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Friday, August 21, 2015

Method and Theory in History (History Workshop)—a

On this date on Round and Square's History 
21 August 2014—China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-21
21 August 2014—East Asian History Syllabus (a)
21 August 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 08-21
21 August 2013—From the Geil Archive: How to Write the Book
21 August 2012—The New Yorker and the World: Syllabus
21 August 2011—Hurtin' Country: Whoever's In New England

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 190: Weeks 1-8                  HIST 190: Weeks 9-16
[a] Land and ocean RF
Method and Theory in History
(History Workshop)
History 190
Autumn 2015
TTh 12:00-1:50 p.m. 
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           2:00-3:30
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         2:00-3:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

Required Books           
Booth, Wayne. The Craft of Research.
Evans, Richard. In Defense of History.
Gaddis, John Lewis. The Landscape of History.
Larson, Erik. Devil in the White City. 
Presnell, Jenny. The Information-Literate Historian.
Richie, Donald, ed. Lafcadio Hearn's Japan.
Schama, Simon. Dead Certainties.
Trevor-Roper, Hugh. Hermit of Peking.
                                       ***  *** 
Research notebook (preferred copies available at the bookstore)
Round and Square (www.robert-lafleur.blogsot.com)
The New York Review of Books (NYRB)

Readings Available in .pdf Format
Geil, William Edgar. Adventures in the African Jungle Hunting Pigmies (1917).
Geil, William Edgar. China's Sacred 5 (1926).
Geil, William Edgar. The Isle That Is Called Patmos (1896, 1904).
Stead, William T. William Edgar Geil: The Missionary Missioner (1910).
Wilson, William Whitwell. An Explorer of Changing Horizons (1927).

Reserve Books
Landon, Brooks. Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft.
All course books are also available at the reserve desk at the library. Since there are a limited number of each book (usually one or two), please make sure that you plan ahead if you are going to read a book on reserve. Listen in class for "reserve strategies," as well.

Course Description  
This course acquaints students with the different approaches to writing history by providing samples of the various ways in which historians (and non-historians) have treated problems in the past. The class also aims to give students experience doing history by working with various kinds of sources. Finally, the course seeks to excite students about the field of history by addressing the issue of why someone would want to become an historian. This course is required for all history majors, who should complete it by the end of their sophomore year or before they declare a major.

Evaluation
Quizzes                                  15% 
Short writing assignments      15% 
Midterm analysis                    20% 
5,000-word Research Paper  35%
Final exam                              15%
Class attendance and participation is expected.  

HIST 190
Method and Theory in History (History Workshop) 
Autumn 2015
Week I 
(August 25, 27)
Tuesday
Class overview
Thursday
Round and Square 
     Syllabic Cycles:Introduction (a-d)  Read all four posts, not just “a.” 
Film: Geil of Doylestown (in-class Thursday)
From the Geil Archive (read all nine posts)  
     Introduction 
     1-Southern Mountain Museum
     2-Sacred Mountain Map
     3-Hat and Cattle
     4-Seeking Anthropology
     5-Curly Fives
     6-How to Write the Book
     7-Mortarboard Man
     8-Orator
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Explore the site for thirty minutes. Jot down a few notes.Write a short e-mail to the instructor about something you noticed and why it intrigues you.
 ***  ***
From the Geil Archive: Essay 1 (500 words minimum; 1000 words maximum).
Include an illustration (use the "From the Geil Archive posts as models).
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 28 (in my office—MI 111)

Week II  
(September 1, 3)
Tuesday
Round and Square 
     Quotidian Quizzes:Introduction (a-h) Read all eight posts, not just “a.” (You may 
     skim a-d, but begin reading carefully with post "e"; your grade depends on it).
Geil, Adventures in the African Jungle Hunting Pigmies (1917)
     Off For Mombasa
     Pigmies of Long Ago
     Approaching Africa
     Billy is Kidnapped
     The Escape From The Fort
     Donkeys and Dangers
     The Land of the Lions
     Sure-Shot, the Missionary
     Billy Outwits a Lion
     Africa's Inland Sea
     Monkeys and Sleeping Sickness
     A Human Panther
     Over the Swamps Toward Sunset
     More Hobnobbing With Royalty
     Fever in the Foothills
     Termites and Driver Ants
     Snakes and Avalanches
     A Bag of Jiggers
     A Savage Welcome
     On a Curious Lake
     A Letter From the Explorer
     African Dwarfs, and Others
     The Forest of Eternal Twilight
     Pigmies At Last
     The Haunts of the Pigmies
     Pigmy Palaver
     The Burial of a Pigmy
     Lost in the Forest of the Pigmies
     A Letter Home
     A Visit to the Jolly Pigmies
     Still More Pigmies
     Wrecked in the Rapids
     Noble Lives
Thursday
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, xv-xix, 1-51 
       Preface
       Historians and the Research Process: Getting Started
       Reference Resources 
Booth, The Craft of Research: 1-50
       Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research
       Connecting with your Reader: (Re-)Creating Yourself and Your Reader
       From Topics to Question
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
      13  Out of the Frying Pan
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive  
Explore the site for thirty minutes. Jot down a few notes.Write a short e-mail to the instructor about something you noticed and why it intrigues you.
 ***  ***
Sentence-Level Revision of Essay 1
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 4 (in my office—MI 111)

