Summer 2008
Dr. Janet R. Bednarek (Janet.Bednarek@notes.udayton.edu)
Registration Requirements:
Before you register for the class, you must have completed the following tasks:
1. This is a permission course. To gain permission, first go the course web site and carefully read the syllabus (http://academic.udayton.edu/JanetBednarek). Click the link to the Summer 08 syllabus for HST 346.ZP.
After reading through the syllabus, e-mail the instructor (see e-mail address above) with a note stating that you have read the syllabus and understand the course structure and requirements. If you don’t understand the course structure and requirements or have any other questions about the course, now is the time to ask.
Students who fail to contact the instructor by email before registering for the course may be dropped.
2. After e-mailing the instructor, proceed to the Distance Education Web Site for more information on distance learning.
Distance Education Web Site: http://learn.udayton.edu/
And then register for the course: https://register.udayton.edu
No assignments will be graded or returned to you until registration is complete.
Important Dates: Last day to complete registration: Friday, 9 May 2008. First day of Full Summer Term: Monday, 12 May 2008. Last day for late registration: Thursday, 15 May 2008. The last day to withdraw without record: Wednesday, 2 July 2008. Grades due: Tuesday, 5 August 2008.
Two (100 pts) 6 June
Three (100 pts) 20 June
Four (100 pts) 3 July (Note: day early due to July 4 Holiday)
Five (100 pts) 18 July
Six (100 pts) 1 August
How to send in your papers on time:
Remember the date listed is the date the assignment is due at the instructor’s address (office or e-mail). You have two options for sending assignments to the instructor. The first option is to hand deliver the paper to UD history department office. If you hand-deliver your papers (two copies, see below), all assignments must be in the office or the instructor’s mailbox no later than 9:30 a.m. on the day the assignment is due. Papers turned in after 9:30 a.m. will be considered late. The second option is to e-mail your papers. If you e-mail your papers, all assignments must be time-coded (show they were sent/received) by 9:00 a.m. on the day the assignment is due. Assignments time-coded after 9:00 a.m. will be considered late. NOTE: If your paper comes in with a virus, you will be notified and the paper will be considered late. Make sure you scan your assignments before you e-mail them.
Late papers will be penalized. Your grade will be lowered by 1/3 for every “day” the assignment is late. The late penalty begins after 9:30 a.m. on the due-date for hand-delivered papers and after 9:00 a.m. for e-mailed papers. Therefore, for example, if you hand-deliver a paper at 10:00 a.m. on the due date, it will be considered one day late. If you e-mail your paper at 9:30 a.m. on the due date, it will be considered one day late. The second “day” begins at 9:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., respectively, the day after the due date.
Where to e-mail/deliver papers:
Papers can be delivered to: Department of History
Humanities Building, Room 400
E-mail: Janet.Bednarek@notes.udayton.edu
Questions/problems, you can also contact the instructor by phone (937) 229-2824. (But e-mailing will ensure a faster answer, usually, as I spend most time out of the office.)
Note: If you hand-deliver, you must bring two copies of each of your papers. One copy will be corrected and returned to you. The second copy will remain on file in the history department. With e-mailed assignments, the instructor will print one copy – which will be returned to you – and keep a second electronic copy on file.
Please note the following suggestions for writing your assignments.
1. Writing is hard work done to make reading easy and enjoyable. Put yourself in the shoes of the reader. Would you enjoy reading your paper is someone else had written it? Think about it, hard!
2. Procrastination is the enemy of a good paper. Get it done early. Leave plenty of time to rewrite and edit. Don’t expect to hand in a good paper until you work it over several times. The practice of type, save, send (or print) generally does not produce a high quality essay.
3. As part of the rewrite and edit process, try reading the paper aloud to yourself or better yet to someone else. Reading aloud will help you smooth out the flow of sentences and remove errors of syntax (sentence organization). If you find it hard or confusing to read aloud, it is probably not “reading” very clearly either.
4. The sequence of any essay is important. Essays should start with a clear thesis paragraph that outlines the major points you will make in the essay. The paragraphs that follow must support the thesis and lead progressively to a conclusion. The conclusion should restate the thesis.
5. Use a reasonable font size. This was typed using Times New Roman 12 point. That is pretty standard these days. The font size you use should be approximately this size. What I don’t want to see is something like Times New Roman 14 point or Courier New 12 point or larger. (Yes, life was easier when there was only pica or elite type. If you don’t know what those mean, ask your parents, especially if they went to college in the 1960s or 1970s.)
