HST 3301.001
|
Michael Wilson
University of Texas at Dallas
JO 3.314
Fall 1999
(o): 972- 883-2080
Mon./Wed.. 12:30-1:45 p.m.
mwilson@utdallas.edu
Office hours: Mon./Wed. 11-11:30 a.m. & by appointment
http://www.utdallas.edu/~mwilson
HST 3301 is a core requirement for Historical Studies majors. It explores the nature of historical analysis as well as the skills students should use to approach historical problems critically.
Sessions will address the general nature of historical inquiry: its philosophical assumptions, the framing of problems or issues for analysis, the use and abuse of evidence, and the limits and value of historical knowledge.
At the same time, students will start to acquire the research and study techniques necessary for all work in the field: the critical reading of primary sources and secondary works; effective writing skills; the development of research strategies; and the use of reference works, bibliographic materials, and other library resources.
Finally the course will focus on different kinds of historical analysis--economic, social, political, cultural, gender, and intellectual--through a close examination of examples dealing with Victorian Britain.
REQUIRED TEXTS (available at the Campus Book Store and Off Campus
Books):
Anthony Brundage, Going to the Sources
N. Cantor & R. Schneider, How to Study History
Mary Dobson, Victorian Vapours
S. Harrison, ed., The Diary of Jack the Ripper
R. L. Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
D. Thomson, England in the Nineteenth Century
Texts marked * are available in a READER from Off-Campus Books.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS/EVALUATION CRITERIA:
Completion of required reading, attendance and participation in class discussion (20%);
short writing assignments and quizes (15%); 4 brief formal assignments (40%); and a 6-10
page research paper (25%).
NOTE: - More than three absences will lower your final grade.
- All assignments must be typed, double-spaced, and free of typographical and grammatical errors.
- Late assignments will NOT be accepted.
- Plagiarism will result in a final grade of F.
| 8/25 | INTRODUCTION PART ONE: THE BIG
QUESTIONS |
| 8/30 | Why study history? |
| 9/1 | Norman Cantor & Richard Schneider, How to Study History Chapters
1 & 2 Anthony Brundage, Going to the Sources Chapter 1 |
| 9/6 | HOLIDAY (No Class) |
| 9/8 | What do historians do? Cantor &
Schneider, Chapter 3 |
| 9/13 | How do we make sense of what they've done? Cantor & Schneider, Chapters 5 & 6 |
| 9/15 | LIBRARY SESSION: GENERAL ORIENTATION Brundage,
pp. 30-34 |
| 9/20 | Thomson, Chapters 5-8 due: Formal Assignment
#1: Outline |
| 9/22 | PART TWO: THE STRUGGLE WITH DOCUMENTS Cantor & Schneider, pp. 39-70 *Select Committee on Irremovable Poor, Testimony |
| 9/29 | Cantor & Schneider, pp. 70-91 *H. Cullwick,
"1871 Gloucester Crescent" |
| 10/4 | R. L. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde |
| 10/6 | Cantor & Schneider, Chapters 8 & 9 |
| 10/11 | Pall Mall Gazette accounts of Jack the Ripper [on Reserve] due: Formal Assignment #2: Summary |
| 10/13 | LIBRARY SESSION: ELECTRONIC RESEARCH TOOLS Brundage,
pp. 35-49 |
| 10/18 | start reading Diary of Jack the Ripper due:
Formal Assignment #3: Primary Source Analysis |
| 10/20 | read Diary of Jack the Ripper |
| 10/25 | S. Harrison, ed., The Diary of Jack the Ripper due: Formal Assignment #4: Book Review |
| 10/27 | PART THREE: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES Political History *Thomas Richards, "The Image of Victoria in the Year of
Jubilee" |
| 11/1 | Reading Day (No Class) |
| 11/3 | Thomson, Chapters 9-11 due: bibliographic
exercise |
| 11/8 | *D. Fischer, Historians' Fallacies pp. 3-39 Brundage, pp. 65-72 due: topic question exercise |
| 11/10 | Social History *Ginger Frost, "Bigamy
& Cohabitation in Victorian England" |
| 11/15 | *Colin Pooley & Jean Turnbull, "Changing Home & Workplace
in Victorian London" |
| 11/17 | Intellectual & Cultural History *Eileen
Sullivan, "Liberalism & Imperialism" |
| 11/22 | *Christopher Clausen, "Sherlock Holmes, Order, and the
Late-Victorian Mind" due: one-page paper proposal |
| 11/29 | History of Gender *R. Cooper, "Victorian Discourses on Women & Beauty" * P. J. Walker, "Men & Masculinity in the Salvation Army" |
| 12/1 | Brundage, pp. 72-82 due: detailed outline of
paper |
| 12/8 | FINAL 6-10 PAGE RESEARCH PAPER DUE DECEMBER 8th |