HIST 407/507, Winter 2017

RESEARCH SEMINAR: THE UNITED STATES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

CRN 22879 for HIST 407
CRN 26779 for HIST 507
Schedule and location, Friday, 1:00 – 3:50 in 375 McKenzie Hall

Professor Ellen Herman
office: 335 McKenzie Hall and 280G Knight Law Center
phone: 346-3118 and 346-3699
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Fridays, 11-1 in 335 McKenzie Hall

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

This seminar will be a place to think, talk, and write about a wide variety of topics in twentieth-century U.S. history. What interpretive trends characterize recent scholarship in fields as diverse as social history, political history, history of science, gender history, African-American history, and the history of the United States in the world? And that’s only a start!

The primary purpose of this course is to give each undergraduate student the experience of being a historian and doing the work of history. To achieve that goal, students will engage in substantial independent research projects, based in primary sources, resulting in papers of 20-25 pages. You should expect to begin that work right away, and are encouraged to speak to the instructor about your project ideas before the course begins. We will do a small amount of common reading at the very beginning of the term, but most of your time will be devoted to research and writing about the historical developments and questions that interest you most.

Students will devote a lot of time to defining, executing, and discussing their projects with other participants in the seminar. Written research proposals and other writing samples will be shared with everyone in order to generate constructive suggestions, questions, and ideas for revision and refinement. Research presentations will be made by every student during the final weeks of the term.

Graduate students enrolled in HIST 507 will also conduct research projects, with details to be worked out on a case by case basis.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS AND DUE DATES

Each undergraduate student in this course is expected to produce a 20-25-page (double-spaced) research paper, based on primary sources. Please plan to consult individually with the instructor during the first two weeks of the term. Each student in the course will also make a verbal research presentation during the final four weeks of the term.

  • A one-paragraph description of the research project will be due during week 2. You will also be assigned to do peer reviews of two other students’ research project descriptions within one week of the deadline.
  • A three-page research prospectus will be due during week 4. You will also be assigned to do peer reviews of two other students’ research prospectuses within one week of the deadline.
  • A draft of a first paragraph will be due during week 6. You will also be assigned to do peer reviews of two other students’ first paragraph drafts within one week of the deadline.
  • A draft of an outline will be due during week 7.
  • The final paper is due on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at noon.

Please submit all of these assignments through the Canvas assignments page.

READING REQUIREMENTS

Cobbs Hoffman, Elizabeth, Edward J. Blum, and Jon Gjerde, eds., Major Problems in American History: Documents and Essays, 3rd ed., vol. II, Since 1865 (Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010). This text explores many periods and topics in modern U.S. history by combining primary sources with two essays, written by historians, that advance contrasting perspectives.

Rampolla, Mary Lynn, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 7th ed. (Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2012).

recommended:
American Historical Association, American History Now. This series of essay-length publications is designed to explore and summarize historiographical developments in many major fields: environmental, political, cultural, African-American, and American Indian history as well as the history of religion, borderlands, immigration, and capitalism. The instructor will bring a number of these to class so students can borrow them.

THINKING REQUIREMENTS AND WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

History is a discipline that requires discipline, no less than music, neuroscience, or architecture. That means you should expect this course to require real time and effort. But history repays those who devote time and effort to it many times over. You can also expect the following tangible benefits, all applicable in a wide range of occupations and careers:

  • the habit of asking critical questions frequently
  • improved reading, writing, and analytical skills
  • the ability to recognize and evaluate primary and secondary sources, with special attention to interpreting multiple and conflicting sources of information
  • practice in thinking about how economic, political, cultural, and social forces interact over time

My hope is that you will also experience the pleasure of learning and the satisfaction of becoming an educated human being. History really can make us more interesting people and better, more insightful citizens of our communities and the world.

RULES

Academic Honesty
If this course is to be a worthwhile educational experience, your work must be original. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are very serious infractions and will not be permitted. Students who are uncertain about what plagiarism is, or who have questions about how to cite published, electronic, or other sources should feel free to consult with the instructor. You may also find my brief guide a helpful place to begin.

Lateness Policy
Late papers will not be accepted except in the case of a documented medical emergency.

Accommodations
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please arrange to see me soon and request that the Accessible Education Center send a letter verifying your disability.

