READING SECONDARY SOURCES, PART ONE:

ACTIVE READING

Reading secondary historical sources is a skill which may be acquired and must be practiced. Reading academic material well is an active process that can be far removed from the kind of pleasure reading most of us are used to. Sure, history may sometimes be dry, but you’ll find success reading even the most difficult material if you can master these skills. The key here is taking the time and energy to engage the material—to think through it and to connect it to other material you have covered.

FIVE STRATEGIES FOR READING HISTORY BOOKS:

1. Read the title. Define every word in the title; look up any unknown words. Think about what the title promises for the book. Look at the table of contents. This is your “menu” for the book. What can you tell about its contents and structure from the TOC?
2. Read the book from the outside in. Read the foreword and introduction (if an article, read the first paragraph or two). Read the conclusion or epilogue if there is one (if an article, read the last one or two paragraphs). After all this, ask yourself what the author’s thesis might be. How has the argument been structured?
3. Read chapters from the outside in. Quickly read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. After doing this and taking the step outlined above, you should have a good idea of the book’s major themes and arguments.
4. Read through the chapters actively, taking cues as to which paragraphs are most important from their topic sentences. (Good topic sentences tell you what the paragraph is about). Don’t read a history book as if you were reading a novel for light pleasure reading. Not every sentence and paragraph is as important as every other. It is up to you to judge, based on what you know so far about the book’s themes and arguments. If you can, highlight passages that seem to be especially relevant.
5. Take notes: Many students attempt to take comprehensive notes on the content of a book or article. Instead, though, try to record your thoughts about the reading rather than simply the details and contents of the reader. What surprised you? What seemed particularly insightful? What seems suspect? What reinforces or counters points made in other readings? This kind of note taking will keep your reading active, and will help you better remember the contents of the piece.

WORKING WITH PRIMARY SOURCES, PART ONE:

IDENTIFICATION

1.  What is the nature of the source?

You’ll want to know what kind of source it is — a newspaper, an oral history account, a diary entry, a government document, etc. — because different kinds of sources must be considered differently. For example, you might think about a description of a Civil War camp differently than you would think about a photograph of one, or you might have different questions about census data regarding poverty in the 1930s than you would about oral history interviews with people who were poor during the Depression.

2.  Who created this source, and what do I know about him/her/them?

Knowing something about who created the source you’re using can help you determine what biases they might have had, what their relationship to the things they described in the source might have been, and whether or not this source should be considered credible. Keep in mind that someone doesn’t have to be famous or need to have played a dramatic role in history to be a credible source — in terms of understanding the experience of World War I, for example, the writings of a regular soldier in the trenches may be as valuable or even much more so than the recollections of President Wilson or a general.  You might wonder different things about the account depending on who wrote it, so knowing the author would definitely help you start to ask the right questions.

3.  When was the source produced?

Knowing when the source was produced can help you start to put it into historical perspective. A discussion of women’s rights in America, for example, would obviously be very different in the 1820s (one hundred years before women could vote), the 1920s (when women first got the vote), the 1970s (when the feminist movement was thriving and the Equal Rights Amendment was debated), and 2013. If you don’t know when a source was written, you can’t start to put it into its historical context and understand how it connects to historical events.

4.  Where was the source produced?

Just as it is important to situate the source in time, it’s also important to identify the place where the source was produced. If you found an editorial in a newspaper discussing the Montgomery Bus Boycott, for example, you would want to know where the newspaper was published — a newspaper from Montgomery might be considered very differently from one published in Boston, Massachusetts, Mobile, Alabama, or Washington, D.C.

Here’s a cool video about the state of education in the 21st century:

HIS 1000:  Modern American History

“American Society and the Individual”

Fall 2013

TTH 11:10am-12:25pm VC 5165

Instructor:  Dr. David Parsons

e-mail: [email protected]

Office Hours: Thursday 10:00am-11:00am (VC 5-250 C)

* * * 

            Welcome to History 1000!  In this course, we’ll be examining a series of key eras in American history since the 1860s, focusing on the theme of “American Society and the Individual.”  In each of our four units, we will investigate the particular role of the individual within the larger narrative of American history. Each unit will begin with a screening of a major, well-received Hollywood film that takes place in the era to be studied. Treating the film like any other academic text, we will explore cinema’s particular way of portraying history. We’ll continue by reading primary sources from the era, drawing greater distinctions and connections between Hollywood fiction and the lived realities of actual historical figures. Finally, we’ll read a chapter from a popular classic of American history, noticing how arguments about history are constructed and furthering our understanding of the period. By studying history from these many different angles, we will develop the following skills:

            • Knowledge: This course aims to broaden and deepen your knowledge of some of the most important events, people, developments, and issues in U.S. history over the past 150 years.

