HISTORY
4398 002: "REFORM"
Holden Hall 127
on MWF at 11:00 am
John Howe
Department of History,
Texas Tech University (TTU), Lubbock, Texas
79409-l0l3
Office in Holden Hall 143
Office Hours:
Tu 8:30-10:00; W 10-11 and 12-1:00; and by appointment
Home Address: 3109 25th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79410-2134
Telephone: 806 742-3744 (History Dept.); or 806 834-7544 (office); or 806
438-1321 (Home)
E-Mail:
john.howe@ttu.edu; fax: 806-742-1060; web:
http://myweb.ttu.edu/jhowe
In this senior seminar students will review historical methodology, research,
and academic writing; they will produce a capstone paper.
This course's narrative theme is
"reform." History is the critical
study of the known past, and its subject matter is essentially change over
time. In order to conceptualize change, historians employ paradigms and models,
including biological metaphors such as growth and decay and more mechanistic
metaphors such as restoration, revolution, renaissance, and reform.
What is the relationship of these models to the "known past"? Apart from
discrete historical events, do they have any reality? What is the history of the
roles they have played in historical analysis? Do they illuminate more than
obfuscate? This course will focus on the concept of "reform" in order to examine
more deeply what history is and what historians do.
Required Texts:
Marius, Richard, and Melvin E. Page.
A Short Guide to writing about History,
9th edition. Boston: Pearson, 2015.
Storey, William Kelleher.
Writing History: A Guide for Students,
5th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Assigned texts available on line, distributed by email,
or distributed in class.
Specific reading assignments are
listed in the "Reading and Lecture Schedule' (below), just ahead and to the
right of the date of the class by which they should be completed. Each
assignment is the subject of the following lecture or discussion. Read so that
you arrive in class prepared to explain, praise, criticize, and question.
Successful completion of this
course requires regular attendance. In the classroom difficult reading
assignments are interpreted and contextualized and additional subject matter is
introduced. In a seminar class,
much of the instruction involves class discussion, and you cannot participate if
you are not present.
Unlike most
undergraduate History classes, senior seminars do not meet in every scheduled
class period. Some sessions, especially in the second half of the course,
have been converted into individual conference sessions which students need to
schedule. Failure to attend a
scheduled conference session is equivalent to missing a class.
Quizzes
There will be six short,
multiple-choice
in-class quizzes on the assigned readings.
These quizzes have two goal:
1) to encourage you to complete the reading assignments on schedule; and 2) to
test and reinforce your mastery of the craft of historical writing.
Book Reviews
Students will write two book reviews:
1)
Students
will choose a book from an
assigned reading list of historical studies that utilize the concept of
"reform." They will write a
double-spaced, three-page book review, describing the book, analyzing its
success, and analyzing in particular how it defines and uses the concept of
"reform" and whether or not this model helps explicate its arguments. Due on
Wednesday Feb 10.
2)
Students
will choose from their preliminary bibliographies of secondary sources for their
term papers historical monographs directly related to their chosen topics. Each
will write a two-page review describing the chosen book and analyzing how well
its project succeeds. Due on Wednesday Mar 9.
Short Essay
Each student will write a five-page, double-spaced essay on the use of
"reform" as a historical model, attempting to define the concept and analyzing
whether or not it actually helps to explain historical events.
Due on Monday, Feb 29.
Midterm tests are scheduled for
Friday March 11 and Wednesday April 20. Each will include
multiple-choice, identification
questions, and a single essay
(to be selected from two or more
choices). If, for good reason, a test is missed, a make-up test may be taken at
2:00 pm on Monday, May 9 in HH282.
There will be no final
examination in this course. The
research paper itself will test the mastery of historical methodology that is
the course goal.
Students will write a research
paper of 20-25 double-spaced pages, on any area of historical study that
pertains in some meaningful way to the idea of "reform," the central paradigm of
the course. The topic must,
however, be approved by the instructor in order to verify that it has some
significant relationship to "reform" and that the student will
have access to the sources needed.
Part of the grade will depend upon completion of and documentation of
several preliminary research steps:
1) a subject area and a potential topic or topics is due on Wednesday March 2;
2) a
partial bibliography of primary and secondary sources is due on Wednesday March
9; 3) a show-and-tell presentation of your system for assembling and organizing
research data is due by class time on Friday Apr 1; and 4) a rough draft must
submitted by Monday Apr 11. The
grade on the rough draft will be replaced by the grade earned by the polished
draft due Wednesday May 4.
