His 2560 & EIU, Dr. Newton Key, Course Requirements Summary

  • Quote response essays (1-2, about 800 words) 8%
  • Oneline discussion and in-class questions & participation 12%
  • Exams (2 @ 12% each) 24%
  • Final Exam (15%) 15%
  • Mentor Report 3%
  • Stats Unit Narrative Quizzes (5)*** 7%
  • Stats Unit Calculation Quizzes (5)*** 10%
  • Stats Unit Word Problems (4) 8%
  • Stats Slave Trade Group Paper 13%
  • Total 100%
    extra credit badges, worth up to 5% *105%
    ** lowest grade dropped
    *** may be retaken, highest grade counts
   

  1. Generally, I lecture on Tuesday (WTWA) and we discuss documents/readings (WofH) on Thursday (bring the appropriate book to class). Any revisions to the syllabus or this schedule will be limited, for pedagogical reasons (changes in due dates, readings, specific essay questions, review sheets), and will be announced in class in advance and posted on d2l (see below).

  2. His 2560 is designated writing-intensive. Exams and online discussion of sources will be in paragraph/essay form. The Slave Trade Group Paper will put together everything you have learned in the Statistics Units (see below), and then ask you to work together to write up your findings. thirds asks you to construct a basic comparative table from the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database and then a very brief paper making a narrative from that table(s).

  3. Stats Units 1-5. The EIU History Department has decided to introduce historical statistics (Stats) in this course. There are five Stats Units. Each has an explanatory narrative in d2l for each, as well as a quiz on that narrative (7% total). Each has a calculation exercise using material culled from the TransAtlantic Slave Trade Database, and a corresponding quiz (10%). The first four units have a Word Problem quiz (8%), an essay with figures pulling together what you learned for that unit. You may retake the Narrative Quizzes and the Calculation Quizzes several times if you wish, and your top scores count. We will do word problems in class so you know the sort of questions you will encounter. The deadlines for these quizzes are fixed and definite. So plan to begin your work on each unit early. At the end you will be assigned to a group to write a paper based on data from the slave trade (13%). We will get through this and you will be thinking more logically about history as a result.

  4. Participation is required (12%, based on your contribution to discussion and in-class written questions). More than three absences whether excused or not (you don’t need to tell me) will begin to lower your participation grade. If you are/will be absent, please consult the online syllabus first to see what was/will be covered. Your grade as a whole may suffer if you miss assigned quizzes or exams (the online quizzes are online and open for at least a week, so absence doesn’t apply). There is, of course, no make-up for the final. Other make-ups will be at my discretion.

    There is a Mentor Report (3%) required for departmental program purposes in this course. You should meet with another professor in the department, after consulting with Dr. Key, and write up your meeting.

  5. You must purchase at the University Bookstore, sign, and turn in all exam books more than a week before the first mid-term exam (that is by 9 Feb.). No one may take the exams (12% each for 1 & 2, 15%for the final) without an exam book. Exams are a combination of essays, short-answer, matching, and mapping. Improvement during the semester will mitigate disastrous performance early in the course. The d2l page for this course includes useful information (policies, goals, and additional help at the department and university level). I use the following grade scale for tests and for your final grade.

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    last modified on January 30, 2018