            • Critical Thinking: This course will help you sharpen fundamental skills of critical and historical thinking, such as reading for the main point, asking good questions, drawing connections, assessing the reliability of sources, constructing sound arguments, assessing change over time, and determining the limits of what can be known. In addition to learning how to “think like a historian,” you’ll also learn why it makes sense to want to do so.

            • A Point of View on American History: As we debate what “story” best makes sense of the history of the United States, you will develop your own perspective on the nation’s past and learn to recognize, critique, and understand other perspectives.

            • Communication Skills: This course will help you improve your ability to write persuasively in a variety of formats.

Grading Scheme 

Online Contributions :  25%

Midterm Essay:  20%

Final Essay:  30%

Attendance:  25%      

Course Blog:

            An important component of the course will be your contributions to our collective online space, which can be found at:

blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1000fall2013

Detailed instructions on how (and when) to contribute will be shared in class.  Since this is a “jumbo” course, the course blog is meant to provide a place for you to participate in the larger class discussion, to try out ideas in a low pressure environment, and to collaborate with your classmates in thinking about the course material.

Attendance and Participation: 

            In order to succeed in the course, you will need to show up, on time, to each scheduled class meeting, with the day’s required text.  Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class; lateness and absences will adversely influence your grade.  Any more than four absences throughout the semester (whether excused or unexcused) may result in a failing grade.

We will try to maintain a friendly, mindful, and all in all collegiate atmosphere in our time together. While in class, you will be expected to demonstrate respect for the learning environment.  This means refraining from playing with your phone or other device, coming in late/leaving early/getting up to leave in the middle of class, or otherwise behaving in a distracting way.  Although I will rarely publicly call you out for these kinds of things, I do notice them.  If you are the type of student that engages in these types of behaviors, you can expect a negative impact on your overall grade.

            Required Books: 

            • David E. Shi (Editor), Holly A. Mayer (Editor), For the Record: A Documentary History of America:  From           Reconstruction Through Contemporary Times (Vol. 2, Fifth Edition, W.W. Norton, 2012)

            • Howard Zinn,  A People’s History of the United States (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005)

Academic Integrity:

Plagiarism and cheating are inimical to maintaining the bonds of trust necessary for academic freedom to flourish. Academic sanctions in this class can range from an F on the assignment to an F in this course.  Additional information and definitions can be found at:

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html           

COURSE SCHEDULE 

Unit One:  Slavery and Reconstruction

Th 8/29

Course Introduction

T 9/3

Film:  Django Unchained (Director:  Quentin Tarantino, 2012)

Th 9/5

NO CLASS

T 9/10

Film:  Django Unchained

Th 9/12

**Django online work due**

Primary Source Reading: For the Record

            Chapter 17:  Reconstruction, North and South                      

T 9/17

Primary Source Reading: For the Record, Ch. 17         

Th 9/19

**Primary Source online work due**

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History of the United States

Chapter 9:  Slavery without Submission, Emancipation without Freedom

T 9/24

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History, Ch. 9

Unit Two:  Industrialization and Labor

Th 9/26

**Secondary Source online work due**

Film: There Will Be Blood (Director:  Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

 T 10/1

Film:  There Will Be Blood

Th 10/3

** There Will Be Blood online work due**

Primary Source Reading:  For the Record

            Chapter 21: Gilded Age Politics and Agrarian Revolt

T 10/8

Primary Source Reading:  For the Record, Ch. 21

Th 10/10

**Primary Source online work due**

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History of the United States

Chapter 11:  Robber Barons and Rebels

T 10/15

NO CLASS

Th 10/17

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History, Ch. 11

T 10/22

MIDTERM ESSAY, UNITS ONE AND TWO

Unit Three:  America in the 1950s 

Th 10/24

**Secondary Source online work due**

Film:  Far from Heaven (Director:  Todd Haynes, 2002)

T 10/29

Film:  Far from Heaven

Th 10/31

**Far from Heaven online work due**

Primary Source Reading:  For the Record

            Chapter 30:  The 1950s:  Affluence and Anxiety in the Atomic Age

T 11/5

Primary Source Reading:  For the Record, Ch. 30

Th 11/7

**Primary Source online work due**

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History of the United States

Chapter 17:  “Or Does it Explode?”

T 11/12

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History, Ch. 17

Unit Four:  America in the 1970s

 Th 11/14

**Secondary Source online work due**

Film:  Taxi Driver (Director:  Martin Scorsese, 1976)

 T 11/19

Film:  Taxi Driver

Th 11/21

**Taxi Driver online work due**

Primary Source Reading:  For the Record

            Chapter 32:  Rebellion and Reaction:  The 1960s and 1970s

T 11/26

Primary Source Reading:  For the Record, Ch. 32

 Th 11/28

NO CLASS

T 12/3

**Primary Source online work due**

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History of the United States

Chapter 20:  The Seventies:  Under Control?

 Th 12/5

Secondary Source Reading:  A People’s History, Ch. 20

T 12/10

Course Review

Th 12/12

Course Review

FINAL EXAM DATE TBA