History 4990    Senior Seminar    Spring 2009    MacKay

A seminar for History majors requiring the completion of a thesis project.

seminar: A group of students who meet regularly for reports and discussion in an area of research under the guidance of a professor.
thesis: A thesis (literally: 'position' from the Greek θέσις) is an intellectual proposition. ----In academia, a thesis or dissertation is a document that presents the author's research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification.

Course Calendar

Texts:

• A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, Rampolla
• Elements of Style, Strunk & White

Learning Goals: Students should be able to:

• Apply the historical method in the critical evaluation and interpretation of primary source material.
• Have some proficiency in the categories, concepts, and forms of argumentation that professional historians used to derive meaning from complex historical events;
• Evaluate and critique the work of your fellow historians in a respectful and constructive manner;
• Be  fluent with the conventions of the writing process including drafting, critique, revision, proofreading, and copy editing.

The Senior thesis paper:

• Needs to be 25-30 pages long, typed, double-spaced, in a twelve-point font, with one inch margins. 
• Is a unique contribution to your chosen area of historical research. This requirement can be fulfilled by
• using under-utilized or unutilized primary source materials;
• identifying and addressing an unacknowledged problem of historical sourcing or interpretation;
• applying conceptual categories in a way that offers new insight into established areas of historical scholarship;
• making innovative use of interpretive theory in the analysis of your sources.

In short, your paper must offer something in its interpretations or in its  presentation of the evidence that cannot be found elsewhere.

• You need to have an ARGUMENT that you are trying to PROVE.  This is more than just retelling events that occurred; you must analyze those events and support a specific thesis. 
• All of you citations need to be either footnotes or endnotes in Rampolla/Turabian form.  (Chicago Manual of Style). 
• You need to have at least 12 primary sources, and at least 12 secondary sources. 
  • At least 3 of the primary sources must not be from a digital source.
  • At least 6 of the secondary documents must be monographs not articles.
• You will have to have a bibliography also in Rampolla/Turabian form.  The bibliography will be divided between primary and secondary sources. 
• You will also need a cover sheet for the final draft.  You should NOT bind the paper.  Just staple it in the corner

Grades:

You must write a senior thesis which meets the standards for a "C" in order to pass this course. The thesis is worth 190 points However, there are additional points to be earned:

• Because this is a seminar class you need to attend all scheduled class sessions.  Attendance is worth 10 points

• You will receive points for your statement of purpose, scholarly review, bibliography, rough and final drafts  (Points will be taken off for lateness.  )

  • Brief statement of topic                                  5 points
  • Report of meeting with research librarian        5 points
  • Scholarly review                                           10 points
  • Annotated bibliography                                 15 points
  • Rough draft

• Peer Review: Each student must provide on the scheduled date writings for a peer review.  5 points for the comments on a fellow student's paper. (Peer reviews will be done on: critique of scholarly article,  rough draft, bibliography.) 

  Your total grade will be broken down in the following way:

• Final Draft of Thesis Paper                 90%

• Additional Assignments                     10% 

Consultation:

            Each student will meet periodically with the professor on an assigned day to go over her/his draft.  Students may stop in any time to discuss his/her project, but there will be specific times when the student MUST meet with the professor. 

 Process of constructing the senior thesis: