History 101: Western Civilization Professor Wertheimer
Spring 2004
TR
Main Classroom 437 [email protected]
http://www.geocities.com/l_wertheimer/ Office Hours: Tues. and Thurs.
(Note: the “l” is the letter l, not the number 1)
Goals
of the Course:
History 101, Western Civilization, examines the civilizations that were the cultural ancestors of modern European and American culture. It is quite possibly the first university-level history course many of you have taken, and may be one of your first courses at CSU. It is therefore designed to help you practice university-level skills as well as to learn historical material.
History 101 covers the period from the earliest civilizations to 1648. We cannot cover all elements of this entire period, and will not even attempt to do so. Instead, the course is designed to focus on certain aspects of pre-modern cultures that have subsequently become very important to later civilizations, including our own. Although other material will be discussed, in general we will focus on three themes: how humans interact with each other (society and government), how humans interact with the divine (religion), and how humans understand the world (education and thought).
As we examine these themes, you will practice the skill of historical analysis. Historical analysis requires you to make analytical arguments about the causes and effects of historical developments. It requires you to carefully read primary sources (documents written at the time we are studying) and to analyze them using the knowledge you gain from secondary sources (sources that discuss the period under study but were not written at the time, such as the textbook or lecture). You will be expected to demonstrate these skills in the exams and writing assignments.
By preparing to succeed in this course, you will also learn a number of skills that you will need in your other college courses, such as taking notes, reading for comprehension rather than memorization, and constructing and supporting an argument. We will work further on each of these points over the course of the semester.
Required
Texts:
Marvin Perry, Western Civilization: A Brief History, 4th
ed. Volume I:
to 1789.
Additional readings on Electronic Course
Reserve (http://scholar.csuohio.edu/screens/m_course.html)
The required books are
available in the bookstore. Several
copies of each are also on reserve in the library.
Course
Requirements:
Your grade in History 101 will be determined by your performance on three exams and three short writing assignments. The grade breakdown will be as follows:
25% Writing Assignments (3)
25% Midterm 1
25% Midterm 2
25% Final
The bulk of your grade will come from your performance on the exams. The exams, which are not cumulative, will require both short answers and essays (no multiple-choice or fill in the blanks). They will be graded based on your comprehension of lecture and the primary readings. Generally, they will ask you to demonstrate your ability to relate specific terms to broader themes of the course, discuss the development of themes over time, and to compare and contrast the societies we will study.
For the writing assignments, you will practice the skills of analytical writing and use of primary sources by deducing what time period an unidentified document belongs to and explaining how you reached that conclusion (fuller instructions will be handed out on another sheet). I have put four sets of documents on Electronic Course Reserve (ECR), which is available through the CSU Library webpage. You are required to do three document identifications, each from a separate set. You may choose which three to do; if you do all four, I will count the three highest grades.
The writing assignments should be an opportunity to improve your grade. Sometimes, however, students put them off and then fail to complete them entirely, which has a serious impact on their final grades. Since each assignment is worth 8% of your total grade, skipping one of them will lower your course grade by almost a full letter. (In other words, a student who averages a C on all completed assignments but skips a writing assignment will probably earn a D in the course). Even turning in a bad assignment for partial credit is better than turning in nothing at all.
If you are unable to attend class on the day an assignment
is due, I will accept it by e-mail provided that I receive the assignment on the day it is due. If you choose to e-mail a paper rather than
hand it in directly, you are accepting the possibility that the e-mail may not
come through, in which case you will not receive credit for the
assignment. I will acknowledge all
e-mailed assignments as soon as I receive them which, depending on my schedule,
may be some time after you send them.
Exam Mechanics:
You must come to each exam with one large blue book (which can be purchased at the student bookstore) in which you will write the exam. I will have some extra bluebooks available for purchase at an exorbitant price, but cannot guarantee that there will be enough for everyone who comes unprepared.
Please make note of the exam and writing dates listed on the syllabus. The exams will be held February 25, April 6, and May 13. If an emergency prevents you from being present on one of those dates, you must notify me within 48 hours and we will arrange a make-up once you present documentation of the emergency. If you miss an exam, it is your responsibility follow up with me and schedule a makeup.
Please note: because I pass out answer keys when I return exams, under no circumstances will make-ups will be given after the graded exams have been returned to the class.
If you have a medical or other condition that requires accommodation through Disabilities Services, please inform me in time to set up alternate arrangements for you for the exams.
Class
Attendance:
Lecture attendance is not part of your formal grade. It is, however, critical to your understanding of the material and therefore to your performance in the class. If you wish to do well you must attend lecture regularly and attentively. Since I do not compel lecture attendance, I expect those who do attend class to take the course seriously and to treat me and the rest of the class with courtesy. Please arrive on time and plan to stay the whole period. Cell phones and pagers must be turned off or set to the vibrating function. It should go without saying that there should be no conversation with other students during lecture. Students who cause disruptions such as talking in class or regularly coming in late or leaving early will be asked to leave the classroom.