Any academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the course. If you are not sure of the definition of plagiarism see: http://library.udayton.edu/faqs/howto/plagiarism.php.
Papers will be graded primarily on their content. However, as suggested above, grammar, spelling, organization and other factors will also play an important role. Writing is one of our most important forms of communication. It is, in part, based on following the rules. Writing that does not follow the basic rules, that is difficult to follow and decipher is bad writing. Bad writing obscures content. You cannot expect to gain full credit for your ideas if bad writing makes those ideas difficult to understand and follow. If you think is this something nobody does or should care about, remember that one of the best selling books of 2004 was about punctuation (Eats, Shoots and Leaves).
Readings:
The course assignments will be based on the course readings. Six books will be available at the bookstore (and libraries and at on-line booksellers). They are:
Biddle, Barons of the Sky
Courtwright, Sky as Frontier
Crouch, A Dream of Wings
Hansen, The Bird is on the Wing
Hixon, Charles A. Lindbergh: Lone Eagle
McCurdy, Inside NASA
Grading and Grade Reporting
Grading will be based on points. There are 600 total points. Your final grade will be based on how many points you earn.
|
A 558-600 pts |
C 438-461 pts |
|
A- 540-557 pts |
C- 420-437 pts |
|
B+ 522-539 pts |
D 360-419 pts |
|
B 498-521 pts |
F 000-359 pts |
|
B- 480-497 pts |
|
|
C+ 462-479 pts |
|
Assignments
ASSIGNMENT ONE (100 pts; due 23 May):
This assignment is based on a careful and thorough reading of Tom Crouch’s A Dream of Wings. Some versions of the Wright brothers’ story has the two bicycle mechanics from Dayton “coming out of nowhere” to “suddenly” invent the airplane. While the Wrights deserve full credit for their amazing achievement, in many ways they were working “in the right place, at the right time.” The history of the airplane predates the Wrights as many inventors before them attempted to conquer the air. In some ways, one could take the story back to the ancient Greeks. However, since this is a history of American aviation, we will focus on the more immediate context. Tom Crouch’s A Dream of Wings demonstrates that the Wrights were not operating in a vacuum, that others made important contributions that aided them. They did not work in isolation. Rather, they were part of a larger community of people interested in solving the problem of flight.
For this assignment you are to write three short essays (three pages each, double-spaced, one-inch margins) based on the Crouch reading. The total length of all three essays combined should equal 9 pages. Each essay will be worth approximately 33 points.
Please read carefully the suggestions made for essay writing in this syllabus – particularly point #4. These are essays you will be writing. All essays have a thesis, body, and conclusion. All essays must clearly and specifically address the assignments. The assignments are structured in a way that requires a response in essay form. History is a discipline dependent upon the written word. The essay is a classic form of history writing. The essay form also requires a form and degree of critical thinking that is valuable not only in history, but in many different disciplines and pursuits. These assignments also are structured in such a way as to have you exercise your critical thinking and writing skills.
Essay One: Write an essay in which you discuss the significance of Octave Chanute in the history of flight, particularly in terms of the groundwork he laid for the work of the Wright brothers. Provide specific examples.
Essay Two: Write an essay in which you discuss the significance of Samuel P. Langley in the history of flight, particularly in terms of the groundwork he laid for the work of the Wright brothers. Provide specific examples.
Essay Three: Write an essay in which you discuss three specific reasons/examples why the Wright Brothers succeeded in inventing the airplane while others, particularly Langley, failed.
ASSIGNMENT TWO (100 pts; due 6 June):
This assignment is based on a careful and thorough reading of the material in Courtwright, Sky as Frontier: Adventure, Aviation, and Empire. This is an example of what is often being called “the new aviation history.” Traditional aviation history focused primarily on planes, pilots, and, to a less extent, aircraft designers or entrepreneurs. It was very “internalist” in that it focused on the “thing” or the “person” without placing the “thing” or the “person” within the larger context of American history. Sky as Frontier draws on one of the most powerful interpretative themes in American history, the frontier, and applies it in a very systematic and sophisticated way to the history of the commercial aviation industry. It also briefly explores how well the “frontier typology” can be applied to the history of space exploration (where space has been described as “the final frontier.) The idea of “frontier” has been an important one in the history of aviation to the present: Boeing’s current corporate motto is “always new frontiers.” Published in 2005, this book will undoubtedly spark much conversation among those interested in aviation history. With this work, you have the opportunity to read something on the “cutting edge” of the field of aviation/aerospace history. And, like many works published after 2001, this contains an examination of the significance of 9/11 (see Chapter 12).
