HIST 110-50
HONORS MODERN WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Spring 2007
Instructor: Melissa Pine
Office: Wynne 104B
Office telephone: 395-2218
Office hours:
E-mail: melissa.pine@plymouth.ac.uk
Course Description
Required Texts
Course Objectives
Class Schedule
Course Requirements
Grading
Attendance Policy
Honor Code and Plagiarism
Bibliography
Course Description: A
survey of the development of modern Western Civilization from the age of
Absolutism to the present, with emphasis upon the political, economic, social,
cultural and intellectual attributes which have marked its rise to world-wide
influence in the twentieth century.
Chambers, Mortimer, Raymond
Grew, Barbara Hanawalt, Theodore Rabb, Isser Woloch, The Western Experience,
Volume 2. New York: McGraw-Hill, Eighth edition, 2003.
Beatty, John L., Oliver A.
Johnson, John Reisbord, and Mita Choudurhy, eds., Heritage of Western
Civilization, Volume 2. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Ninth Edition, 2004.
The goal of this course is for
students to develop the following:
1. An understanding and
appreciation of history and historical inquiry.
2. A sense of what constitutes
the civilization of the West and its world-wide impact.
3. An ability to think
critically, analytically and systematically.
4. An ability to organize
different types of source materials, relate them to each other by means of
critical analysis, and use them in a way that produces greater insight into the
complex subject matter of the course.
5. A sense of history as
combining a variety of disciplines and approaches.
6. An appreciation for the
contribution that an historical perspective can bring to other disciplines.
7. A greater ability to
express oneself clearly and concisely on paper and orally.
8. A greater understanding of
the human condition and experience by examining the dilemmas and challenges
faced by men and women of the past.
Week 1 (Jan. 15-19)
W: Introduction: Course
Information and Requirements (short class)
F: Europe in 1648 (basic introductory lecture)
Readings: Chambers, pp.
xxix-xxxii, 551-586.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 3-42.
Reminder: Add/Drop deadline is
Jan. 24.
Week 2 (Jan. 22-26)
The
Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
M: A
transformation in thinking
W: Voltaire (and
quiz 1)
F: Rousseau
Readings: Chambers, pp.
667-695.
Beatty and Johnson, 103-124.
*Quiz on Wednesday.
Week 3 (Jan. 29-Feb. 2)
Royal
Absolutism and Constitutionalism
M: France
under Louis XIV
W: The legacy
of Louis XIV
F: The English
Civil War
Readings: Chambers, pp.
528-547, 589-606.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 43-64.
Week 4 (Feb. 5-9)
Royal
Absolutism and Constitutionalism (continued)
M: The English
Revolution
W: Absolutism
in Muscovy/Russia
F: Absolutism
in Central Europe
Readings: Chambers, 606-630.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 65-78.
Paper topic statements and bibliography (or first document analyses)
due by start of class on Friday.
Week 5 (Feb. 12-16)
Revolution
and the Rights of Man
M: The coming
of the French revolution
W: The course
of the revolution
F: Napoleon
(and take home due)
Readings:
Chambers, pp. 699-733.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 125-151.
Take Home Exam: due at start of class, Friday 14
Feb
Week 6 (Feb. 19-23)
Revolution
and the Rights of Man
(continued)
M: The defeat
of Napoleon
W: The
Congress of Vienna (and critiques due)
F: Discussion:
the legacies of the French Revolution
Readings:
Chambers, 633-664, 737-766.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 90-102.
Critiques of paper topic statements/document
analyses due by start of class on Wednesday 21 Feb
Week 7 (Feb. 26-March 2)
Discussion
week on Palestine and Israel
M: Competing
claims to Palestine/Israel
W: Zionism and
the foundation of Israel
F: Israel
since 1948
Readings: Use
the index to find the relevant sections on the modern Middle East in Chambers.
Other readings to be announced in week 6.
Reminder: The final withdrawal deadline is March
7.
Week
8 (March 5-9)
Commercial and Industrial Revolutions
M: The rise of
capitalism
W: The Industrial
Revolution (economic) (and quiz 2)
F: The Industrial Revolution (social)
Readings: Chambers, pp. 782-801, 818-833,
885-892.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 79-89, 160-185.
Quiz:
Wednesday.
March
12-16 (Spring Break)
Week 9 (March 19-23)
Modern
Ideologies: Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, "Scientism"
M: The rise of
Liberalism
W: John Locke
F: Conservatism (and assignment due)
Readings: Chambers, pp. 769-782, 805-818,
833-841, 874-881.
Beatty and Johnson, 196-213.
Research Paper or Second Document Analysis due: Friday 23 March by start of class.
