Category Archives: (admin only) Assignments

General Instructions:
Your final exam consists of a 5-page paper and a blog post.  Please send your final paper to me at [email protected] as an email attachment.  In order to receive credit, you must send your paper by email and make the blog post on or before July 7, 2010 (before midnight).  You are most welcome to submit either part of the assignment early.  I will send a confirmation email when I receive your paper.  If you don’t receive a confirmation email from me within 24 hours of sending your paper, please follow up with me.

Instructions for Paper:
Imagine you are writing a screenplay (script) for a movie portraying turning points in American history between 1865 and 1945.  Write a (roughly) 5-page paper pitching the movie to a studio.  I recommend formatting this as a letter or memo with the movie studio as your main audience.  You have the freedom to choose particular themes and events during this period that you argue are most important.

Your screenplay proposal should include (but is not limited to) the following:
1) A plot summary, including a description of the events you plan to portray in the movie.  You may wish to give a particularly detailed description of one or more scenes if they are critical to the plot development.
2) At least one mention of the main points about history that you wish to communicate to your audience.
3) Names, locations, and relevant dates of people, places, and events that are important to the development of the movie.
4) The locations that will be featured and the type of sets you will use to create the settings for major scenes.
5) A description of actors you will choose to portray the main players (either specific names of current day actors or descriptions of what you would include in a casting call)
6) A description of the primary source evidence you will use to ensure historical accuracy in your movie (this may either be a general description of the sources, or references to particular sources, such as those from Foner’s Voices of Freedom).
7) A description of the music, sound, or video special effects you plan to feature in the film.

Your operating budget for the movie is $100 million dollars, so you have a large amount of room to pay for travel, set-design, acting, music rights, etc.

A strong paper will be well organized, well written, and most importantly demonstrate the ability to argue for the importance of particular historical turning points between 1865 and 1945.  It should demonstrate an understand of important themes in American history during the period.  While I encourage you to write a creative, clearly-argued proposal, it is the quality of your historical argument that I will factor most while grading.

Instructions for Blog Post:
Write a post that includes at least one image or video/song that you envision appearing in the movie you have imagined in the screenplay proposal.  Include a few sentences explaining what part of your movie this music or image would occupy and the message you wish to communicate to the audience.

In preparation for the midterm exam, scheduled for in class tomorrow (June 22), I have finalized the midterm study guide.  The biggest change I have made is decreasing the number of items in part I.  I will print some copies of this and bring them to class today for those who prefer a paper version.

Section I – Identifications

This section consists of one paragraph identifications.  I will list 12 people, places, and events that we have studied so far.  From these, you will get to choose 6, and write one paragraph (at least 3 sentences) describing the historical importance of each.

Here is a larger list from which I will draw the 12:

1)    “Axis of Evil”
2)    Bush Doctrine
3)    Fall of the Berlin Wall
4)    Bill Clinton
5)     Watergate
6)    Iran-Contra Affair
7)    Enron
8)    Identity politics
9)    Stagflation
10)    Greensboro Sit-In
11)    Freedom Rides
12)    Woodstock
13)    Baby boom
14)    Marshall Plan
15)    McCarthyism
16)    Cuban Missile Crisis
17)    Rosa Parks
18)    Cesar Chavez

Part II – Short Essays
In this section you will have 6 questions, from which you need to choose 3 to answer.  Your answers should be at least 5 sentences long.  Here are sample questions that are representative of the questions I will ask:
1)    What will President Richard Nixon be best remembered for?  Why?
2)    What was the importance of music to protest of the 1950s and 1960s?
3)    Interpret the following image.  What does it tell you about history?  What information do you know about the time the image was taken that helps you bring greater meaning to it?

[I will use a new image if I use this question on the exam, but it will be an image you have seen in class]

4)    Read the following excerpt from a primary document [taken from Voices of Liberty].  What information about historical change can you gather from the document?
5)    What different forms did protest take during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s?
6)    Describe economic changes during and following World War II that caused the “Age of Affluence.”  How did they influence American culture of the era?
7)    How did technological change alter Americans’ lives between the 1950s and 2000s.
8)    How did the development of the atomic bomb change foreign policy during the Cold War?

Part III – Argumentative Essay
In this section you will have two essay questions from which you should choose one.  They will ask you to make a claim about the importance of a certain type of historical change.  A strong essay will clearly state the change at the very beginning, explain why the change affected what came after, and then list substantial evidence that the change had a large impact.  Your answer should be at least 4 paragraphs long.  It is recommended that you begin with an introductory paragraph, include at least two paragraphs presenting evidence, and finish with a concluding paragraph.   Sample questions:
1)    Which type of history is most helpful in explaining societal changes between 1950 and 2010: political, cultural, social, technological, or economic history?
2)    During which decade that we have studied so far did the greatest amount of change occur?
3)    What types of leadership have been most important in American history between World War II and the present day?

From the midterm study guide, pick an item from section I (e.g. “Watergate”) that has not yet been written about yet for this assignment (that is, there should be no repeats).  Write 2-3 sentences summarizing the importance of that person, place, or event to U.S history.  I encourage you to link to a picture or video, as this will help your classmates remember the person, place, or event.  Please select “June 21 assignment” as a category along with any others that you determine to be appropriate.

The midterm will be given in class on June 22.  On June 21, I will set aside some time to answer questions about the exam and review as needed.   In addition to studying the major historical changes discussed in your textbook (particularly those highlighted in class), I recommend reviewing events discussed on the blog.

Section I – Identifications
This section consists of one paragraph identifications.  I will list about 12 people, places, and events that we have studied so far.  From these, you will get to choose 6, and write one paragraph (at least 3 sentences) describing the historical importance of each.

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Starting with this post, you should receive an email notification anytime I make a post in the “(admin only) Assignments” category.  Please do not use this category when labeling your own posts.  This way you will be notified anytime a new assignment is posted.  I may also occasionally use this category to make an announcement related to assignments or exams  (such as this one).  If at any time you wish to be removed from the email notification list, or if you are not receiving the emails, please let me know.

Also, as you may have noticed, there is now a “Lecture Slides” tab on the blog, and it is password protected.  I have posted all lectures through this past week.  I will be following up with a separate email from the system giving you the password.  If you don’t receive this email, please email me and I’ll send it to you individually.

For Wednesday, everyone is required to do the following:
1) Return to the post you made this week and choose a category and at least three tags (similar to last weeks assignment)
2) Add a comment to at least three posts besides your own.  In each case, complement the author for what you like about their argument, but also challenge their argument by posing a question or stating an alternative interpretation of history.  As you see questions raised about your post, I encourage you to comment back to start discussions.