Week III
(September 8, 11)
Geil, The Sacred 5 of China (1926)
     Carefully read all front matter...in detail, especially "The Magic of 5" (xv-xix)
     Examine all photographs carefully and study the book's organization
            Sung Shan, Yellow Peak of the Centre
            Hua Shan, White Peak of the West
Thursday 
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 52-103 
            Finding Monographs and Using Catalogs
            Finding Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers: Using Indexes 
Booth, The Craft of Research: 51-101
            From Questions to a Problem
            From Problems to Sources
            Engaging Sources 
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
           15  Stamps of Approval
           17 Jack of All Trades
           18  Don't Call Me Reverend 
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive   
Explore the site for thirty minutes. Jot down a few notes.Write a short e-mail to the instructor about something you noticed and why it intrigues you.
 ***  ***
From the Geil Archive: Essay 1 Final Draft
Include an illustration (use the "From the Geil Archive posts as models).
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 11 (in my office—MI 111)

Week IV
(September 15, 17)
Geil, The Isle That Is Called Patmos
     Carefully read all front matter...in detail.
     Examine all photographs carefully and study the book's organization     
            A Trip to Patmos
            The Monastery of St. John
            Persecutions
            John and the Revelation
            The Geography of Patmos
            Georgirene's Description of Patmos
            St. John's Visit to Patmos
            Patmos in Classical History
            The Re-Inhabiting of the Island
            The Female Monastery
            Home Life on Patmos
            Mount St. Elias
            Prochorus
            Hermits of Patmos
            The Monastery of the Apocalypse
            A Meditation
Thursday
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 104-167 
            Evaluating Your Sources
            The Thrill of Discovery: Primary Sources
Booth, The Craft of Research: 103-151
     Making Good Arguments: An Overview
     Making Claims
     Assembling Reasons and Evidence 
     Acknowledgments and Responses
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
    23  Geil, An Intellectual Bricoleur
In place of class time today, spend a full hour looking carefully through the DHS Geil Exhibit that I sent you via Dropbox (please contact me if you don't have it or can't find it). Look carefully for historiographical themes, and see if you can see new angles that might help your own work. Ask yourself, as well, what the organization of the exhibit "says" about the curators in Doylestown. How are they presenting both Geil and themselves? Send me an e-mail of at least a few short paragraphs (not a sentence or two, but not whole screens of text..unless you want to) by 2:00 p.m. on Thursday (the end of class).
 ***  ***
"Green" 10%
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 18 (in my office—MI 111)

Week V
(September 22, 29)
William T. Stead, "Missionary Missioner," 1-62
     The Man and His Methods
     Round the World after Missionaries
     The Great Melbourne Mission
     Across China and Darkest Africa
     In Defence of Missions
     A Missioner for the Missions
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 19-97
     The First Book: Apprenticeship
          The Horizons
          His Inheritance
          The Struggles of a Student
          The Objective
          Towards the Sun
          The Twilight of Old Turkey
          The Island of Saints
          The Seven Lamps
          The Arming of Europe
Thursday
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 168-214 
            History and the Internet
            Maps: From Simple to Geographic Information Systems  
Booth, The Craft of Research, 153-202
     Warrants
     Planning
     Drafting Your Report
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
Explore the site for thirty minutes. Jot down a few notes.Write a short e-mail to the instructor about something you noticed and why it intrigues you.
 ***  ***
Revision assignment (explained in class)
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 25 (in my office—MI 111) 

Week VI
(September 29, October 1)
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 101-271
     The Second Book: Achievement
          The Enquiry
          Salt of the South Seas
          Savor of the Salt
          Thresholds of China
          Yankee on the Yangtze
          From Burmah to Bombay
          Across Africa
          The Pigmies
          The Great Wall
Thursday
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 215-284 
            Beyond the Written Word...
            Statistics: Quantifying History  
Booth, The Craft of Research, 203-248
     Revising Your Organization and Argument
     Communicating Evidence Visually
     Introductions and Conclusions
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
Explore the site for thirty minutes. Jot down a few notes.Write a short e-mail to the instructor about something you noticed and why it intrigues you.
 ***  ***
Revision Assignment (explained in class)
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 2 (in my office—MI 111)

Week VII
(October 6, 8)
No Class on Tuesday 
(use the time to catch up and prepare your research questions)
Do the readings; we will build upon all of this in the second half of the term
Thursday
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus  
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 285-321 
            Presenting Your Research
Booth, The Craft of Research: 249-276
     Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly
     Some Last Considerations
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 275-372
     The Third Book: Association
          A Layman's Use of the Bible
          The Forest and the Pagoda
          Changes in Changeless China
          The Mind of China
          The Soul Within the Mind
          The Book That Never Was Written
          The Final Victory
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
Final rewriting assignment is due (as announced in class on 10/1) on 
Wednesday 10/7 at 5:00 p.m.—hard copy in my office, MI 111)
 ***  ***
Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 190: Weeks 1-8                  HIST 190: Weeks 9-16
[b] Secrets RF
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