Course Description
This course will focus on an examination of problems in historical analysis and interpretation. Emphasis is placed on historical reasoning, research, and writing history. Consideration of methodological approaches and historical materials is also included.
Recommended Prerequisite
- 3 credit History course
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Identify, comprehend and summarize an author’s thesis drawn from a written historical source.
- Analyze the nature of evidence, so as to distinguish between a fact and a personal opinion and between significant fact and detail.
- Analyze the validity and the limits of evidence to prove a thesis.
- Identify the viewpoint, bias or subjective position of an author or speaker by examination of language and construction of argument.
- Write a short coherent essay that poses a thesis and supports it with historical evidence.
- Construct a chronological framework for historical reporting and writing papers.
- Write an historical narrative and/or a critical historical essay based on information gathered from primary and/or secondary materials.
- Edit and revise an historical research paper or written narrative.
- Quote, summarize, paraphrase and cite historical sources in writing papers and other assignments in history.
General Education Outcomes (GEOs)
Please check the applicable GEOs for this course, if any, by outcomes at GEO Category Search, or by subject area at GEO Discipline Search.
Course Activities and Grading
Assignments | Weight |
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Discussions (Weeks 1-8) | 20% |
Inference Exercise (Week 2) | 5% |
Scholarly Book Review (Week 3) | 5% |
Analysis of Scholarly Article (Week 4) | 10% |
Narrative: Goldilocks Caper (Week 5) | 10% |
Reconstruction Chronology (Week 6) | 20% |
Reconstruction Draft Narrative (Week 7) | 20% |
Reconstruction Final Narrative (Week 8) | 10% |
Total | 100% |
Required Textbooks
Available through Charter Oak's online bookstore
- Fitzgerald, Michael W. Splendid Failure: Postwar Reconstruction in the American South. Ivan R. Dee Publishing, 2008. ISBN-10: 1566637392 or ISBN-13: 9781566637398
Course Schedule
Week | SLOs | Readings and Exercises | Assignments |
1 | 1,2 | Topics: The Nature of the Historical Process
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2 | 1,2,3 | Topics: The Thesis - The Historical Argument
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3 | 3,4 | Topics: Historical Evidence / Subjectivity or Bias / Historical Context
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4 | 1,4,5 | Topics: Historical Scholarship – The Essay; Ethics in Historical Scholarship; Introduction to Historiography
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5 | 1,4,5 | Topic: Interpreting Documents
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6 | 1,5,6 | Topic:Writing Historical Narrative I - Chronology
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7 | 1,6 | Topic: Writing Historical Narrative II – The Draft
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8 | 1,5,6,7 | Topic: Writing Historical Narrative III – The Technical Apparatus in Writing History
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COSC Accessibility Statement
Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.
COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources
Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.