Study Terms for Chapters 21 through 26 October 30, 2009
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| Chapter 21
African Association |
Chapter 22
caudillos |
| Chapter 23
Alexander Herzen |
Chapter 24
Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| Chapter 25
Abraham Lincoln |
Chapter 26
Asante Kingdom |
The history of electric outlets October 29, 2009
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Why are there over a dozen different types of electrical appliance plugs in the world? History, of course.
Extra Credit Opportunities: Shakespeare and Philosophy October 22, 2009
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The PSU production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be at Memorial Auditorium Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8pm. Students with PSU ID can pick up tickets free at the PSU Ticket Office in the Student Center.
The PSU Philosophical Society Annual Speaker Series· Friday, November 13, 2009 4:00 pm· Grubbs Hall Room 107· “Liberalism and Religious Equality”· Speaker Dr. Jon MahoneyThe PSU Philosophical Society will proudly present a talk given by Dr. Jon Mahoney entitled, “Liberalism and Religious Equality”. The talk will take place on Friday, November 13, 2009 in Grubbs Hall Room 107 at 4:00 pm. Dr. Mahoney is currently an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kansas State University. He earned his PhD from State University of New York Binghamton. He specializes in social and political philosophy, ethics, and philosophy of law. He has published in numerous journals such as Law and Philosophy, Social Philosophy Today, and The Journal of Value Inquiry. His work has also appeared in numerous collections such as The Legacy of John Rawls (Continuum, 2005), Law and Peace in Kant’s Philosophy (de Gruyter, 2008), and Pragmatic Politics and Pragmatist Culture (Cambridge, 2009). Please contact James McBain (jmcbain-@pittstate.edu or 235-6039) for further information.The PSU Philosophical Society Annual Speaker Series· Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:30 pm· Russ Hall Room 409· “The Surprising Simple Secular Source of Morality”· Speaker Dr. Scott ForschlerThe PSU Philosophical Society will proudly present a talk given by Dr. Scott Forschler entitled “The Surprisingly Simple Secular Source of Morality” on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. The talk will take place in Russ Hall 409 at 3:30 pm. Dr. Forschler specializes in ethical theory. He earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and also earned MA in philosophy from Minnesota Twin Cities, a MA in history from Butler University, a MLS from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and a MA in English from Pittsburg State. He has published articles in Utilitas and The Journal of Value Inquiry; and his book, The Logic of Morality, is forthcoming from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Please contact James McBain (jmcbain-@pittstate.edu or 235-6039) for further information.
A few announcements October 21, 2009
Posted by jdresner in administrative, doing history, hist 102 (Fall 2009), homework, not homework.add a comment
Reminder: No class for either section on Friday the 23rd, due to the Presidential inauguration. Students are encouraged to attend — and see your instructors in academic regalia! — at the front of Russ Hall (or in Weede, if the weather is poor) at 2.
While I didn’t require resubmission of thesis statements that missed the mark this time, I’m adding an element to the next book review assignment, the discussion of the argument and evidence of the book: you must include a clearly marked, one sentence statement indicating what you think the thesis of the work is. This is quite important for the argument and evidence discussion: if you don’t know what the author is trying to prove, you can’t evaluate the effectiveness of the argument they make or the quality of the evidence they present.
As you try to summarize and discuss your chosen books, be careful of how you use the book and any related sources you may find. Obviously, using the actual words of a source — textbook, internet or otherwise — without quotation marks or other acknowledgement is clearly and blatantly plagiarism. Weak paraphrasing can constitute plagiarism: if you don’t thoroughly alter the language of your source, it is a form of intellectual theft. Even something fully paraphrased in your own words can be considered plagiarism if you don’t acknowledge your source(s) — this is what footnotes, endnotes and parenthetical citations with works cited pages are for. Plagiarism is academic dishonesty, theft of intellectual property, and a violation of University policy, and will not be tolerated in this course.
Finally, a little 19th century union history — the struggle between wage-earning workers and capitalist owners — in early baseball.
Food History: requires testing! October 18, 2009
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Chris Bray passes on word of two experiences with early American food: Gingerbread cookies from Colonial Williamsburg and a pound cake taste test, pitting a modern recipe against a two-century old version which required an hour of hand-beating. See if you can figure out how “Pound Cake” got its name…
In other news, historical sea logs help climatologists.
Quick survey of the evolving uses of the term “socialism” October 15, 2009
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At HNN, Walter Moss has a nice survey of some of the fuzzy language used by and about socialists, socialism, progressivism, etc.