Week 10 (March 26-30)
Modern
Ideologies: Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, ‘Scientism’ (continued)
M: Karl Marx
W: Socialism
in the 19th century (and quiz 3)
F: Discussion: ‘Scientism’
Readings: Chambers, pp. 895-900, 927-937.
Handout, and Beatty and Johnson, pp. 301-312.
Quiz on Wednesday.
Week 11 (April 2-6)
Nationalism,
Nation-States, Competition for World Dominance
M: Discussion:
the meaning of ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’
W: The
unification of Italy
F: The unification of Germany (and take home due)
Readings: Chambers, pp. 845-874.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 221-236. (This reading material relates to the
previous unit).
Take Home Exam due: Friday, April 8, at start of class
Week 12 (April 9-13)
Nationalism,
Nation-States, Competition for World Dominance (continued)
M: New
imperialism
W: The First
World War
F: The Russian Revolution
Readings: Chambers, pp. 900-923, 937-959,
963-988.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 214-220, 251-257, 313-329.
Week 13 (April 16-20)
Fascism,
Totalitarianism, Total War, and Beyond
M: Mussolini
W: Hitler
F: Stalin
Readings: Chambers, pp. 966-980, 983-1033.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 361-383.
Week 14 (April 23-27)
Fascism,
Totalitarianism, Total War, and Beyond (cont)
M: The Second
World War
W: The
post-war settlement (and quiz 4)
F: Student-led
review
Readings: Chambers, pp.
1061-1106, 1111-1160, 1165-1183.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 337-360.
Quiz on Wednesday.
FINAL EXAM:
See Master schedule
Course Requirements: Two take home exams, a final exam and a research project are the
written requirements for this course. Failure to complete any of the
requirements will be regarded as a failure to complete the course, and will
therefore result in a failing grade. In addition, there will be four quizzes.
In preparation for the paper, each student will prepare a statement of his or
her paper topic, with projected bibliography. This statement will not be
graded, but failure to hand it in will result in a loss of seven points on the
final grade. Papers received in the week after the due date, 2pm on March 23,
will be marked down up to one full grade. Absolutely no papers will be accepted
after 2pm on March 30.
Exams must be turned in by the
due date indicated on the weekly schedule, and quizzes must be taken when
scheduled. Make-ups will be scheduled only by prior consent of the instructor,
and only for compelling reasons (as determined by the instructor). If a
student, without gaining prior consent, is unable to turn in an assignment or
take a quiz because of sudden illness or some other extraordinary event, the
instructor must be notified immediately. If I cannot be reached directly or by
phone, leave a message with the History Department. A doctor's note or other
written documentation must accompany a student's request for a make-up.
Exams: The take-home exams will consist of
essays. The final exam will be the only exam taken in the classroom (at the
time indicated on the final exam schedule) and will consist of short answer
identifications, and two essay questions, one of which will be comprehensive
(covering the entire course). The instructor will be looking for an organized
and analytical approach to the material presented in lectures, the assigned
readings, and the discussions. Taking careful notes in class and on the
readings, therefore, is strongly recommended. In the essays, the instructor
will also be looking for an ability to combine the raw materials of the course
-- text, lectures, documentary sources, and discussions -- into pertinent and
meaningful insights. The instructor will also be evaluating your ability to
communicate those insights. Points will be taken off for run-on sentences,
grammatical errors, spelling errors, poor punctuation, illegible handwriting or
any other problems that, in the opinion of the instructor, affect comprehension
of the student's work. Strive above all for clarity.
Research Project: The research project is designed
specifically to show that the student can research a topic, develop an
analytical argument using source materials, and express this argument clearly
on paper. Students may choose to fulfil this assignment in one of two ways, but
must make this choice by week four. After that time, a student may not
switch from one type of research project to another.
1) The first of the two ways is a
traditional research paper, in which the emphasis should be on using primary
source materials from the period in question. The use of documents from the
assigned sourcebook is a requirement. All students should meet with the
instructor about their paper topics, and do so as early as possible in the
semester. Each student will prepare a one to two page written statement, on a
word processor, of his or her paper topic, complete with bibliography, by the
end of week three. These will then be distributed to other students in the
class, each of whom will prepare a written critique due in the middle of week
five. Neither of these assignments will be graded, but failure to complete
either assignment will result in a deduction of seven points from the final
grade. The final papers must be printed on a word processor, in a
standard font (courier 10 or Times Roman 12 is preferred), with double-spaced text,
a title page, and one inch (and no more than one inch) margins. The text (not
including bibliography, title page and endnotes page) should be no less than 8 full
pages and no more than 12 pages in length. This means that, if you use
footnotes (i.e., at the bottom of each page), the text must be longer
than eight full pages to compensate for the formatting of the notes. Your name,
the course name and number, section number and the date must be on the title
page. It must include a bibliography of all sources cited. Bibliography and
footnote or endnote citations must conform to the proper style, as defined in
the "Department of History and Political Science Style Sheet",
available on the department's web site at http://www.longwood.edu/history/HDPTSTS2.htm.
