HST 486: Seminar in European History
European Social History: The Origins of the Welfare State
http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/486syl.htm
Dr. Carlson - HM 447 - X93380 Office Hours: MWF 11-11:45 and by appointment Email: Marybeth.Carlson@notes.udayton.edu

About Seminars

What is a Seminar? "... a select group of advanced students associated for advanced study and original research under the guidance of a professor" (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3d edition)

Why study history in a seminar?  "What I hear, I forget.  What I see, I remember.  What I do, I understand."  (Chinese proverb)

Practical applications?  Seminars offer you an opportunity to practice the skills that make majors desirable to employers: research, writing, analysis and critical thought

Skills you will need to pass this seminar:

  1. The research and analytical strategies introduced in HST 301
  2. Familiarity with the course of European history between 1500 and 1945.  Most students need to have what they learned in HST 101 and 102 supplemented with at least one upper level course in European history.  Students who have not yet taken such a course will need to review this material by re-reading a Western Civ textbook before February 6.
  3. Analytical and Critical Skills
    1. Vocabulary:  In seminars we read material written for an audience of scholars.  This should not be beyond the comprehension of undergraduate history majors, though many will need to consult a dictionary while completing the reading
    2. Conceptual:  Social history readings assigned in this course will often refer to terms such as "Marxist interpretation," "social structure," "secular economic trend," "demographic shift," and so on, commonly used by social historians to more precisely denote the concepts they are trying to communicate.  HST 301 offers students an opportunity to become familiar with these concepts; additionally, students may consult The Encyclopedia of Social History for more information.
    3. Argumentative:  Seminar participants must be able to determine the thesis -- both stated and implied -- in a secondary source.
  4. Research Skills
    1. Seminar participants must be able to do Subject and Word searches in the Ohiolink online catalog.  AN ADEQUATE SEMINAR PAPER CANNOT BE WRITTEN USING MATERIAL FROM THE ROESCH LIBRARY ALONE.
    2. Seminar participants must be able to use online databases, especially Historical Abstracts, to find articles in scholarly journals that will provide data for your topic.  Students should also be able to locate these articles, either in journals that Roesch Library owns or in electronic journals or via Interlibary Loan.
    3. Seminar participants must be able to use a variety of reference materials (such as historical encyclopedias, subject bibliographies, and biographical dictionaries) to locate potential paper topics, as well as relevant secondary sources, and pertinent primary sources to support their topics.
  5. Writing Skills
    1. History is a discipline based in writing.  Writing is what historians DO.
    2. Seminar participants must be familiar with standards for documentation in history papers. Essays must use citations to identify the source of all supporting material. You must cite paraphrased material as well as quotations!  This means that each of your paragraphs will include at least one citation, unless it is composed entirely of your own ideas.  This documentation must follow the Chicago/Turabian style described in the citations section of http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/paper-guide.htm#citations.  Additional material may be found in The Bedford Handbook for Writers, section 51c.  If you have read the website on citations and do not understand this requirement, please come to see me during office hours for clarification.
    3. Seminar participants must be able to write in standard formal English.  Essays must be free of grammatical errors and typos. 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.  For more information, see the "confused about grammar?" section of http://academic.udayton.edu/MarybethCarlson/paper-guide.htm.  To ensure that the arguments in your paper are clear, logical and precise, make arrangements with two other seminar participants to read each others' rough drafts critically.

Grading Scheme and Class Format:  The final grade for the course will be based equally on each of two
components, Readings and Research.

READINGS COMPONENT: The usefulness of a seminar is dependent upon the quality of discussion which takes place therein, so students should come to each meeting prepared for an energetic and thoughtful discussion. Each student should carefully read all of the texts assigned for each week, and then propose a question for discussion based on those readings and post this on the Lotus Notes Discussion Group by midnight of the Monday preceeding any given seminar meeting.  Students should read the collected discussion questions between Monday midnight and Wednesday 3pm, arriving at seminar meetings ready to answer and debate these questions with one another.  Readings Component grades for each individual will be based on both the quality of the submitted questions and the participation in discussion (including both readings and research paper discussions). Needless to say, attendence is mandatory.  Tardiness and early departure disrupt discussion and are not permissible.