Comments on Book Summaries October 12, 2009
Posted by jdresner in Schedule Change, hist 102 (Fall 2009), homework.add a comment
I’ll be handing back the book summaries today. Many of them are actually inadequate as summaries — too short, too confused or too much of your thoughts and not enough of the book’s content. If I’ve included “Try Again” or “revise and hand in again” in the comments on your summary, then I will be expecting to see a more complete — or clearer, or more focused, etc. — summary handed in with your statements of the book’s thesis.
In order to make it easier, I’ve moved the Thesis statement due date back to Monday the 19th, giving you most of an extra week. The Thesis statement should be just that, by the way: a sentence or short paragraph clearly stating what the author’s purpose is in writing the book, what they hope to prove by the evidence and argument they provide. Sometimes that thesis will be explicitly laid out by the author in a form you can quote; sometimes (especially with autobiographical writings or seemingly straightforward surveys of major events) it is more work for you to figure it out.
Finally, a note on form: I don’t insist that you all use the Chicago Manual of Style footnote method for history papers, but if you quote something, then I expect to see a citation including a page number. It can be in parentheses, footnote or endnote, but a quotation without a specific source, including a page number, is a grave error.
History Club Meeting October 7, 2009
Posted by jdresner in doing history, not homework.add a comment
Not for extra credit — though the History Club events usually qualify — but a good group:
Greetings from the History Club here at PSU!
If you are a history major, minor, or are simply a student who is interested in learning more about history and participating in fun activities to that end, please come to our club meeting on Oct. 21st at 3pm in the History computer lab (306J Russ Hall).
We would love to see you all there! Please feel free to come and enjoy free food and drinks, as well as getting to know some of us in the club. We will be talking about upcoming events, as well as those that we would like to plan for the future.
See you on the 21st!
Also, I just got a flyer for the Pitt State Women’s Studies Club — all students welcome! — meeting Monday, October 12, 4:30pm in Grubbs 422. Again, not an extra credit opportunity in itself, but for interested folks.
Extra Credit Opportunity: Darfur and Sudan Today October 5, 2009
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Tilford LectureTuesday October 6, 3 pmBalkans Room – OSCDarfur, Sudan TodayDon’t miss a talk by Rev. Daniel Kuot, one of the ‘lost boys of Sudan,’ who’s village was attacked, his family killed and he was shot and fled to Ethiopia. Like many of the survivors of the genocide of Darfur, Daniel has immigrated to the United States after many years as a refugee in Ethiopia.Today he spends all of his time working to help those who are still in Sudan. He is building a school in his village of Paloi. He has just started a micro-credit program to help farmers create enterprises to support their families. And he supports several orphans at a school in Kenya. Come and hear Daniel’s amazing story and hear what is happening in Sudan today.Daniel will be speaking at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, October 6, in the Balkans Room at the Overman Student Center. This talk is sponsored by the Tilford Group at PSU. For information about Daniel’s talk or other times to hear him contact Dan Ferguson, HHPR, ferguson@pittstate.edu or 235-4911.
Test #1 Results October 5, 2009
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The most popular term, by far, was “Columbian Exchange” followed by “Martin Luther,” “Abolition” and “The Bill of Rights.”
As with the pop quizzes, I scored each answer on a 4-point scale, then added up the results. The high score in the class was 42 out of a possible 48 (before extra credit), which I used as the 100% mark (which raised everyone’s grades a lot). The median score was a B or B-. Here’s how the grade scale worked out:
| Grade | minimum points | distribution |
| A+ | 42 | |
| A | 39.8 | 15% |
| A- | 37.8 | |
| B+ | 34.8 | |
| B | 30.3 | 45% |
| B- | 27.3 | |
| C+ | 24.3 | |
| C | 19.8 | 20% |
| C- | 16.8 | |
| D+ | 13.8 | |
| D | 9.3 | 20% |
| D- | 6.3 | |
| F | 0 |
This looks pretty good, but remember two things. The extra credits were a very helpful: most people got both right, and each grade scale was only three points or a bit more. The top score is very likely to go up in later tests, which means that everyone has to improve just to stay even.
Finally, I was, as I noted, very disappointed by the number of answers which parroted back the textbook’s sidebar definitions. Here are a few examples of how those definitions compare to answers which actually got good scores (3.5 or 4 out of 4) below the fold. My favorite example is the last one: notice how the textbook sidebar definition almost entirely fails to mention what makes Cornwallis important in this chapter, but the student definition ignores all the irrelevant stuff and goes right to significance? Note that the student definitions aren’t perfect but they very clearly cover the context, often mention and define related terms, and are especially good on significance, why the term/person/etc. mattered:
