HIST 3113 Historical Research
Spring 2005
CRN numbers for the sections: 26171, 26172, 26129,26133
Professors Kenny Brown, Patricia Loughlin, and T.H. Baughman
Course Objectives: The faculty of the Department of History and Geography recognize that the most glaring weakness of the students who enter our program is the inability to write. The purpose of HIST 3113 is to train you to write at a professional level. In addition, the faculty recognize and support the need for the skills of undergraduate research that this course will help you to develop. The goal of the history faculty is that our students will write as well or better than any other group of graduates from UCO or from any college in the region. The faculty in HIST 3113 and in other history courses will provide you with ample opportunities to learn to write succinctly and accurately because we believe that skill is the key to success in most endeavors after college.
The object of this course is for the student to produce a fifteen-page paper, as nearly perfect as possible, based almost exclusively on primary sources, exploiting all readily available materials. All class readings, discussions, and other assignments are designed to help you complete this project and to learn other skills you will need.
Note: Attendance on opening day is extremely strongly recommended. Our experience indicates that students who do not attend opening day have a significantly greater chance of failing the course and that they hold back the rest of the students in the critical opening weeks of the semester. We do not have time in the critical early weeks of the semester to repeat what we have covered in previous meetings.
Required Texts:
Brown, Kenny L., Patricia Loughlin, and T. H. Baughman. Enchiridion third edition.
Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York: Macmillan,
2000.
Strongly recommended text:
Encyclopedia Britannica on CD
Recommended texts:
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 4th ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2004.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th
ed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Attendance: Attendance is expected. When you miss any day in this course, you will miss vitally important material, and your grade will suffer as a result. Each absence or tardy arrival must be explained via an e-mail to your instructor. Failure to explain any absence or tardiness may result in receiving no higher than a C in the course. Make every effort to attend every class and notify the instructor in advance when you are unable to attend owing to circumstances. Also, three tardy arrivals to class may result in your evaluation for the course being lower by one letter grade.
Assignments: Purchase a one and a half inch three-ring D binder. In this binder you will keep all drafts of your paper. Each time you submit a new draft to your instructor, you will turn in all drafts together. Other projects and assignments you will complete are located in the Enchiridion.
Beginning in February, you will meet in conference with the editorial board to discuss your research progress. As you continue to work on your research paper, class time will be devoted to particular research and writing problems.
Students who repeat this course and who dropped after the first day of editorial board reviews cannot use their previous topic and must choose a new one.
Grade determination:
80% = Research Paper (A grading rubric or guideline is provided in the Enchiridion.)
10% = Research Log, Prospectus, Preliminary Bibliographies, Outlines, Class participation, Quizzes, Note cards, and other miscellaneous assignments from the Enchiridion.
10% = critique and/or presentation (A grading rubric or guideline is provided in the Enchridion).
In addition, you must make an acceptable grade on the historiography quiz three times to be eligible to receive an A in the course, twice to make a B, and at least once for a C. Seventy-five percent is an acceptable grade for this exercise.
Note: This course is team-taught. Dr. Brown is the lead instructor in the afternoon class and Dr. Baughman is the lead instructor in the evening section. Papers in the classes will be graded by the non-lead instructor for that section.
Any written communication with any of the three instructors in this course that does not include a complete date (month, date, year) will result in a 1% reduction in the final grade for the semester.
After the final draft of your paper has been turned in, you may be called by the grader for additional information. You have seventy-two hours from the time of the instructor’s notification to you to produce such information. Failure to do so in the allotted time may result in an F for the paper.
Grading Scale: 90-100, A; 80-89, B; 70-79, C; 60-69, D; below 60, F.
Plagiarism Statement: The history department defines plagiarism as cheating, including:
1. The use of ideas and whole words of others without giving credit.
2. Improper citation.
3. The submission of the same paper for more than one course.
For the purposes of this section of HIST 3113 the following codicil applies:
1. You may have someone read the draft of your paper before you submit it. During this reading, the reader may circle incorrectly spelled words or typos and point out possible grammatical errors.
2. Your reader may mark in the margin awkward passages that you need to consider rewriting.
3. Your reader may mark a word that appears to be incorrect or inappropriate and may suggest an alternate word, which you may or may not choose to adopt.
4. Your reader must be careful to avoid rewriting whole sentences or paragraphs. In discussing a problem passage, phrasing maybe developed that improves the paper. Should that occur, a citation giving credit to the reader must be given. Clearly, you would not want to have such notations occur repeatedly throughout the paper.