More in-depth coverage of style questions can be found in the latest edition of
Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations.
Do not use MLA, APA, parenthetical footnotes or any alternative style
current in other disciplines. Unless you wish to see the instructor fly into a
blind rage, make a particular point of not using parenthetical notes. All
work should be saved to disk in at least two separate locations (hard disk and
floppy, two floppies, etc.), so that a new copy may be immediately printed in
case the original hard copy is misplaced.
2) The second type of research
assignment is a series of two papers that analyzes specific historical
documents. In this case, the student will choose an historical document
that fits within the chronological and geographical scope of the course, and
pair it with a contemporary document (from the last ten years) of the same
general type. For example, if the historical document is a speech, then
the contemporary one should be also. They both should focus on a common
issue or theme, even if from an opposing viewpoint. For example, if the
historical document you have chosen seeks to justify a war, then find a contemporary
document that either supports or denounces the use of military force, whether
in a specific instance, or as a general policy tool. The first
assignment, due at the same time as, and in lieu of, the paper topic statement,
will explain certain basic information about the two documents, and follow a
set format (the subject of a handout). The second document analysis, due
at the same time as the final research paper, will compare the text or content
of the two documents. This assignment will explain what leading ideas or
themes the two documents have in common, point out the most important
differences, and use secondary sources to highlight the differing historical
circumstances that help explain the difference in content. The first
assignment must be at least four full pages in length, and the second
must be at least six full pages. These assignments must otherwise follow
all the formatting and other requirements described for the research
paper. Unlike the research paper, both of the document analyses will be
graded, with the second one counting for 65 % of the research assignment grade.
For both types of research
projects, the type of material that must be documented (i.e. footnoted)
includes: controversial or distinctive arguments and opinions, facts that are
not a matter of broad general knowledge, statistics, all quotes, and
paraphrases or summaries of an author's argument. All direct quotes over fifty
words in length must be indented and single-spaced as described in the
departmental style sheet. You should have at least one footnote per full page
of text.
It is imperative that you
document source material, but the argument or thesis of your paper must be
in your own words: excessive use of quotes or lengthy paraphrasing of
sources will not be accepted, and leads easily to the grievous sin of
plagiarism. On plagiarism, see below.
Sources: The citation of at least four
different sources is a minimal requirement for the paper. These must
include at least one scholarly study of article or book length. Use
encyclopedias and other reference works only to get yourself up to speed on a
particular topic: do not cite them, or use them as a replacement for a
more substantial outside source. You may use Internet sources, especially for
primary source materials, but make sure that they are from reputable sources
(like universities). Some useful web sites containing primary sources
are:
The Internet Modern History
Sourcebook -- http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
(the best and easiest to use -- it contains both excerpts and full-text on-line
editions of important sources)
The Hanover Historical Texts Project -- http://europeanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fhistory.hanover.edu%2Fproject.html
The Avalon Project -- http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
The Historical Text Archive -- http://historicaltextarchive.com/
The Voice of the Shuttle -- http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp
(Click on the history hot link)
E-Server -- http://eserver.org/history/
(for selected topics)
The McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought -- http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/
EuroDocs -- http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/
(use both time period and national history links)
Double-dipping (submitting a
paper for this course that is substantially the same as a paper submitted for
any other course, past or present) is not permitted. Once a student has
submitted either a paper topic statement, or the first of the two document
analyses, he or she may not switch from one type of assignment to another;
however, the student may, in consultation with the instructor, modify the topic
(in the case of a research paper), or the documents used (in the case of the document
analyses).
Class participation: Class participation is an essential
part of this course. In most weeks, the last class period will be set aside for
discussion of the readings. Students must arrive prepared to discuss the weekly
assignments. In order to ensure this, I will designate at the beginning of each
discussion class two or more students who will be graded for their
contributions to the discussion that day. Any students so chosen who have not
read the material or who are absent without prior clearance from me will
receive a failing grade for that day's discussion. I will rotate the selections
so that everyone gets a more or less equal chance to be "on call".
Voluntary contributions from students not designated by this system will of
course be considered positively, especially when they demonstrate acquaintance
and engagement with the reading. Your overall grade for class participation
will not be figured numerically into your final score, but will be an
independent factor weighing heavily nonetheless. It will be used to decide
borderline cases, offset negative trends like absences, or, if judged to be of
significantly higher or lower quality than your written work, possibly bump you
to a higher or lower grade. If I judge this system to be producing inadequate
results, I reserve the right to require other written or oral assignments to
facilitate discussion, and to use these assignments in the determination of
final grades.
