Course Requirements
History 291
The award of final grades will be the product of complex calculations performed by me, the instructor, with the goal being to accumulate a total of 500 points. These points can be accumulated in the following manner:
Read all assignments; attend class regularly, and participate actively
(maximum of 60 points). 40 points of this total of 60 will be based on summary
presentations of the preceding class. To explain: Each student can volunteer to present orally at least one distillation of a previous class session. This distillation
should be succinct (no more than three minutes). It should not recapitulate or
summarize the previous lecture/discussion. What it should do is identify three primary points/arguments that emerged during the previous lecture/discussion and provide one example for
each point/argument.
Complete all assigned op ed essays (of one page) on documents (maximum of 40)
*One midterm examination (100)
*One final examination (150)
**Final Writing Assignment, 8-12 (double-spaced) pages (150)
* Documentation supporting requests for make-up examinations or extensions on the due-date for paper will be required.
**See Description of Final Writing Assignment.
****Students can receive 10 points of extra credit for writing an op ed essay in addition to those assigned to the class. These essays should be written during weeks when an op ed essay is not required, should be based on a document or documents, and must be introduced by an explicit question. A maximum of 30 extra credit points can be earned.