History of Print and Blogging in the Arab World May 7, 2009
Posted by jdresner in current events, doing history, hist 102 (Spring 2009), historiography.add a comment
I will be taking a moment in class Friday to reflect on this article by Brian Ulrich, describing the history of print and other media up to the present in the Ottoman Empire and its offshoots.
Industrial Revolution History April 16, 2009
Posted by jdresner in doing history, historiography, not homework.add a comment
I know we’re done with it, technically, but if you want a quick review of the technology, there’s a nice book review in the Wall Street Journal of a history of industrial revolution innovation. It’s a good model, actually, of how a book review is done: informative, critical, and ends up giving you a great sense of whether the book would be worth your time.
A snapshot of WWI April 14, 2009
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Military historian David Sibley provides a brief look at some of the tactics and effects of WWI military innovation.
Ibsen thoughts and samples April 1, 2009
Posted by jdresner in doing history, hist 102 (Spring 2009), homework.add a comment
I have a few thoughts about the Ibsen papers that might be useful as you move on to the next documents assignments, and two excellent papers from this batch as examples if you’re still struggling.
- The historical use section continues to be challenging. Many of you are discussing the importance of the document there; that’s good material, but mostly belongs in the Response section. The key thing to ask in the last section is “why would this document be important to an historian today? What do we learn about history reading it, and what else might we want to research?”
- The authorship question also presents a challenge: what’s relevant? Generally, I suggest that you go back to the authorship section (I know most of you write it first) at the end, and take out anything which doesn’t contribute to the rest of the assignment.
- While I don’t insist on highly formal writing, I don’t understand why you’d refer to an historical personage, like the author, by a personal name, as though they were a close friend. It’s not something that affects your grade, just an oddly common writing quirk I’ve seen.
- Overall, people who did the assignment did better than in the past. What I don’t understand is the fairly high number of you who are coming to class, taking the tests, but NOT handing in some or all of the document assignments, which are 30% of the course grade. Granted, I drop the lowest grade, but that’s only one out of the eight. You’re supposed to do at least seven and a missing assignment hurts your grade more than an F does.
Below the jump are two samples: both are excellent, though they are actually rather different. Both are detailed, careful, and make good use of the historical context in both the context and response sections. The Historical Use sections are thoughtful and even creative, and generally focused on the right questions.
Two procedural notes and a small test change March 9, 2009
Posted by jdresner in administrative, doing history, grading, homework, study terms.add a comment
- If you email an assignment to me, I will email you back with an acknowledgement (or a question, if the file is missing or I have difficulty with opening it). If you don’t get an email confirmation from me, then I haven’t gotten it.
- I take class time to hand back assignments when I have finished grading them. If you are not in class when I hand them back, you need to come to me to get it; I don’t spend extra class time later trying to track down people to give them assignments. (Or you can wait until the next assignment is graded, since I do run through everything in my folder.)
On the next test, I’m going to keep the structure of the last one — Twelve terms: two from each chapter, plus four from any remaining terms — with a slight modification. Because we spent more time on the Enlightenment/revolution chapter, I’m going to require three from that one. You still have three “free choice” terms, though.
New Book on Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary France March 7, 2009
Posted by jdresner in doing history, hist 102 (Spring 2009), historiography, not homework.add a comment
Just in time for something to think about while you’re writing about the Revolution and studying for your test: a review of a new book on a woman who saw the Revolution and Napoleonic age from awfully close-up. The biography includes her connections to the English Enlightenment, American Founding Fathers, the political turmoil of the Revolution, Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic years. Fascinating stuff.
Extra Credit Op.: PSU Jazz March 3, 2009
Posted by jdresner in Uncategorized, doing history, historiography, religion, study terms.add a comment
The 35th Annual PSU Jazz Festival happens Friday March 6th at 7:30 PM in Memorial Auditorium, 503 N. Pine. Besides hearing the PSU Jazz 1 and our own Todd Hastings (trumpet) you also can hear a great saxophonist, Eric Marienthal.Eric is a former member of the Grammy Award winning Chick Corea’s Elektric band and the Rippingtons. Currently he is first call L.A. and can be heard on numerous sound tracks as well as with the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band.Eric records with Peak records and has produced some 11 albums. His sounds have topped the Contemporary Jazz Charts on several occasions.Tickets for the event are available at the PSU Ticket Office or at the door. The cost is $12.00 adults and $10.00 for those 65 and over or 12 and under.During the day groups will be performing in McCray, the Student Center, and Memorial Auditorium. These highs school, middle school and community college groups are being judged on their performances. The daytime events are free so step out of your office and catch some great jazz.
A century ago, echoes of today February 19, 2009
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At the History News Network, Philip Blom has a nice little essay discussing the parallels between today and the first decade of the 20th century, as well as making some great points about the problem of sources and historical perspective.
More thoughts on the document assignments February 18, 2009
Posted by jdresner in doing history, grading, hist 102 (Spring 2009), homework.1 comment so far
the average score was a C-, roughly. I’ll put another sample at the bottom of this post.
I’m going to give some general comments here, and then go section by section. If you got an A or B, then you need to pay more attention to my comments on your paper than to this general statement. If you got a C, then a lot of this probably applies to you. If you got a D or F, then you need to take this very seriously: this is your blueprint to improve. Here is the original assignment, for reference.
Bioethics – DNA technology, science, privacy and tribal rights December 1, 2008
Posted by jdresner in current events, doing history, not homework.add a comment
It’s all here: Do scientists have the right to use blood collected for one study in another one, especially one that could challenge religious faith?
Who owns DNA?
Also, who controls information?
World AIDS Day maps: by population, and by numbers
