History 120

Required Blog Posts

10 blog posts are required for the course. They are due in class on the date stated on the syllabus schedule. Each post will be awarded points for the following:

1. Promptness = 0 or 10 points (I will subtract 5 points for each day late)
2. Introduction = 1-5 points
3. Thesis = 1-5 points
4. Argument = 1-10 points
5. Evidence = 1-5 points
6. Grammar = 1-10 points
7. Format = 1-5 points

Total: 50 points

Blog posts should be between 350-500 words (roughly 1.5-2 pages). While they are relatively short pieces, they will involve considerable time and effort to compose. Below is a brief guide to help explain how I will grade blog posts:

Promptness

Punctuality is a virtue. Assignments that are submitted on time receive full credit; late assignments are docked 10 points. Late assignments have one week’s grace period. After that time, they receive no credit or a zero.

Title & Introductory Paragraph

A good post begins with a good title. A good title gets the reader's attention immediately and sets the tone for the rest of the entry. A title, such as “Entry #1,” is not particularly effective or even interesting. You must number the entries so that the reader knows which assignment you are addressing. Examples might include: “#1: Debating Columbus” or “No. 10: Collecting the History of 9/11.” You can be much more creative, but your post must have a number. And if you use a catchy title that might be confusing or ambiguous, be sure that the document title(s) is indicated in the first paragraph.

Once you’ve decided on an interesting title, the next step is framing an introduction. An introductory paragraph can take many forms, but in a blog post, two strategies are usually successful: the brief anecdote or narrative or the quotation. How might these work? Here are two examples.

Howard Zinn argues, “To emphasize the heroism of Columbus and his successors as navigators and discoverers, and to deemephasize their genocide, is not a technical necessity but an ideological choice.” Zinn’s statement rightly applies not only to Schweikart and Allen’s depiction of Columbus, but to Zinn’s own depiction. [The quotation]

Nearly 450 years ago, two very old worlds met again. Howard Zinn’s People’s History and Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen’s Patriot’s History offer two very different interpretations of the consequences of the meeting of old worlds. Ultimately, the choices historians make in presenting evidence and constructing their narratives are ideological choices. [The short anecdote or narrative]

The last sentence of the introductory paragraph should be the thesis. You should be aware that it is acceptable (and often necessary because of time constraints) to skip the introductory sentences in an essay examination question and begin immediately with a thesis statement.

Thesis

A thesis is a proposition or statement of an argument. It is not “stage direction” (e.g., “In this paper I will tell you about the American attitudes regarding women during the 1950...). An adequate thesis is a clear, precise, declarative statement: “The television clip ‘Ritz Crackers,’ suggests that American attitudes about women in the 1950s were _________ and _________ because _________.” Obviously, your interpretation of the source will determine what you put in the blanks. Note, too, that this statement identifies the source. You should bold your thesis statement.

Argument

The body of your post follows the terms of your thesis and outlines your argument, beginning with a transitional sentence. (The easiest way to frame a transitional sentence is to take an important word or phrase from the sentence in the preceding paragraph and build on it.) In the Cold War women example, the next paragraph would discuss the first “blank” and include the supporting evidence. The second paragraph would follow with a discussion of the second “blank” (usually its best to put the most compelling evidence last) and its evidence. The third paragraph would take up the conclusion.

A conclusion not only summarizes your argument—usually in a sentence or two—but also discusses its historical significance. The last is the most critical. A conclusion puts your argument into “the big picture.” It should relate your findings to a broader theme in the course. Does the Ritz Crackers ad say something about how Americans viewed the role of the home in the Cold War? Does the image offer any insights the gender roles during the 1950s?

Evidence

Evidence is a summary description or a short quotation from the source that supports the point that you wish to make in your paragraphs or provides a attribution for an author’s idea. For example: “The Ritz Crackers ad suggests that the women during the 1950s are _______ by depicting women as prepared housewives in contrast to their distraught husbands.” If you use a quotation from a source other than the documents that are part of the assignment, you must use quotation marks and a citation. Since footnotes and endnotes are difficult to achieve on the web, we’ll go with the bracketed reference mark [1] at the end of the sentence containing the quoted material and a bracketed reference mark at the end of your post with the source. Your post must contain at least one reference to the textbook either as a summary or direct quotation.

Grammar

Grammar and mechanics are important for a variety of reasons—all of them good. All your posts should be grammatically correct in all their particulars. Correctness includes spelling, punctuation, diction, and mechanics. If you need help with your writing (or if I suggest that you visit the writing Center), you can contact the Writing Center online to make an appointment.

Format

Online writing and reading differs from print for a variety of reasons. Clarity is the name of the game. Each post must conform to the following format:

1. Post number
2. Post title
3. Bolded thesis sentence
4. Space between paragraphs
5. Titles of books should be italicized, titles of articles or documents should put in quotation marks, and so on
6. Use text links to sources on the web. Do not simply use a URL

Bonus Blog Posts

You have the opportunity to increase your points total by writing additional blog posts (10 additional posts maximum) on any topic you desire, so long as you can relate that topic to historical issues and discussions we address in the course. Creativity is encouraged and will be rewarded. Each additional blog post is potentially worth 10 points, for a total of 100 potential bonus points. While the topic for posts is open, I will use the same grading guidelines that I use for required blog posts.

TypePad allows you to create a photo album in your blog. You will use this feature to create a photo album of pictures you take of three monuments on the National Mall. You must take at least four pictures of each monument, and you must be present in at least one of them. That is, you should get someone else to take a picture of you in front of or around each monument. Thus, you are required to visit the National Mall some time during the semester. You can conduct your trip to the Mall when and how you wish. You can go with fellow classmates, you can go by yourself, and/or you can go with friends and family. You can take a tour or you can talk to other people visiting the monuments (in fact, I encourage you to do this). I will cancel class October 12th to offset travel time and time spent at the Mall.

The goal of this project is to explore how monuments on the National Mall reflect how our nation wishes to remember and present history. The design of monuments is not arbitrary, but in fact can lead us to interesting conclusions about how they might represent the historical figures and events they commemorate. For instance, by law, nothing in the city of Washington, DC can be taller than the Washington Monument. Why do you think this is? What does this mean with regard to how we remember George Washington? More generally, how does the design of the monument reflect how we want to remember Washington?

You can take any number of angles with this assignment. Creativity, imagination, and original thinking will be rewarded. It is fine to bring the history of the monuments into discussion, but this should not comprise the bulk of your photo essay. Rather, you should discuss (1) specific design aspects of each monument; (2) the way people interact with each other at each monument, and with the monument itself; (3) similarities and differences among your three monuments taken as a whole. Lastly, you must explain you choices: Why did you choose these three monuments? Don’t just pick three monuments at random; be specific about your selections, and make sure you explain them.

The National Mall Photo Essay is worth 500 points, or half of your overall grade. I will grade the photo essay as follows:

1. Promptness = 0 or 100 points (I will subtract 50 for each day late)
2. Introduction = 1-100 points
3. Thesis = 1-100 points
4. Argument = 1-100 points
5. Grammar = 1-50 points
6. Format = 1-50 points

The National Mall Photo Essay is due Thursday, December 14 at noon.