History 2710 American History 1877-
    A chronological history of the United States from the Gilded Age to the present.

 K.L. MacKay kmackay@weber.edu ext. 6782

"Map courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps used with permission"

This course is designed to give a general overview of U.S. history from 1877. Emphasis will be on the meaning of events: why things happened as they did, how people viewed the changing times in which they lived, the consequences of their words and actions, and continuity and change over time. This course will be reading and writing intensive. Readings include original source materials, scholarly essays, and scholarly internet sites. Writings will include quizzes, response papers, project reports, and formal papers.

A word about accommodations

• Any student requiring accommodations or services dues to a disability must contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) in room 181 of the Student Service Center. SSD can also arrange to provide course materials (including this syllabus) in alternative formats if necessary.
• Weber State University recognizes that there are times when course content may differ from a student's core beliefs. Faculty, however, have a responsibility to teach content that is related to the discipline and that has a reasonable relationship to pedagogical goals. If you, as a student, believe that the content of the course conflicts with your ability to pursue the topic, you may request a resolution from the instructor. (See PPM 6-22.)

Course Topics, Readings, Assignments

Syllabus:
Learning Goals | Texts | Internet Resources ‌ Activities in Support of Learning | Grades

Learning Goals:

• Students will learn history, acquire knowledge of basic facts, events--especially of significant questions and major themes in American history.
• Students hone their skills in reading, thinking, writing. Students will learn how to learn, how to reflect on their own learning style.
• Students will gain a historical perspective by which to understand the present. Students will gain an understanding of how historians think and interpret the past through the lens of the present.
• Students will consider a wide variety of historical sources and learn about how historians go about "recovering the past."

    The value of History is, indeed, not scientific but moral:  by
     liberalizing the mind, by deepening the sympathies, by fortifying the
     will, it enables us to control, not society, but ourselves. . .it
     prepares us to live more humanely in the present and to meet the
     future.
               --Carl L. Becker

Texts: 

Zinn, People's History of the U.S.
Collins and Gitelman, Thomas Edison and Modern America
Adams, The Best War Ever
 Additional texts as assigned

Recommended text: Don't Know Much About History (Davis)

You might try out Advanced Placement History Quizzes from The History Teacher to find out what you may not already know about a particular era in American history.

Internet Resources

You might find helpful:

• The Outline of American History (1994)  which has useful summaries and short biographies.
• The learning modules posted from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:
• The Free University Online has helpful modules in American History
• The Authentic History Center
• History 102 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. See the Student web notes.

Activities in support of learning goals:

• Discussion Forums. For each unit of study, there are discussion forums. You are required to make three posts per forum. Two of these should be substantive responses to our readings (topics are posted, including work with primary documents), and one should be a response to the post of a classmate.  Students should complete 15 forums.
  1. on the topic posted
  2. on your work with sources
  3. and a response to the post of a classmate.

Posts should total a minimum of  600 words per week. Your grade for the discussion forums will be based on the timeliness of your responses, their length, their quality, and substance. (20 points each forum)

• 3 quizzes. These will be randomized from a list of posted topics. (25 points each) These quizzes must be taken on Chi Tester at WSU testing center or under proctored conditions.
• Projects. There will be a variety of projects. Choose 10. Projects should be completed by 12 a.m. Saturday of the week they are described. Points will be taken off late projects. (10 points each)
• 3 Analyses of Scholarship. You will critique 3 pieces of scholarship in formal papers (2-3 pages), typed, free of gross spelling and grammatical errors. You may analyze the scholarship of 3 difference topics in U.S. history 1877-1997, or you may analyze a single topic through 3 different scholars. An analysis paper is due at the end of  the 6th, 11th, and 16th weeks of the semester.(15 points each.)