GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
| Assignment | Guidelines | Weight |
| In Class Participation | This course will primarily be run as a seminar in which we discuss the assigned readings. As such, your active participation in our discussions is absolutely necessary to making the course work well. The high percentage of your grade that will be based on your participation reflects that fact. You should bring a question based on the readings that you believe we should discuss to each class. On occasion, additional brief in class or out of class reaction papers may be assigned as components of your participation grade. Please note that behaving in ways that create distractions for other members of the class (including the professor) will lower your participation grade. Such behavior includes, but is not limited to: messaging, checking Facebook or other social networks, catching up on e-mail, watching on-line videos, reading non-class related materials, studying for other courses, shopping on-line, and generally any activity that detracts from your or any other classmate's full participation in what we are doing in the classroom. | 25% |
| Reaction Papers (3-4) | In each of the reaction papers (see the course schedule for due dates), you will develop a brief but coherent and well-supported argument regarding the readings for the day on which the paper is due. In these papers, you should not summarize the reading, but rather develop a main thought of your own building on those readings. Ways of developing such arguments include, but are not limited to: critiquing some part of the argument of a secondary source, testing some part of the argument of a secondary source through the analysis of a primary source, comparing and contrasting different readings, or developing a point made by one of the authors more fully and in doing so explaining more of what it may tell us about the subject under discussion. Your grade for these reaction papers will be determined by the strength and focus of your analysis, the persuasiveness of your argument (including quality of writing), and the originality of your thought. | 15% |
| Living the Revolutions Project | In the “Living the Revolutions Project,” you will explore and reconstruct the life of an anonymous/undocumented person who lived through the era of the Atlantic Revolutions. In other words, you will do research on a character who is “fictional” but nonetheless represents many of the people who participated in these revolutions but left few records of their experiences. I will provide you with a character and some basic background information about her or him during the second week of classes. Then, throughout the rest of the semester you will explore and provide the rest of the class with updates regarding the varying paths his or her life could have taken.
There are three written components of this project.
First, you will prepare a research plan and bibliography (10%). In your research plan, you should identify and briefly discuss the topics you need to research to reconstruct the possible life courses of your character and the primary and secondary sources you will use to carry out that research. You should also discuss the ways in which you plan to use those sources for this project. In addition to briefly discussing your main sources in the text, you should list them in a standard bibliography at the end of your research plan. Finally, speculate and briefly discuss the additional kinds of sources you might hope to find were you to pursue this project beyond the resources available to you at this point.
Second, you will prepare an annotated flowchart indicating the varying paths your character’s life might have taken as he or she became involved in the events of the Atlantic Revolutions (15%). To satisfactorily complete this part of the assignment, you will need to clearly identify the events that would have been likely turning points in your character’s life. For each “crossroads” she or he meets, you should provide a brief note explaining what factors might have shaped which path she or he would have chosen (or been forced to choose). You should also be sure to identify the sources you used in developing each "crossroads." You are to work on this flowchart throughout the semester and will regularly report on your progress in it. Over the course of the semester, you will be responsible for doing this for a minimum of 8 to 10 "crossroads."
Finally, you will prepare a “memoir” written by your character towards the end of her or his life (15%). In this piece of well-informed and researched “historical fiction,” you should recount the age of Atlantic Revolutions through the eyes and experiences of your character, reflecting upon what it meant to him or her. This “memoir” should be turned in with the notes and materials you used in preparing it.
Your grade for each component will be determined by the strength of your analysis, the thoroughness and relevance of your research, the persuasiveness of your argument (including quality of writing), and the originality of your thought.
| 40% |
| Final Exam | The final exam will be composed of two essay questions I will give you the week before the exam. You will answer one of those questions. The exam will be open book and open notes. Your grade on the exam will depend upon the analytical strength and persuasiveness of your arguments, your capacity to discuss the material we cover in the course as a whole, and the factual accuracy of your answers. | 20% |
-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
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ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic
dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred.
In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment,
may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student
who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from
the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation
to the President, who will make the final decision.
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