Extra
Credit:
To study most efficiently for this course, I recommend that every day after lecture you review your lecture notes. Briefly rewrite in your own words the argument that was presented in that day’s lecture and note three examples used to support the argument. This review of your notes will improve your retention, make you aware of what points you didn’t fully understand, and will make studying for the exams more efficient. To encourage both this practice and attendance, I am offering extra credit to those who do this review exercise. I will call several names at random at the beginning of each class and collect and grade the summaries written by those students. A summary that shows good understanding of the argument and gives three examples will receive full credit. Papers that show partial understanding will be given partial credit. If your name is called at the beginning of the class and you are not present for any reason or do not have the paper, you will lose that opportunity for extra credit. At the end of the semester I will average your scores and add up to three extra credit points to your final course grade accordingly. If you have completed all three assignments, this will raise your final course grade by a third (for example, from a C+ to a B-).
Additional
resources for History 101:
If you have any questions about the course material or
requirements, I encourage you to make use of my office hours. If you have a conflict with those times, do
not hesitate to make an appointment. If
you miss class, you can retrieve the lecture outline and any other materials
distributed from my website. The History
Tutoring Center (RT 1913, ph. 687-3921) can assist you in developing skills
such as notetaking, critical reading, and developing
analytical thesis statements. If you
need to work on your writing skills, the
Plagiarism
and Academic Misconduct:
Using someone else’s ideas or phrasing and representing
those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness,
is a serious offense known as plagiarism. “Ideas or phrasing” includes
written or spoken material, of course — from whole papers and paragraphs to
sentences, and, indeed, phrases — but it also includes statistics, lab results,
art work, etc. “Someone else” can mean a professional source, such as a
published writer or critic in a book, magazine, encyclopedia, or journal; an
electronic resource such as material we discover on the World Wide Web; another
student at our school or anywhere else; a paper-writing “service” (online or
otherwise) which offers to sell written papers for a fee. (Source:
Plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct will not be tolerated in this class. Please see me if you have any questions.
Withdrawal
Dates:
Periodically students find that they cannot complete a
course due to problems that arise after the semester begins. Be aware of the deadlines for dropping the course. The last day to withdraw from the course with
no record on your transcript is January
30. The last day to withdraw with a “W”
on your transcript is April 2. After that date withdraws are granted only by
petition through the Arts and Sciences Advising Office. It is your responsibility to withdraw by
these deadlines if necessary. If a
problem emerges during the semester that may prevent you from completing the
class, see me as soon as possible so we can work out the best way to address
it.
Schedule and Reading
Assignments:
The assignments are divided up by secondary and primary sources. The readings in the right-hand column are the readings from the textbook, Western Civilization. They are assigned by week. The readings listed in the left-hand side, under the lecture titles, are from Reader for History 101 and are assigned by the day I expect the topic to be covered.
1-20.
Introduction, Ancient
Reader pp. 2 – 15
1-22.
Reader chapter 2
1-27.
Reader pp. 16 – 18; 32 – 40
1-29.
Classical
Reader pp. 40 – 51
2-3. Greek Philosophy
Reader pp. 51 – 61
2-5. The Hellenistic World
Reader pp. 61 – 65
**
Writing assignment one due
2-10: The
Reader chapter 4
2-12.
Reader pp. 82 – 99
2-17 Rise of Christianity
Reader pp. 105 – 116
2-19 Christianity and
Reader pp. 116 – 118
Week Six WC
ch. 4 p. 112 – end
2-24.
MIDTERM I
2-26.
Fall of
Reader pp. 118 – 127
3-2: Early Medieval Worlds
Reader pp. 130 – 146
3-4. Carolingian
Reader pp. 146 – 149
3-9: Transformation to the High Middle Ages
Reader pp. 148 – 162
3-12: New Monarchies
Reader pp. 166 – 170
** Writing assignment
two due
3-23. Rise of the Papacy
Reader pp. 163 – 166
3-25. Medieval Thought
Reader pp. 171 – 178
3-30. Heretics and Crusaders
Reader pp. 178 – 185
4-1.
Fourteenth-Century Crises
Reader pp.
188 – 193
Friday, April 2, is the last day to drop the
class with a “W” on your transcript.
4-6. Midterm II
4-8. The Renaissance I
Reader pp. 196 – 203; 210 – 215
4-13. Early Modern States pp. 199 - 207
Reader pp. 204 – 210 and ch. 11
** Writing assignment three due
4-15. Religious Crisis and Change
Reader pp. 218 - 223
4-20. The Reformation I
Reader pp. 223 - 232
4-22. Reformation II
Reader pp. 232 – 240
4-27. Reformation and Politics I
4-29: Reformation and Politics II
** Writing assignment four due
5-4: Scientific Revolution
Reader chapter 12.
5-6: Study Day: No Class