Failure to meet the assigned
deadlines will result in grade penalties. If
some form of preliminary draft is not submitted by Apr 11, a failing grade will
be awarded for the whole seminar paper assignment.
Other late steps will be penalized one letter grade, if presented one
class late, but later submissions will not be accepted.
Avoid plagiarism on all steps.
Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special
arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor
as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made.
Observance of a religious Holy Day
Texas House Bill 256
requires institutions of higher education to excuse a student from attending
classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance
of a religious holy day. The student shall also be excused for time necessary to
travel. An institution may not penalize the student for the absence and allows
for the student to take an exam or complete an assignment from which the student
is excused. No prior notification of the instructor is required.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
"Texas
Tech is committed to creating an exciting university atmosphere that is free of
academic dishonesty. All members of the university community, including faculty,
students, and staff, are upheld to the standard of having integrity in the work
they produce. The standard is for all members of the Texas Tech community to
contribute to the campus environment in an ethical, fun, and honest manner.
Integrity matters because student success matters."
Academic integrity violations are outlined in the Code of Student Conduct,
Part X. B3 of the Student Handbook.
Because we live in
an imperfect world, it is sometimes necessary to undergird ideals with
enforcement mechanisms. For academic integrity violations Texas Tech mandates
specific disciplinary outcomes. See
TTU Student Judicial Programs.
.
The course grade will be computed
as follows: 10% from the six quizzes (2% for each of the best five, with the
lowest grade dropped); 10% from the two book reviews (5% each); 20% from the two
midterms (10% each); 15% from the paper on the utility of reform as a historical
concept; 35% for the seminar paper assignment (3.3% for the submission on area
and topic), 3.3% for the partial bibliography of primary and secondary sources,
3.3% for the presentation of the system for assembling and organizing research
results, and 25% for the rough draft—a grade that will be replaced by the grade
on the final draft).
10% of the grade will also be
assigned for class participation.
The class participation grade is based on attendance, class preparation, and
class contributions. Students outstanding in these areas get the
class-participation percentage credited as an `A'; those adequate but
undistinguished have the points dropped out of the average (so that they neither
help nor hurt); those below acceptable standards have them credited as an `F'.
F Jan 22
Introduction to Senior
Seminar
Marius 1-9;
Storey 1-3
M Jan 25 What
Is History?
[Tu Jan 26 Last
day for student-initiated Drop/Add]
Storey 98-99
W Jan 27
What Is Historical Change?
Ladner, Idea of Reform 9-35; Kieckhefer, "Reform" DMA 10:281-88; Protestant Reformation; Downie, "Reform," OCP, 753; Luxemburg's Marxist view of reform
F Jan 29
Quiz
/ Reform or Reformation as a
Historiographical Paradigm
Reading List on "Reform"—choose
a book for reading and review: Marius 159-70
M Feb 1
Book Reviews as Historical
Scholarship
Begin writing your book review;
Marius 8-21
W Feb 3 Essays
as Historical Scholarship
Marius 107-13; Storey 106-21;
work on book review
[F Feb 5 Last
day to drop a course without academic penalty]
F Feb 5
Quiz / Mechanics of History: Style
Marius
113-20; Storey 121-25; work on book review
M Feb 8 Quiz
/ Mechanics of History: Grammar
Finish
book
review; Marius 121-23
W Feb 10 Class
Reports on Books Using Reform Models
Begin essay on the utility (or
not) of "reform" as a paradigm in history
F Feb 12 Class
Reports on Books Using Reform Models
Continue work on your essay;
Storey 52-61 and 137-38; Marius 133-42
M Feb 15
Mechanics
of History: Systems of Source Citation
Continue work on your essay;
prepare a sheet of paper that identifies a commonly accepted system of source
citation and presents examples of note and of bibliographical citation for 1) an
article from a history journal, 2) a monograph, 3) a study contained in a
collection of articles, and 4) a study published online on the Web—due Wed Feb
17. Marius 21-25; Storey 49-51;
TTU
Statement on Academic Integrity.