I have set aside one week to
focus on a particular issue, in this case, the establishment of the state of
Israel in Palestine and its consequences. This will be a student driven
exercise, combining assigned reading for all students with specialized research
topics assigned by me to individual students. During this week, the class will
collectively construct a timeline of the major events, and each student
researcher will contribute from what he or she has learned to a discussion of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One section of the second take-home exam will
be devoted exclusively to the issues covered during this week.
Grading: The exams, the final, and the paper
are worth 90 points each. The four map quizzes are worth ten points each, for a
total of 40 points. Your final grade for the written assignments will be
determined by the total number of points you gain out of a maximum of 400. I
will then judge whether the level of your class participation warrants either
raising or lowering your final grade. I do not grade on a curve. Attendance,
and evidence of progress or lack thereof in the course of the semester will be
used to decide half grades and borderline cases (which, experience shows, means
most students). Serious attendance problems or misconduct in class can result
in a lowering of grade. The grading scale is as follows:
|
Score
Grade |
|
|
388-400 |
A+ |
|
372-387 |
A |
|
360-371 |
A- |
|
348-359 |
B+ |
|
332-347 |
B |
|
320-331 |
B- |
|
308-319 |
C+ |
|
292-307 |
C |
|
280-291 |
C- |
|
268-279 |
D+ |
|
252-267 |
D |
|
240-251 |
D- |
|
Below 240 |
F |
Extra Credit Assignments: Extra credit assignments may be
arranged with the instructor. These assignments must be approved in advance by
the instructor on or before March 4, and will not be accepted unless so
approved. They are worth a maximum of 40 points. Under no circumstances will an
extra credit assignment be accepted as substitute for any other written
requirement in the course. An extra credit assignment can only elevate a
student into a higher grade bracket (for example, from a B to an A) if the
student has scored the higher grade on at least one of the three major exams or
on the paper. The assignment must take the form either of an analytical book
review (not a book summary) 3-5 pages in length, or a second documented paper
5-7 pages in length, and must utilize sources not assigned in this course. The
topic and sources must be substantially different from the required research
paper. Style of text, footnotes, bibliography and title page must conform to
the guidelines of the departmental style sheet. If you decide to do an extra
credit assignment, it must be turned in no later than April 15 for you to
receive credit.
Attendance Policy: Class attendance is a requirement of this course. Repeated
unexcused absences will lead to a reduction of grade. Unexcused absences
totaling 25% or more will result in an automatic F for the course. The
instructor will excuse a student only under the most extraordinary
circumstances. Chronic lateness will also be penalized, since it presents a
class disturbance. If a student arrives after roll is taken, it is the
student's responsibility to place his or her name on the class roll no later
than the end of that class period. Failure to do so will result in an unexcused
absence.
Honor
Code and Plagiarism:
Students are expected to observe the honor code. All work for this course must
be pledged. Students found to have cheated on an exam or to have plagiarized
material in a paper will be subject to the maximum penalty under college rules.
For those in doubt about the definition of plagiarism, it consists of copying
passages from a source without both attribution and quotation. If you
have reproduced the language of your source, you have committed plagiarism
whether or not you have cited the source and the page number. This includes
passages that a student may have modified: for example, changed verb tenses,
omission or replacement of occasional words, reshuffling of phrases, sentences
or paragraphs, combining of different plagiarized sources. Writing a bad paper
in your own words is far better than writing a good one using the words of
someone else. One suggestion for avoiding inadvertent echoing of your texts and
sources: close all books when writing, and consult them only for specific facts
or direct quotes. Also, proofread your paper with plagiarism specifically in
mind. For more on plagiarism, see the departmental style sheet.
Tape-recording and Class
Decorum:
Tape-recording of lectures is permitted. Students who are excused from class by
the instructor must make arrangements with the instructor or with other
students to cover the material missed. Students who skip class without
permission are responsible for making their own arrangements with other
students (not with the instructor) for the material covered in class.
Students are expected to
observe class decorum. Students engaging in behavior bothersome to other
students or to the instructor (for example, eating or drinking, talking in
class or the use of personal stereos) will be asked to leave and marked as
absent. By order of the department chair, food and drinks are not permitted in
the classroom.
References required of all
students:
Chambers, Mortimer, Raymond Grew,
Barbara Hanawalt, Theodore Rabb, Isser Woloch, The Western Experience,
Volume 2. New York: McGraw-Hill, Eighth edition, 2003.
Beatty, John L., Oliver A.
Johnson, John Reisbord, and Mita Choudurhy, eds., Heritage of Western
Civilization, Volume 2. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Ninth Edition, 2004.
Other references:
Consult the bibliographies in
the required texts, the library catalog and the instructor for the outside
references to be used in your research paper.
Return to the
Department Syllabus Page (Spring 2005)
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Political Science Homepage