For this assignment you will write two essays. Essay one should be a 6-8 page essay. Essay two should be a 3 page essay. The total number of pages should be 9-11 pages. Essay one will be worth 70 points. Essay two will be worth 30 points.
Courtwright begins with an explanation of the two types of frontier experiences in American history: Type I and Type II. He then argues that aviation began as one type of frontier experience and gradually moved toward the other type.
For Essay One (based on Courtwright): Write a 6-8 page essay in which you briefly explain the two types of frontier and then outline three or four major points Courtwright raised to argue the (1) aviation began as one type of frontier experience and (2) aviation evolved into the second type of frontier experience.
[Basically, this assignment is requiring you to write what is called a review essay. Such an essay summarizes the main arguments of a book. When historians are asked to write such essays for our professional journals, we are often limited to 750-1000 words, which makes the task extremely difficult. This assignment allows you to spend more time presenting your review of the book’s argument. Believe or not, that is a bit easier for as Mark Twain once wrote, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” In other words, getting your point across in a few words is more difficult than getting it across in more words.]
Essay Two (based on Courtwright): Write a 3 page essay in which you discuss how well the frontier typology applies to space exploration.
ASSIGNMENT THREE (100 pts; due 20 June):
This assignment is based on a careful and thorough reading of the material in Biddle, Barons of the Sky. Unlike the first two books, written by formally trained historians, Biddle’s book was written by a journalist for the general reading public. In many ways, therefore, Biddle gives more attention to narrative details than to interpretation – in other words, he is very concerned with telling a good story. Nonetheless, Biddle does make a number of strong arguments throughout the book about the development of the aircraft manufacturing industry in the United States. While story, rather than interpretation, is more the focus of this work, the interpretation is there and this assignment is designed to have you draw out the major arguments.
For this assignment you will write two essays. Essay one should be a 5-7 page essay. Essay two should be a 3-4 page essay. The total number of pages should be 8-11 pages. Essay one will be worth 60 points. Essay two will be worth 40 points.
Essay One: (Based on Biddle) Write an essay in which you trace how the aircraft manufacturing industry changed and developed between 1914 and 1945. Provide specific examples to support your points. To help focus your essay, concentrate your analysis on any two of the following:
1. Size of the business. Examples of questions you might explore: how did it change in size and scale – for example in terms of the number of planes produced, number of people employed, size of the factories, etc.
2. Customers. Examples of questions you might explore: who were the major customers for the airplanes? Did that change or stay the same over time? Did customer demands change – for example, did they want bigger, faster, more complex planes?
3. Product. Examples of questions you might explore: how did the product change over time? Did the airplanes become bigger, faster, more complex? Did construction methods need to change?
4. Cost and profits. Examples of questions you might explore: how did the cost of the product and the profits made from it change over time? Did airplanes become more expensive? Did profits rise or fall?
5. Technical nature of the industry. Examples of questions you might explore: was formal technical training necessary during the early years of the industry? Did a need for such training increase over time?
6. Leadership. Examples of questions you might explore: who were the early leaders in the industry? How did they become involved? What were their backgrounds? Did the type and background of the people who emerged as leaders change over time? Would the same type of people who founded the industry before World War I be able to rise to the top of the industry as it was by the end of World War II?
Essay Two: (Based on Biddle) Write an essay in which you argue whether or not any of the “Barons of the Sky” (Douglas, Northrop, Martin, Gross) were “Merchants of Death.”
[Note: Make sure you understand what is meant by the term “Merchant of Death” before you start building your essay.]
ASSIGNMENT FOUR (100 pts; due 3 July – day early, Thursday, due to July 4 Holiday):
The fourth assignment is based on a careful and thorough reading of Walter Hixon’s Charles A. Lindbergh and James R. Hansen, The Bird is on the Wing: Aerodynamics and the Progress of the American Airplane, Chapters 2 and 3. Charles Lindbergh is one of the most important figures in the history of American aviation. You will be reading a good, short biography of a very complex individual. Hansen’s book on aerodynamics, like Courtwright’s, is new – just published in 2004. For those interested in aviation technology and science, this is a very good, readable introduction. I am having you start with Chapter Two as Chapter One covers the Wrights and their predecessors, something we have already covered with the Crouch book. However, if you want to learn more about the Wrights and early flight, I recommend reading the first chapter for your own learning.