GRADES

This is a research-oriented course, so your final grade will depend very heavily on the quality of the final paper you submit. But everything will be taken into account: your preparation for and participation in weekly discussions, the brief written assignments due throughout the term, the verbal presentation of your research projects, and peer reviews of one another’s research descriptions and writing samples.

COURSE CALENDAR

Week 1, January 13: Why study the twentieth century?

Reading: Major Problems in American History.
Choose two chapters in the book on periods and topics that interest you and come to class prepared to talk about them.

Please also come to class prepared to talk about your preliminary ideas for the research project you plan to do this term.

Reading, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, chapters 1 and 5.

Resource: The Stages of Writing Research Papers

Week 2, January 20: Library Research Tutorial and Special Collections Tour

We will meet this week in Knight Library to get an overview of bibliographic research tools from History Librarian David Woken and an orientation to Special Collections from Manuscripts Librarian Linda Long. Please go to the Edmiston Classroom, on the ground floor of Knight Library, at 1 pm.

Your one-paragraph research description is also due before class. Your description must include:

  • working title
  • general statement of the research problem
  • one or two historical questions you plan to explore
  • brief explanation of why your problem and questions are historically significant
  • bibliography: at least four preliminary sources (two primary, two secondary)

Please note that every chapter in Major Problems in American History concludes with “Further Reading.” This is a good place to start looking for sources, but you should also become familiar with whatever combination of primary and secondary sources makes sense for your particular research project. In addition to published articles and books about your subject written by historians, you may need to locate speeches, encyclopedias, microforms, audio and film/video recordings, book reviews, maps, photographs, letters, newspapers, magazines, survey reports, census statistics, and unpublished theses. Many of these are available in Knight Library or through interlibrary loan, which requires a little advance planning. In addition, electronic indexes are indispensable for conducting research. These will help you build a good bibliography of primary and secondary sources for your project.

These indexes include, but are not limited to:

Week 3, January 27: The Research Projects in Brief

Reading: Locate and read five primary sources related to your research on one or more of the library’s bibliographic databases. Read them, take notes on them, and think about how they relate to your project. Bring them to class and come prepared to talk about your selections.

Reading: A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, chapters 2-3 (you can stop on p. 44).

Week 4, February 3: Nuts and Bolts: Getting Acquainted with Sources

Three-page research prospectus due. Your prospectus must include:

  • working title
  • detailed statement of research problems and historical questions you plan to explore
  • explanation (at least two or three paragraphs) of why your problems and questions are historically significant
  • tentative outline: the major topics you plan to cover and the order in which you plan to cover them (in narrative form or bullet points)
  • bibliography: at least 15-20 sources, divided between primary and secondary

Please bring to class two secondary sources from your own research thus far as well as your notes on those sources.

Week 5, February 10: No Class

Week 6, February 17: Nuts and Bolts: What Historians Do with the Sources They Use; Bibliographies, Organization, Outlines, Writing, Revising, and Other Elements of Paper-Writing

Reading: A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, chapters 4-7.

We will continue the discussion of using and interpreting sources.

Please submit a draft of your first paragraph before class.

Week 7, February 24: Student Presentations

Please submit an outline of your paper before class.

Resource: Guidelines for Research Presentations

Sara Gaylon, “Little Rock High School 1950-1960: Implications of the Brown v Board of Education Decision”

Nicole Bales, “Gandhi’s Influence on Non-Violence in the U.S. and How It Has Evolved”

James Soriano, “Growth Economy”

Week 8, March 3: Student Presentations

Resource: Guidelines for Research Presentations

Ben Johnson, “God’s Chosen People: Jewish Identity in Inter-War America”

Erica Fox, “The Bulldagger and The Trickster: Cross-dressing, Jazz, and Identity Through the Lives of Billy Tipton and Gladys Bentley”

Tristen Bellows, “North Carolina Women, 1916-1919″

Week 9, March 10: Student Presentations

Resource: Guidelines for Research Presentations

Sara Jurasevich, “The Uninformed, Neglected, and Silenced: The Injustices of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study”

Katie Bernal, “Bootlegging in the U.S.”

Jackson Smith, “Shots Fired: The Legacy of WWII Combat Photographers”

Week 10, March 17: Student Presentations

Resource: Guidelines for Research Presentations

James Tedesco, “The Art of Selling History’s Greatest War”

Agina Hale, “The American Cowboy”

Jane Crabtree, “The Electrified Kitchen: The Making of the New American Housewife”