HISTORY 103: The West and the World
http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/103syl.htm

MANY USEFUL RESOURCES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE AT
http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/hst103.htm
Dr. Carlson -- HM 447 (X9-3380)
Office Hours:Tu 12-1 and Th 9-10 and by appointment
COURSE CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: This course offers students a survey of the major social, economic, political and cultural trends which laid the foundation for the modern world. An understanding of these trends will enable students to develop a historical consciousness, recognizing that institutions, social categories, and ideals are constantly being redefined under the influence of evolving historical realities. Students will learn to read critically and think analytically about these trends, and will improve their abilities to articulate their analyses. As we write, we think, and as we think about complex material we develop the skills necessary to cope with the situations we encounter in an increasingly complex world. Students in this course will be participating in UD's Integrated Humanities Base program.
COURSE SCHEDULE: The dates of exams, the due dates for assignments, and the schedule of lectures and discussions is available online at http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/103schedule.htm.  Note that the schedule will change as the semester passes; updates will be available at that URL.
REQUIRED TEXTS:  History 103 surveys such a wide range of periods and societies that there is not enough class time to discuss all of the necessary material.  For this reason, you have been asked to undertake some additional reading in order to gain a more complete understanding of the past.  The readings will be drawn from the textbook by Tignor, et al, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, and from sources which can be found online or have been placed on reserve in the library. 
45% midterms
(20% first midterm and 25% second midterm)
30% final exam
25% Classwork, including quizzes. There will be NO makeup quizzes under any circumstances. Students may drop three quiz grades from their classwork total grade.
Midterm and Final Exam makeups will only be permitted under the Department of History Makeup Guidelines. These are available in class or in HM 400.
WHAT DO THESE LETTERS REALLY MEAN, ANYWAY? Students who fulfill the requirements of HST 103 will earn a C in the course.  Students who go beyond the requirements (writing a few particularly good exam essays, for example) will earn a B in the course.  Grades of "A" are reserved for a very small percentage of the students in the class, such as students who read chapters of the textbook which have not been assigned and who consistently write the very best essays on the exams and who make original contributions to class discussion, contributions which make it clear that they have completed and thought about the assigned readings.

SOME TIPS ON MAKING THE GRADE IN HST 103:  College history classes are paced faster than those you may have had in high school and you will be expected to absorb more information.  Using class time effectively is key to passing HST 103.

  • TIP #1: Take Notes!  The lectures in HST 103 act as models to show you how historians explain the development of events in the past. You are required to attend lectures in order to enhance your understanding of the past through ACTIVE listening.  Doing this means that you must take notes during class, not email or IM your friends or play video games.  Students are welcome to take notes on their laptop computers, but any student using a laptop for notetaking must sit in the first row of class.
    • How to take notes:  Follow the outline which appears on the blackboard or in the presentation slides.  Do not try to make a verbatim copy of everything your professor says, but write down the main points, to help you remember the material presented in the lecture.  If the lecture seems to be going too fast for you to follow, then be sure that you are doing the assigned reading before you come to class.  This will make it easier for you to recognize the main points of the lecture which you are trying to follow. [More on Effective Listening and Notetaking. (LINK)]
    • Staying awake:  If you are sleeping in class, you cannot take notes and there is not much point to your being here.  For this reason, students who sleep in class will be counted as absent. If you are going to sleep, you might as well get your ZZZZs in a comfy bed!
  • TIP #2:  Do not come to class late.  Really.  Do NOT come to class late.  Okay, okay.  Neither cars nor alarm clocks are 100% dependable.  But do not be consistently tardy. Why? 
    • All the important announcements are made at the beginning of class.  I cannot waste other students' time repeating those announcements over and over again. Nor can I repeat these at the end of class, when I need to use the few available minutes to clean the board for the next professor, to collect my materials, and to answer more substantive questions asked by students who actually showed up on time. 
    • It's terribly disruptive.  Consider the difficulty of trying to deliver an interesting, coherent and understandable talk on a terribly complex topic in 50 minutes. Now imagine how an interruption would force you to lose your train of thought.
  • TIP #3: E-mailing your professor in the Days of Spam.  If you do not e-mail me from your UD Lotus Notes account, then put "HST 103 student" in the subject line.  I delete unread all messages from non-UD addresses unless I recognize the sender's name.  And since "funkybutt2008@aol.com" is not on my UD roster, I won't recognize it.
Writing College-Level Papers -- College classes set  standards  for written assignments that are often unfamiliar to beginning  college  students.  This is why UD requires students to fulfill the ENG 101-102  requirement, since this is the class in which you learn in detail  about these standards.  Read the following carefully to be sure that  you are prepared  to write at the level which college history classes demand.

DOCUMENTATION is extremely important in any history paper!  When you make a reference to ANY information from another person's writing, be sure to cite the source of your information, even if you have not used a quotation to present the information. You cannot simply make up a citation style.  In this class, you may use either the MLA citation style OR the Turabian/Chicago/footnote-endnote style, though the latter is preferred.
Click here for examples of citations (http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/civguide.htm.)  Additional material may be found in your textbook for ENG 101 or 102 or 114.  If you have read the website on citations and do not understand this requirement, please come to see me during office hours for clarification.

MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS: All assignments must be typed, double-spaced, for this class. Historical analysis requires precision and clarity in order to succeed.  For this reason, students in college history courses must -- at a minimum -- master the basics of spelling and English grammar.   Use the spell checker and grammar checker features of your word-processing program, and then proofread your essay for the mistakes which the software did not catch. (How to get help with your writing assignments.)
 
Confused about grammar?  (Get some help by using the links on the course website.)
"A student must not forget their homework."
Find out why this sentence is grammatically incorrect.
"The student's went to Sear's to find Michael Jordans Nike's."
Find out why this sentence is grammatically incorrect.
"My professor assigns too much homework, she doesn't understand me at all."
Find out why this sentence is grammatically incorrect.
"He could of told me."
This sentence is grammatically incorrect because "of" should be "have."  Here are some more commonly confused words.
Explanations are also available at http://learningsupport.udayton.edu/writeplace/index.htm. Click on Student Resources.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Remember the distinction between collaborative learning and theft.  When I write a paper for publication, I have already circulated it among people I trust for their comments.  This is collaborative learning, and it is an excellent strategy for improving your grades. But do not submit another person's work as your own; to do so is theft.  The Student Handbook mandates an F in the course as a penalty for plagiarism. (See pages 3-4 of http://campus.udayton.edu/~studev/studenthandbook/PDF/Academics.pdf  for more information)

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