Instructor: James R. Munson
Office: E. Ruffner 234
Office telephone: 395-2218 
Office hours:
MWF 10-11
TR 11-12
and by appointment.
E-mail: munsonjr@longwood.edu

Contents

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Texts:

Coffin, Judith, and Robert Stacy, Western Civilizations, Volume 2. New York: Norton, 15th edition, 2005.

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.

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Course Objectives:

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.

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Class Schedule:

Week 1  (Jan. 12-16)

Introduction: Course Information and Requirements
The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

Readings: Coffin, pp. 574-595.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 3-42.

Reminder: Add/Drop deadline is Jan. 20.

The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, (cont.)

Readings: Coffin, pp. 597-624.
Beatty and Johnson, 103-124.

Quiz on Wednesday.

Royal Absolutism and Constitutionalism

Readings: Coffin, pp. 500-517. 
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 43-64.

Royal Absolutism and Constitutionalism. (continued)

Readings: Coffin, 531-572.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 65-78.

Prospectus due by Friday.

Revolution and the Rights of Man.

Readings: Coffin, pp. 629-664.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 125-151.

Week 6  (Feb. 16-20)

Revolution and the Rights of Man (continued).

Readings: Coffin, pp. 666-702.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 90-102.

Prospectus critiques due by Wednesday

Week 7  (Feb. 23-27)

Commercial and Industrial Revolutions.

Readings: Coffin, pp. 699-733. . 
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 79-89, 160-185.

Quiz: Wednesday.

Take Home Exam: Due Friday, Feb. 27.

Reminder: The final withdrawal deadline is March 2.

Discussion week on Palestine and Israel.

Readings: Use the index to find the relevant sections on the modern Middle East in Coffin.
Other readings to be announced in week 8.

Week 9  (March 16-20)

Modern Ideologies: Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, "Scientism".

Readings: Coffin, pp. 706-741, 743-774.
Beatty and Johnson, 196-213.

Modern Ideologies: Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, "Scientism". (continued).

Readings: Coffin, pp. 777-814. 
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 301-312.
Source on e-reserve:  John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty and Utilitarianism" (pw: r234)

Research Paper due: Friday, March 27 by 5 p.m.

Nationalism, Nation-States, Competition for World Dominance.

Readings: Coffin, pp. 818-856.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 221-236. 
Source on e-reserve: Darwin/Herbert Spencer, "Origin of Species and Struggle in Evolution"

(This reading material relates to the previous unit).

Week 12  (April 6-10)

Nationalism, Nation-States, Competition for World Dominance. (continued).

Readings: Coffin, pp. 858-910.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 214-220, 251-257, 313-329.

Fascism, Totalitarianism, Total War, and Beyond.

Readings: Coffin, pp. 910-969.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 361-383.

Fascism, Totalitarianism, Total War, and Beyond (cont.)
Review.

Readings: Coffin, pp. 971-1008, 1011-1040.
Beatty and Johnson, pp. 337-360.

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Course Requirements: A take home exam, a final exam (take-home) 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, 5 p.m. on March 27, will be marked down up to one full grade. Absolutely no papers will be accepted after 5 p.m. on April 3.

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. The emphasis in the research paper 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 towage 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.

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 two scholarly studies of article or book length (the on-line database JSTOR, available through our library, is a good place to look for articles). 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://history.hanover.edu/project.html
The Avalon Project --  http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
The Historical Text Archive --  http://historicaltextarchive.com/ (useful mainly for links)
The Michigan Electronic Library -- http://web.mel.org/mer/SPT--BrowseResources.php?ParentId=357  (also a collection of links, organized by category)
The Voice of the Shuttle --  http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2713#id877 (be sure to browse the special topics as well)
E-Server --  http://eserver.org/history/ (for selected topics)
EuroDocs --  Main Page - EuroDocs  (use both time period and national history links)
G-text -- http://www.h-net.org/~german/gtext/ -- for German history
Internet Marxist archive -- http://www.marxists.org/archive/ -- not just for Marxism, this is one of the best sites for primary sources in modern history on the web
Prof. Joseph O'Brien's web page -- http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/ -- contains links to many documents under "Reference Documents"

You can also find primary source materials (in addition to maps, quizzes and other study aids) on the web site for the textbook.  You will need to register using the registration code on the card inside the front cover.  Go to:  http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/wciv 

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.

To Research form

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, all students are required to submit five discussion questions before each discussion class by Thursday at 5 p.m.  These questions must be different from those provided by the editors before each selection in the Beatty-Johnson sourcebook, although these should be used as points of departure for your own questions.  I will also designate at the beginning of each discussion class one  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 me are most welcome and 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 nonetheless weigh heavily as an independent independent factor. 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 and formal debate of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One section of the second take-home exam will be devoted exclusively to the issues covered during this week.

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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:
   

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 2, 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 10 for you to receive credit.

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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 (not the instructor's) 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.

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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. Each student must submit his or her final paper to www.turnitin.com as a Word file for the purpose of generating an originality report before submitting it to me in hard copy. For more on plagiarism, see the departmental style sheet..

Tape-recording and Class Decorum: Tape-recording of lectures is not 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, text messaging, the use of personal stereos, Ipods, MP3 players, cell phones or other electronic devices) will be asked to leave and marked as absent. By order of the department chair, food and drinks other than water are not permitted in the classroom.

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Bibliography:

References required of all students in the prospectus:

Coffin, Judith, and Robert Stacy, Western Civilizations, Volume 2. New York: Norton, 15th edition, 2005.

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.

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