W Feb 17
Quiz /
Mechanics of History: Academic Honesty
Marius 26-47; Storey 62-77;
Continue work on your essay
F Feb 19 Historical
Analysis
Marius 60-72;
Storey 32-33
M Feb 22 Quiz
/ Primary and Secondary Sources
Survey the TTU Library Web Site and the Library's Guide to History Resources
W Feb 24
Library Resources—Tour with
a
Librarian, beginning at 11:00am in the Library foyer (the Croslin
Room, with the fountains)
For medieval studies, see Web Resources and Source Collections; for the history of Christianity, see Resources; for general history, see Best of History Websites
F Feb 26
Electronic Resources
Finish essay
on the utility of reform models—due M Feb 29
M Feb 29 Class
Discussion on the Utility of Reform as a Historical Paradigm
Prepare a sheet of paper that
identifies the "area" in which you want to write your senior seminar paper and
also suggests one or more potential topics within that area that you would like
to investigate—due W Mar 2
W Mar 2 Class
Discussion on Potential Term Paper Projects
Marius 48-74; Storey 78-97;
begin work on a partial bibliography
F Mar 4 Quiz
/ How to Begin a History Research Project
Work on a partial bibliography
of primary and secondary sources; begin a two-page book review of a historical
monograph directly related to your research project
[M Mar 7 No
organized class on this day]
Complete the partial
bibliography of primary and secondary sources and complete the book review—both
due W Mar 9
W Mar 9 Class
Discussion on Bibliographical Problems in Historical Research
Study
F Mar 11
Midterm on Writing History
Read and
analyze the historical sources for your term paper
[Mar 12- 20
Spring Break]
[M Mar 21
No organized class on this day]
Read and analyze the
historical sources for your term paper; Marius 75-97, 143-58; Storey 78-97; prepare to sign-up in class on Mar 23 for an initial meeting with the
instructor
W Mar 23
Writing a Rough Draft
Research and start a rough draft
of your paper; meet with instructor individually, as scheduled
[F Mar 25
No organized class on this
day]
[M Mar 28 Easter
Holiday]
Research and start a rough draft
of your paper; meet with instructor individually, as scheduled
[W Mar 30
No organized class on this
day]
[Th Mar 31 Advanced
Registration Begins]
[Th Mar 31 Last
Day to Drop a Course which counts against drop limit]
Research and write a rough draft
of your paper; meet with instructor individually, as scheduled; prepare a
show-and-tell demonstration of the system you are using to assemble and organize
the historical evidence on which you are basing your project
F Apr 1 In-Class
Presentations of Student Research Methodologies
Research and start a rough draft
of your paper; meet with instructor individually, as scheduled
[M Apr 4
No organized
class on this day]
Research and start a rough draft
of your paper; meet with instructor individually, as scheduled
[W Apr 6
No organized class on
this day]
Research and start a rough draft
of your paper; meet with instructor individually, as scheduled
[F Apr 8
No organized class on
this day]
Complete rough draft of
paper—due M Apr 11; prepare to sign-up in class on Mar 11 for a meeting with the
instructor
M Apr 11 Class
Discussion of Preliminary Papers and Research Problems
STorey
128-31; additional research and rewriting
[W Apr 13 No
organized class on this day]
Additional research and rewriting
[F Apr 15
No organized class on
this day]
Additional research and
rewriting; prepare to sign-up in class on Apr 18 for a possible additional
meetings with the instructor
M Apr 18
Papers Returned /
Discussion of Common Problems in These Drafts
Study your paper
corrections and your practical notes on historical methodology
W Apr 20
Midterm #2: Historical
Mechanics and Research Techniques
Additional research,
rewriting and meetings with instructor as needed
[F Apr 22
No organized class on
this day]
Additional research,
rewriting and meetings with instructor as needed
[M Apr 25 No
organized class on this day]
Additional research,
rewriting and meetings with instructor as needed
[W Apr 27
No organized class on this
day]
Additional research,
rewriting and meetings with instructor as needed
[F Apr 29 No
organized class on this day]
Additional research,
rewriting and meetings with instructor as needed
[M May 2
No
organized class on this day]
[W May 4
Presentations of Class
Papers
Be prepared to discuss in class what your paper has
achieved and what you learned from this exercise
F May 6
Presentations of Class
Papers
M May 9
Class Discussions of Reform and Reformation
M
May 9 at 2:00pm in
HH282
Make-Up Opportunity for
Justifiably Missed Midterms
No final examination
May 20-21
Commencement