1. Classes. This course also emphasizes the practice of history: the reading and analysis of documents in a historical context. Thus, discussion and essay writing are important aspects of this course. An enhanced copy of this syllabus is available at http://ux1.eiu.edu/~nekey/syllabi/west and you should use it. Any revisions of this syllabus (which may involve due/exam dates) will be announced in class and posted on the web site.
  2. Papers. Everyone will write two typed, double-spaced essays: one contextualizing Candide in eighteenth-century thought and experience (5 pp., 15%), and one contextualizing All Quiet on the Western Front using documents from World War I (6-7 pp., 20%). This is a writing-intensive course, and all students may revise the first essay and resubmit it for a grade no later than Oct. 17 (it must be accompanied by the original with my comments). Use a clear and consistent form of referencing (see department citation guide at my website).
  3. Exams. You must purchase at the University Bookstore, sign, and turn in all three exam books two weeks before the first Mid-Term (that is by Sept. 26). You cannot take an exam if you have not turned in the booklets. There will be two mid-terms (15% & 15%), and a final exam (25%). The mid-terms and final (covering 1450-1793, 1789-1918, and 1900-present respectively) will consist of map questions, short-answer, identifications, comparisons, analysis of excerpts from the assigned primary sources, and related essay questions.
  4. Participation. Participation (based on your contribution to discussion and reports) is required (10%), though extra credit (up to 5%) can be obtained by an optional extra essay on the final. Generally speaking, more than three absences will adversely affect your participation grade. (Because it is participation that I am concerned with, I tend not to countenance "excused absences.") Of course, your grade as a whole will suffer if your absences fall on the date of assigned oral reports or the exams. There is, of course, no make-up for reports or the final. Other make-ups will be at the professor's discretion (Anyone with a documented disability should let me know by the second week of class so that we can make appropriate accommodations.) History department graduate students tutor in CH 2726. And ask me for questions and clarifications. I will talk about history virtually anytime.
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    last modified September 8, 2003