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 (*starred items will be distributed in class):

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

• Robert Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose," from The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (New York: Vintage Press, 1984).*

• 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, “The Death of Wolfe,” from Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations (Vintage, 1992 – ISBN: 0679736131)*

• Philip Dray, “'A Negro's Life is a Very Cheap Thing in Georgia,'” from At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America (Modern Library Edition, 2003 -- ISBN: 0375754458)*

• Peter Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson (Plume Books, 1986 – 0452279496)

Additional Materials:

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

• Course Blackboard Site, available via the CSI Library: www.library.csi.cuny.edu/

Course Schedule:

Tuesday 30 August	Introduction to Course – What Does it Mean to be a Historian?
	Readings: Please order your books.

Tuesday 6 September	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)

Tuesday 13 September	History as the Search for Meaning
	Readings: Robert Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales"; Discussion Questions at www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/darnton.html.

Tuesday 20 September	Macrohistory
	Readings: Mark Kurlansky, Salt

Tuesday 27 September	Microhistory
	Readings: Simon Schama, “The Death of Woolf”; View Murder at Harvard in class.

Tuesday 4 October

No Classes.

Tuesday 11 October

Classes follow Monday Schedule; Class will not meet.

Tuesday 18 October	Historians as Researchers
	Readings: Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire

Tuesday 25 October	Historians as Writers
	Readings: Philip Dray, “'A Negro's Life is a Very Cheap Thing in Georgia'”

Tuesday 1 November	Historians as Biographers
	Readings: Peter Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson

Tuesday 8 November	Setting Out into the Wilderness

Tuesday 15 November	Individual Research Meetings

Tuesday 22 November	Individual Research Meetings

Tuesday 29 November	Individual Research Meetings

Tuesday 6 December	Individual Research Meetings

Tuesday 13 December	Last Class Meeting – The Research and Writing Process

Tuesday 20 December	Final Papers Due