To use the Lotus Notes Discussion Group (Everyone)

You need to know your Lotus Notes username and password.  It is the same as your flyernet name and ORIGINAL password.  Every student at UD has a Lotus Notes account, even if she or he has not been using Notes.  So begin by going to MH 53 and asking for your Lotus Notes username and password.
To use the Lotus Notes Discussion Group from Lotus Notes
Click on File, Database, Open.  Change the server to Facstaff01/SVR/UDayton.  Scroll down to the A&S folder and double click it to open it.  Scroll down to the HST folder (not HISTORY), double click on it to open it.  Double click on the Carlson folder to open it.  Double click on History 486.
To use the Lotus Notes Discussion Group from a browser (Functions best with Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5. You may also use Netscape 4.7)
Go to the HST 486 webpage .  Click on the link for "Online Discussion."  When the password screen pops up, type in your name and password.
If you cannot make these instructions work, then telephone 9-3888.  The good people there will be happy to help you figure out the problem.  Do not send me an e-mail message telling me that your computer doesn't work.  Do not leave a voice mail message telling me that your computer doesn't work. Do not come see me in person telling me that your computer doesn't work.  Instead, get your computer fixed so that it does work.

RESEARCH COMPONENT:
1)  Each student in this course will submit a research paper to me on April 24th.  Requirements:

  1. Minimum of 5000 words (20 pages), maximum of 7500 words (30 pages), double spaced
  2. Papers must use at least three different primary sources and at least six different secondary sources.  Use of the assigned discussion readings is permitted, but does not count toward this requirement.  Students who desire a B or an A for their papers must use additional sources.
  3. Papers must be adequately documented using the Chicago/Turabian/footnote-endnote citation style.  They must be free of grammatical errors and typos.  They must be clearly and precisely written in standard, formal English aimed at an audience unfamiliar with the history of the welfare state. The penalty for plagiarism will be a course grade of F. Note the university definition of plagiarism in the Student Handbook.
2)  Student in this course will make a 15 minute presentation to the seminar on their research, April 3, 10 or 17.  I will assign dates when presentations are due and no rescheduling will be possible.  Students who miss their presentation dates will receive zero credit for this part of the research component.

Time Management for Research Projects
Weeks 3-4: Choose a Topic and Compile an Initial Bibliography.  Ideas for papers:

Weeks 5-6: Narrow Topics and Acquire Sources.
Weeks 7-8: Read Sources.
Weeks 9-10: Outline Rough Draft of Paper and Compile Final Bibliography.
Weeks 11-12: Acquire and Read Sources.  Redraft Paper.
Week 13:  Peer Review.  Visit to The Write Place for Students with Problematic Writing Skills.
Weeks 14-15: Redraft Paper Along Lines Suggested by Referees.  Final Revisions.

Tentative Schedule, Winter 2002

1/9 -- Introduction
1/16 -- The Terrain of the Social Historian (all material on Reserve):

  • Definition of Social History from The Encyclopedia of Social History (1994)
  • Eric Hobsbawm, "From Social History to the History of Society" in Gilbert & Graubard, Historical Studies Today (1972), pp. 1-26 (also in Daedalus, 1971)
  • Tony Judt, "A Clown in Regal Purple," History Workshop Journal 1979
    • 1/23 -- Research in Social History: MEET IN THE LOBBY OF ROESCH LIBRARY
    1/30 -- Welfare State as an Object of Study (all material on Reserve):
  • John H. Coatsworth, "Welfare," American Historical Review 101 (1996)
  • Colin Jones, "Some recent trends in the history of charity" in Charity, Self-interest, and Welfare in the English Past, ed. Martin Daunton, (1996)
  • Douglas E. Ashford, "The Whig interpretation of the welfare state." Journal of Policy History 1 (1989)
  • Clarke A. Chambers, "Toward a Redefinition of Welfare History," Journal of American History 73 (1986)
    • 2/6 -- Poverty in an Age of Economic Crisis
  • (Bookstore) Robert Jütte, Poverty and Deviance in Early Modern Europe, pp 1-82
  • (Reserve) Stuart Woolf, The Poor in Western Europe in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (1986), chapter one
    • 2/13 -- The Reorganization of Poor Relief in the 16th Century 2/20 -- The Reorganization of Poor Relief (continued) 2/27 -- The English Poor Law
  • (Bookstore) Paul Slack, The English Poor Law (1995)
    • 3/6 -- The Poor and Relief: An Economy of Makeshifts
  • Jütte, pp. 83-99
  • (Reserve) E.P. Thompson, "The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century" Past & Present 1971
  • (Reserve) John Bohstedt, "The moral economy and the discipline of historical context." Journal of Social History 1992 26(2): 265-284
    • 3/13 -- Elites and Relief: Civilizing and Disciplining the Poor 3/20 -- Mercantilism, Physiocrats and The New Poor Law in England 4/3 -- Bismarck and Social Insurance 4/10 -- Social Insurance Expanded 4/17 -- The Postwar Welfare State 4/24 -- Test of Historical Awareness

    Resources for History 486 -- -- -- -- -- UD Department of History