Seminar in Advanced Historical Study

This seminar is an advanced course in the reading of influential approaches to history, and research on an individual student project. Students will gain familiarity with important trends in historiography, examine historical method, and undertake work on an historical project of their own choosing, in consultation with the professor. This particular section of History 401 will take advantage of the College of Staten Island's Archives and Special Collections, especially the Theodora DuBois Collection. The course also aims to familiarize the student with the construction of historical arguments (thesis, methodology, historiography, evidence, sources, research, and narrative), as well as identifying areas for further research.

Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend class meetings and take part in discussions; as this course is a seminar, participation in discussions will be particularly significant. Written work will require students to synthesize lecture and discussion materials as well as readings. Students must also read and assimilate required readings, and be prepared to discuss readings on the schedule given below. Students will submit all assignments on time; late papers will not be accepted without prior arrangement with the professor. As per CSI-CUNY regulations, no student with more than two unexcused absences will receive credit for the course.

A Note About Academic Integrity: Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by acts such as borrowing or purchasing term papers, essays, reports, and other written assignments; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying others' work and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in failure in the course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal from the College. For information about City University of New York policies on academic dishonesty, refer to the CUNY website at www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/2004/policies/image/policy.pdf

Assignments:

• Attendance and Participation in Discussions

• Assignments and Exercises (ongoing) (30% of course grade)

• Class Attendance/Participation (20% of course grade)

• Presentation of Research (20% of course grade)

• Final Research Essay (30% of course grade)

Required Texts:

• Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (University of Chicago Press, 6th Revised edition, 1996 -- ISBN: 0226816273)

• Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History (Penguin Books, 2003 -- ISBN: 0142001619)

• Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire (University of Chicago Press, 1993 -- ISBN: 0226500624)

• Simon Schama, Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations (Vintage, 1992 – ISBN: 0679736131)

• Philip Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America (Modern Library Edition, 2003 -- ISBN: 0375754458)

• Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 -- ISBN: 0393317080)

Additional Materials:

• Course Website: www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/401.html

• Finding Guide to the Theodora DuBois Papers, 1674-2000 (www.library.csi.cuny.edu/archives/FindingAids/fa0010.htm)

Course Schedule:

Monday 31 January	Introduction to Course – What Does it Mean to be a Historian?
	Readings: Please order your books.

Monday 7 February	Special Session with Professor James Kaser at the Archives & Special Collections (6:30-7:30), and Library Session with Professor Edward Owusu-Ansa in 1L-214 (7:30-9:50).
	Readings: Archives & Special Collections Site – www.library.csi.cuny.edu/archives/, especially the Finding Guide to the Theodora DuBois Papers, 1674-2000 (www.library.csi.cuny.edu/archives/FindingAids/fa0010.htm)

Monday 14 February	History as Synechdoche
	Readings: Mark Kurlansky, Salt.

Monday 21 February

No Class Meeting -- College Closed.

Monday 28 February	Finding the Evidence
	Readings: Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire

Monday 7 March	Weighing the Evidence
	Readings: Simon Schama, Dead Certainties.

Monday 14 March	Telling the Story
	Readings: Philip Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown

Monday 21 March	Historians as Writers
	Readings: Bringing It All Together: The Great History Search, Library

Monday 28 March

No Class Meeting -- College Closed.

Wednesday 30 March	Classes follow a Monday schedule -- Historians as Biographers
	Readings: Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth

Monday 4 April	Theodora Dubois and Staten Island History

Monday 11 April	Individual Research Meetings

Monday 18 April	Individual Research Meetings

April 23-30

Spring Break; No Class Meeting

Monday 2 May Individual Research Meetings

Tuesday 6 December	Individual Research Meetings

Monday 9 May	Presentations of Research

Monday 16 May	Presentations of Research

Monday 23 May	Final Papers Due