STANDARD COMPETENCIES:

 

 I. Plan, write and revise a minimum of four examples of historical writing, including a critical review of a historiographical work, an expository introduction to literature on a historical problem, an annotated bibliography of sources for a research paper, and a final persuasive research paper based on primary sources and research of the relevant historiography.

 II. Practice, define, discuss, and apply various research strategies appropriate to college level history courses, including the following: identify discrete and important problems in history; locate primary sources in archives and published compendia; gather and summarize secondary sources from databases widely used in historical research; document sources appropriately in notes and bibliographies; ethically integrate material from different sources,  and analyze, synthesize, and evaluate data from multiple sources and viewpoints.

 III. Practice reading and analyzing primary sources and historiographical literature, and practice applying writing skills appropriate to college level history courses.

 IV. Identify and avoid pitfalls of grammar and composition, particularly those peculiar to writing about past events and historical problems.

 V. Demonstrate the ability to select and apply contemporary forms of technology to solve problems, create bibliographical databases and compose properly annotated typescripts.

 VI.    Four general goals integrate history with workplace skills:

       A.      Acquire information from many sources

       B.      Break complex and multiple sources of information down into parts to create clearer understanding

       C.      Understand the impact of time and space on perspective

       D.      Develop narrative structures and arguments based on evidence

 VII.     Throughout the course, students should be introduced to course content, practice using course content, and demonstrate they can:

       A.        Describe how peoples, groups, cultures, and institutions covered in this course change over time

       B.        Understand the events covered in the course in historical context and recognize how social, cultural, gender, race, religion, nationality and other identities affect historical perspective

       C.        Communicate orally and in writing about the subject of the course and select and apply contemporary forms of technology to solve problems and compile information

       D.        Use different resources for historical research, including libraries, databases, bibliographies and archives

       E.         Analyze secondary sources and recognize differences in historical interpretation

       F.         Identify types of primary sources, the point of view and purpose of their author or creator

       G.        Create substantive writing samples which employ critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, and document those sources correctly

       H.        Construct knowledge in the discipline and synthesize historical narratives and timelines from primary and secondary sources, maps, and/or artifacts and critically analyze, interpret and evaluate many different points of view to construct historical arguments.

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I. Identifying historical problems

 a. Posing important questions about history

 b. Using existing historiography to narrow topics

 c. Locating historiography and primary sources in libraries, databases and archives

 d. Techniques for skimming, annotating and organizing data from large numbers of sources

 II. Drafting a Critical Review of a historical work

 a. Taking and organizing notes on readings

 b. Providing context on historical problems

 c. Summarizing notes and identifying the thesis and evidence of historiography

 d. Assessing strengths and weaknesses of writing about history

 e. Identifying and avoiding problems of writing about history

 f. Ensuring a competent understanding of essential essay structure and coherence.

 III. Gathering a working bibliography and annotating it

 a. Covering the breadth of available sources including those published, unpublished, primary and secondary

 b. Providing annotation useful to other historians

 IV. Following the conventions of historical bibliographies as found in the Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian¿s A Manual for Writers.

 V. Writing a review of historical literature

 a. Identify an important historiographical subject

 b. Synthesize the main arguments on the subject in the scholarly literature

 c. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of historical theses and evidence

 d. Identify problems and lacunae in the literature and suggest remedies where possible.

 VI. Writing Researched, Documented Papers on historical subjects

 a. Creating an original research proposal with a working thesis and bibliography

 b. Locating sources and planning research

 c. Taking and managing notes and quotations

 d. Organizing and documenting your argument in proper format

 e. Adopting tone and style appropriate to the anticipated audience and avoiding pitfalls of historical writing

 f. Revising/Editing

 g. Using technology to efficiently and correctly format typescripts