compelled to use your mobile device during
class, I will not stop you, but I will mark you as absent for the day, and you will lose participation points. I
strongly recommend that you not use a laptop or tablet to take notes on lectures, but if you choose to do so,
you must email a copy of your notes to me as soon as the class period ends. I also strongly recommend
against buying the Sources book as an “e-book” or digital text, but if you decide to do so, you must notify
me at the first class discussion.
Cheating and Plagiarism
I begin the semester by assuming that you are all ethical adults, who would not deliberately cheat.
However, after some painful experiences with dishonest students, I recognize the necessity of reminding
you that cheating and plagiarism are unacceptable, and that I will do my utmost to discover and punish
anyone who cheats or plagiarizes. I consider any obvious similarity (in argument, structure, phrasing or
word choice) to another student’s written work to be cheating. In these circumstances, both students will
receive a 0 for the assignment and will be asked to explain themselves to me pending further penalties.
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of quotations and close paraphrases in written work. In other
words, all written work must be in your own words, except for brief quotations from sources or
literature, which must be clearly designated and credited. If you have questions about plagiarism, consult
me and/or the websites about plagiarism you’ll find under “links” in Moodle, and on my home page
(http://faculty.ycp.edu/~pkennedy/Site/Links.html).
To help students avoid plagiarism and improper citation, students are required to submit their essays
through “Turnitin.com,” a software program. It cross-references submitted materials with archived
databases of student essays, journals, newspaper articles, books, and other published and unpublished
works to help students identify which words and phrases they have taken from other sources. This is
meant as an educational tool as well as a deterrent. Once you’ve written your essay, you can check to
ensure you haven’t inadvertently plagiarized.
When I suspect cheating and/or plagiarism, I will follow the procedure laid out by the Faculty Handbook
(reproduced in full below).
Academic Integrity:
York College’s mission statement stipulates that strict adherence to principles of academic honesty is
expected of all students. Therefore, academic dishonesty will not be tolerated at York College. Academic
dishonesty refers to actions such as, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabricating research, falsifying
academic documents, etc., and includes all situations where students make use of the work of others and claim
such work as their own.
When a faculty member believes a student has committed an act of academic dishonesty, the faculty
member must promptly notify the student in writing and obtain confirmation of notification from the student.
The faculty member then has ten business days from that written notification to the student to report the incident
to the Dean of Academic Affairs and the Department Chair. Documentation related to instances of academic
dishonesty will be kept on file in the student’s permanent record. The faculty member has full discretion to
determine a suitable penalty for the student, up to a course grade of 0. This discretion is limited to the course in
which the dishonesty took place. Students may not withdraw from a course in which they have been accused of
academic dishonesty, unless and until the accusation is withdrawn by the faculty member or is overturned by the
Student Welfare Committee or the Dean of Academic Affairs.
Students who believe they have been unjustly charged or sanctioned must discuss the situation with the
faculty member and have 10 business days thereafter to submit an appeal to Student Welfare Committee through
the Dean of Academic Affairs. If an appeal is filed, the Student Welfare Committee will then conduct a hearing
to review the charge and/or sanction. In the case of an egregious first offense, the faculty member may request
that the Student Welfare Committee conduct a hearing and determine a sanction, which may involve academic
probation, suspension or dismissal from the College.
If the Dean of Academic Affairs determines that the academic dishonesty is the student’s second
offense, the Dean will provide written notification to the student, the faculty member, and the Department Chair.
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The Student Welfare Committee will automatically conduct a hearing to review the charge and decide on an
appropriate sanction, which will involve academic probation, suspension or dismissal from the College. Students
who believe the Student Welfare Committee has unjustly sanctioned them may submit a written appeal to the
Dean of Academic Affairs within 72 hours of receiving notification of the Student Welfare Committee’s
sanction.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a disability in need of a classroom accommodation and have not already
registered with Linda Miller, Director of Disability Support Services, please contact her at 815-1785 or
lmille18@ycp.edu to discuss policies and procedures related to disability services and to establish the
accommodations for which you are eligible.
Grading:
The letter grades as defined by the Faculty Manual of York College, with my point scale:
4 (Excellent) (900-1000 pts): This grade denotes accomplishment that is truly distinctive and decidedly outstanding.
It represents a high degree of attainment and is a grade that demands evidence of originality, independent work, an
open and discriminating mind, and completeness and accuracy of knowledge, as well as an effective use of the
knowledge.
3.5 (Very Good) (850-899 pts): This grade denotes mastery of the subject matter. It represents very good
achievement in many aspects of the work, such as initiative, serious and determined industry, the ability to organize
work, and the ability to comprehend and retain subject matter and to apply it to new problems and contexts.
3 (Good) (800-849 pts): This grade denotes considerable understanding of the subject matter. It represents a strong
grasp and clear understanding of the subject matter and the ability to comprehend and retain course content.
2.5 (Above Average) (750-799 points): This grade denotes above average understanding of the subject matter. It
represents a good grasp of the subject matter and the ability to comprehend and retain course content.
2 (Average) (700-749 points): This grade denotes average understanding of the subject matter. It represents the grade
that may be expected of a student of normal ability who gives the work a reasonable amount of time and effort.
1 (Below Average) (600-699 points): This grade denotes below average understanding of the subject matter. It
represents work that falls below the acceptable standard.
0 (Failure) (below 600 points): This grade denotes inadequate understanding of the subject matter. It signifies an
absence of meaningful engagement with the subject matter and that the student is not capable of doing or understanding
the work or has made little or no effort to do so.
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