Category Archives: hist 102 (Fall 2008)

Essay 1 results

A few thoughts on common issues:

  • Comparisons to the present are a distraction, at best, and can completely derail a paper. This isn’t a long assignment, where you can wander around thinking deep thoughts: this is a short essay which has to be focused on the document itself and what it means in context.
  • I know my handwriting can be challenging: if you have any questions about what I’ve written, please ask.
  • There are only a few editorial marks I’ll make on most papers:
    • I’ll circle spelling and grammatical/punctuation errors
    • I’ll put a wavy line under words that I think don’t fit well, or mean something else
    • I’ll underline things about which I have questions, and often put those questions in the margin
    • If I put a question mark or ≈ (wavy “almost equals” sign), it means that I’m not sure about your evidence or argument. Exclamation points are for surprising or funny things (laughing with, not at). Check marks are a way for me to mark and find theses, good evidence, etc.; they’re good, but not very meaningful for you.
  • Most of my real comments are on the separate rubric page. I try to make suggestions which will help you on future essays rather than writing revision notes for this essay.
  • The basic topics and questions listed in the assignment handout are starting places, tools to move you towards interesting topics and questions worth further consideration. They don’t give you a thesis, nor are they a terribly good structure for a paper.
  • I don’t adjust grades on essays the way that I do on tests. Rather, I use a fairly objective standard based on the rubric — thesis, evidence, context, etc. — so you have a clear sense of what a grade really means.
    • An “A” grade is an excellent piece of work, thoughtful, careful, and very well-supported;
    • a “B” grade is a solid effort, with a clear thesis, substantial evidence, and fairly convincing;
    • a “C” grade is adequate, with most of the elements in place but not very clear or convincing, or maybe one major element missing
    • a “D” grade indicates a substantial failure to provide the elements of a good paper — thesis, evidence, historical background.
    • an “F” means nothing went right.

Test 1 results

The most popular term this time around was “monsoon” — almost everyone picked it. “Pepper’ and “Aztec” tied for second place, followed closely by “humanism”, “joint-stock company” and “imperialism.” The least popular term was “Siberia” — almost 90% of you avoided it — with “Mughal”, “Vasco da Gama” and “Mali” also in the single-digits.

Just a reminder: memorizing the glossary definition won’t get you much beyond C-range, if that. Memorizing the paragraph in which the term first appears only works sometimes, but usually there’s a lot of context if you read futher back and forward from there. Also, you really don’t want to ignore what I say in class: Part of my job is to provide further context and significance….. Conversely, what I say in class is intended to supplement the textbook, not replace it.

The high score in the class was 29.5 out of a possible 32. So here’s how the grades come out:

grade minimum score distribution
A+ 29.5
A 27.5 A-level: 18%
A- 26.6
B+ 24.2
B 21.6 B-level: 52%
B- 19.2 median score: B
C+ 16.8
C 14.2 C-level: 20%
C- 11.8
D+ 9.4
D 6.8 D-level: 10%
D- 4.4
F 0

Here are some sample answers which scored 4 out of 4. I’m not endorsing copying their form or style, nor are they necessarily perfect, but they get the job done: cover the ground and get to the point.
Continue reading →

Slight Change in Schedule

In order to give you more time to absorb my comments on your papers, and to give me more time to make them, I’ve switched the due date of the next one to next Monday. I’ve revised the Schedule accordingly.

Also, I will be using some of the best test answers and essays as exemplars, anonymously: if you do not want your work used (without your name or any other identifying information), let me know.

Study Terms: Chapters 17 and 18

Chapter 17

agricultural development
beaver
coal
Columbian Exchange
influenza
land surveys
maize
Manchu
mestizos
Military Revolution
Siberia
slave labor
smallpox
sugar
sweet potato
tobacco
weeds

 Chapter 18

Columbus
confraternities
Council of Trent
Dalai Lama
empiricism
epistemology
Francis Bacon
Inquisition
Isaac Newton
Jesuits
jihad
Martin Luther
millenarianism
missionaries
Nicolaus Copernicus
René Descartes
schism
Sikhism
Sufi
syncretic
witchcraft

Also, you might want to take a look at these handouts:

I have added these terms to the Study Terms List as well, where you can find the entire collection of study terms and reminders about what I’m looking for.

General Directions for document analysis

Regarding your document analysis essays, there seems to be some concern about “what to write about.” As the assignment says, the focus is on what interesting questions the document raises and might help answer. To give you a small jump-start, here’s a short list of general topics which might be worth considering for many documents:

  • Historical process: Are things changing? Does the author approve or disapprove of change?
  • Politics: who’s really in charge? Is there conflict in the system? How is power and authority determined, shared?
  • Values: what’s important to the author and his/her audience? How are those values translated into action?
  • Gender: Are women treated differently, and how, and how much does it matter? What are the ideal characteristics for a man, or for a woman, of this time/place?
  • Family: How does the family share responsibilities? How are children treated? What is “normal” and how are exceptions handled?
  • Technology: how are people’s lives affected by changing methods of production, communication, health?
  • Economics: What is valuable? How is trade handled? Is the economy changing, and why?
  • Other: How might this document have been received differently by different audiences at the time? Why did this document survive?

These are general starting places. The specific questions you ask will have to come from the documents themselves. Feel free to contact me (office hours in Russ 406F: MWF 10-11, 1-2; TuTh 10-12; email: jdresner@pittstate.edu) if you want to bounce ideas around, or get some more clarification.