I am breaking up the reading in the Hansen book into smaller “pieces” for this and the following assignments. Hansen’s book is a more traditional aviation history work than the other books you have read so far for this course. Although less “internalist” and more informed by the new aviation history than most, it is still very much focused within the world of “the thing” -- in this case the influence of the science of aerodynamics on aircraft design. Because of the highly technical nature of the subject matter, I think it constitutes a much more “dense” form of reading. In other words, though the number of pages may be less, the pages must be read more slowly and carefully than other type of reading. [Real world example: Think of the differences you have experienced when reading a popular novel versus a textbook. Ten pages of a novel read for fun can be read far more quickly than 10 pages of textbook read for information and instruction. The point being that reading, like time, is relative and reading time can also be relative.]
For this assignment you will write three essays. Essay one should be a 4-5 page essay. Essays two and three should be 3 page essays. The total number of pages should be 10-11 pages. Essay one will be worth 50 points. Essays two and three will each be worth 25 points.
Essay One: (based on Hixon) Hixon argues that Lindbergh had a very positive view about technology in his early life (before the mid-1930s) and had a very different view later in life (after the mid-1930s and toward the end of his life). Write an essay in which you briefly discuss Lindbergh’s later view toward technology and name/explain three reasons behind his changed view.
[Students often confuse Lindbergh’s feelings toward the media (in the context of this book, reporters) and his attitude toward technology (“things,” broadly defined). Lindbergh undoubtedly developed an intense dislike of the media following his son’s kidnapping, newspaper reporters in particular. However, he never really liked the media to begin with. And although media people use technologies – radio, printing press, camera, etc. – the media is not in and of itself a technology. For this essay, focus on how he interacted with technologies, not people.]
Essay Two: (based on Hansen) Write an essay in which you explain what Hansen meant when he argued that the airplane was “re-invented” in the 1920s and 1930s. Be sure to include specific examples.
Essay Three: (based on Hansen) Write an essay in which you examine three important breakthroughs or events associated with the first supersonic flight (October 14, 1947).
ASSIGNMENT FIVE (100 pts; due 18 July):
Assignment five is based on a thorough and careful reading of Hansen, The Bird is on the Wing, Chapters 4-6. For this assignment you will write three 3-page essays. The total length of all three essays should be 9 pages. Each essay will be worth approximately 33 points.
Essay One: (based on Hansen) Write an essay in which you explain the major features of what Hansen called the “second design revolution,” which was necessary before the full achievement of supersonic flight.
Essay Two: (based on Hansen) Write an essay in which you discuss why the United States failed to build a supersonic commercial airliner.
Essay Three: (based on Hansen) Write an essay in which you explain three major contributions made by aerodynamicists to the development of the commercial jet airliner.
ASSIGNMENT SIX (100 pts; due 1 Aug):
The sixth assignment is based on a careful and thorough reading of McCurdy, Inside NASA, and Hansen, The Bird is on the Wing, Chapter 7. McCurdy’s book explores some of the most interesting questions in the history of the US space program: How was NASA able to plan and execute the first moon landing? What happened to NASA that it has not been able to duplicate that kind of accomplishment again? Hansen's examines how engineers view the aerospace industry – what, if anything, does the future hold?
For assignment six, you will write three essays. Essays one and two should be 3-4 page essays. Essay three should be a 3-page essay. Total number of pages for this part of the assignment should be 9-11 pages. Essays one and two will each be worth 35 points. Essay three will be worth 30 points.
Essay One: (based on McCurdy) Write an essay in which you discuss three of the basic values/components of NASA’s “root” or original organizational and technological culture. [Note: McCurdy discusses seven such values/elements – you need to limit yourself to three of these. Any three are fine.]
Essay Two: (based on McCurdy) Write an essay in which you discuss three factors that lead to the undermining and/or deterioration of NASA’s original organizational and technical culture. [Note: McCurdy discusses a dozen of these – again you need to limit yourself to three and any three are fine.]
With the essays based on the McCurdy book, it is not so much what you decide to write on, but how well you explain what you decide to write on. It is also important that you pick values/components (essay one) or factors (essay 2) that are actually, specifically in the McCurdy reading. Don’t make up your own – discuss those McCurdy raises in his book.
Essay Three: (based on Hansen) Though historians have argued that aviation now represents a “mature” technology, many scientists and engineers disagree. Write an essay in which you explore three points that a scientist or engineer might present to argue against the notion that aviation is a mature technology. [Note: Having a clear understanding of what is meant by a mature technology would be very helpful in the essay.]