5. Even if no citation is necessitated by an individual passage, the appropriate response would be to note the author’s thanks to the reader in a footnote.
6. Your reader may examine what you think is the final draft to be certain that no typos or computer errors appear in the final draft.
7. A faculty member at this or another institution is NOT an appropriate reader for your paper in this class.
8. No class member should be asked to read more than two drafts of classmates’ papers
in a seven-day period.
Note well: The faculty reserve the right to dismiss with an F for the course, any student who turns in any draft wherein blatant and extensive plagiarism occurs from Internet or other sources. Violation of plagiarism rules in this department makes the student liable to the penalty for academic dishonesty, which includes as its possible punishment an F in the course and a recommendation for dismissal from the university by the academic dean. In drafts of the paper prior to the final draft, inadvertent omissions that are minor in substance may be noted but will not result in failure in the course. Even casual omissions on the final draft may be subject to the penalties for plagiarism.
Other issues:
Policy indicates that a student is expected to spend three hours of preparation out of class for every hour in class. Your commitment to this class should be twelve hours a week, three hours in class and nine hours of work each week outside of class. However, if your background preparation in the areas of research and writing are weak, you may find that you need to devote a great deal more time to this paper. If you cannot do so, you cannot expect to be as successful in your academic program, as you would be if you conformed to accepted standards of performance.
The University of Central Oklahoma has civility as one of its stated goals. Thus, on those very rare occasions when you have to arrive late, take a seat nearest the door so as to provide the least interruption. Should you have to leave early, inform the instructor before class begins. Cell phone usage is, of course, not allowed in class. If you know you have an ongoing emergency, notify the instructor before class begins. Sit near the door. Then put your phone on silent and if your emergency call arrives, quietly leave the room to take your call. The policy of College of Liberal Arts allows a faculty member to dismiss from class that day, a student whose phone rings during the class.
University closings due to emergencies or severe weather are announced through local media and information is available by calling 974-2002. If the university is closed during the scheduled time of the final exam, your grade will be figured on the basis of work performed to the last day of class.
Note: Other issues related to course procedures are covered in the attached page from Academic Affairs.
All students must provide the instructor with a viable and active e-mail address. If you do not have one, you can acquire an e-mail account at no additional charge from the university. You are expected to check your e-mail every seventy-two hours as important information may come to you via e-mail. This admonition is especially important for the class that meets one day a week.
The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus during the semester, if necessary.
Faculty Contact Information:
Dr. Kenny L. Brown
kebrown@uco.edu
(405) 974-5356
Office: LA 202D
Office Hours: 9:00 to 10:00 daily
Dr. T.H. Baughman
tbaughman@uco.edu (imperative that you put in subject line: HIST 3113)
(405) 974-2838
Office: Thatcher 220
Office Hours:
M: 14:00 to 16:00 (by appointment)
T & R: 13:00 to 13:45; 15:45-14:30
W: 08:30 to 09:30
Class Calendar (Deadlines are indicated in bold print below):
note: The evening class will cover the activities listed for the entire week.
January
11 Introduction to the course attendance mandatory
13 Topic selection
18 Research methodology, note taking, Red Book
20 Topic selection
Topic and preliminary bibliography due 25 January 2005 at 14:00 in afternoon class and at 19:30 for the evening class—2% off your final grade for the semester for turning in this assignment late.
25 Topic checking
27 Library usage
February
1 Research methodology, Enchiridion style sheet guidelines.
3 Annotations, research, preparation for editorial board, editing exercise
8 Presentation to editorial board–outline, tentative thesis statement, bibliography
10 Presentation to editorial board–outline, tentative thesis statement, bibliography
15 Presentation to editorial board–outline, tentative thesis statement, bibliography
17 Presentation to editorial board–outline, tentative thesis statement, bibliography
22 Presentation to editorial board or in class editing exercises
24 Research and writing paper
March
1 Research and writing paper
3 Research and writing paper
Draft of paper due 4 March 2005 at 17:00. Penalty for late submissions: 5% of your final grade for the semester
8 Re-writing and editing paper
10 Re-writing and editing paper
15 Spring Break
17 Spring Break
22 Re-writing and editing paper
24 Re-writing and editing paper
29 Re-writing and editing paper
31 Re-writing and editing paper
April
5 Re-writing and editing paper; historiography introduction
7 Re-writing and editing paper
Papers due 8 April 2005 by 17:00. No late papers accepted. A “failing” grade awarded if not paper is not submitted on time.
12 Historiography
14 Revising for publication
19 Critiques
21 Critiques
26 Critiques
28 Paper critiques. Graded term papers returned